Psychology
6 Ways to Get Creative and Overcome Mental Blocks
Jul 8, 2011 by Daniel Toumine
Why do good ideas come to us when they do?
This is the question asked by Jonah Lehrer in his article “The Eureka Hunt.”
As Lehrer points out, “Eureka moments” or “experiences of insight” almost always go hand-in-hand with a mental block—the agonizing, excruciating, frustrating time spent trying to come up with an idea.
While the creative process is complex and not yet fully understood, here are 6 ways to get to your Eureka moment by vanquishing the mental blockade.
5 Ways to Better Serve Your Customer and Increase Your Value
Jun 30, 2011 by Tomasz Jablonski
Everyone has their own tactics and techniques that they use to improve their customer service and to increase profits.
Here are my top 5 ways to better serve your customer and increase your business value.
Brand Battle: Hugo Boss vs Christian Dior vs Calvin Klein
Jun 8, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
This week, we're launching a new feature here at Threefifty called Brand Battle .
For each Brand Battle, we're going to take a few brands in the same category, take a look at some of their marketing, and then let them fight to the death.
This week, we have a three-way battle lined up between Hugo Boss, Christian Dior, and Calvin Klein. Who will win? Keep on reading to find out.
Market Research Week 5: Mr Porter Men's Fashion
May 30, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
This week, we've been working on a project for a client from Hong Kong.
Our client is starting a men's fashion label and we're developing their business plan, brand identity, and some of their advertising and marketing materials. We're also building them an eCommerce site.
As part of our planning process, we've researched what other players in the men's fashion market are doing. We want to make sure that our client stands out from the crowd and we also want to learn from our competitors' mistakes. One of the main competitors that we've identified is a company called Mr Porter.
Below, you can read our thoughts on Mr Porter's website. See what Mr Porter is doing well, learn about what they're doing poorly, and find out how we plan to do things differently.
The Branded Mind: What Neuroscience Really Tells Us about the Puzzle of the Brain and the Brand
May 27, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
Recently, Kogan Page Publishing asked us to review their new book “The Branded Mind: What Neuroscience Really Tells us About the Puzzle of the Brain and the Brand.”
Written by Erik du Plessis, “The Branded Mind” looks at how psychology and neuroscience are increasingly affecting the world of branding and marketing.
In his book, du Plessis provides some unique insight into how both emotional and rational factors come into play when a consumer is deciding on a product or a brand, and the ways in which emotions, moods, personality, and culture impact our decision-making processes.
“The Branded Mind” also talks about how brain scanning tools like EEG and fMRI are helping—and sometimes preventing—marketing agencies from building effective marketing campaigns.
Here are some highlights of du Plessis’ book that—to me—really made sense:
Make customers work for your product (but let them think it was their idea).
May 18, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
Designers love to talk about the importance of “usability.” And—when it comes to how a product works—I agree: a product should be easy to use.
But what about the buying process? The sales process? Should you make it easy for customers to buy your product?
Common sense says “yes,” but 4 new studies by Professor Ying Zhang at the University of Texas’ suggest that this isn’t always the case.
Market Research Week 4: Telus, Mobilicity, Wireless Wave, and Bell.
May 16, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
For this edition of Market Research we went to Kingsway Garden Mall.
I've been thinking about getting a new phone lately, so I suggested we check out some of the cell phone companies in the mall and see what they're doing for in-store marketing.
We visited Bell, Mobilicity, Telus and Wireless Wave and—in addition to checking out their branding—we examined their sales techniques as well.
Keep on reading to see what we discovered.
Writing Techniques: How To Become a Better Writer.
Apr 11, 2011 by Bryan Saunders
Writing isn’t easy. As a writer and editor myself, I’ve learnt this firsthand.
While there isn’t a magic formula for creating amazing content, here are a few tips—based on neuroscience and psychology—that will help anyone become a better writer.
Market Research Week 3: Holt Renfrew.
Apr 5, 2011 by Yuriy Sklyar
This week we have decided to check out the Edmonton downtown core and what it has to offer in the luxury goods sector. After checking out the TEDxEdmonton luncheon with the entire team (which was awesome by the way... if you are free for the next one, do try to make it out - interesting people and great debates; lots of stuff to take away), we walked across to Holt Renfrew, which is considered to be a very high class department store.
Is good visual design built into our DNA?
Mar 25, 2011 by Shaun Smylski
Since the dawn of humanity, an ever evolving “How-to” book of survival has been hardcoded into the DNA of every human being.
When it comes to neuromarketing and visual design, this has some interesting implications.