Observation Day 8: Multiple locations makes you hot

Observation: Many brands, such as Gap pictured here, mention location in their communications. Looking at it, for some reason it made me feel like I wanted to be a part of it. It made me feel that they are hot, happening.

Donna Karan, Jo Malone, Cath Kitson and some agencies do this. By mentioning the cities they are using the allure, the imagery of those cities applied to their brand. In addition to tapping in to a deliberate tourist dollar in high traffic cities such as London. By mentioning the cities they show scale and to some degree, sophistication.

Opportunities:

- Use the trend, but do it tongue-in-cheek. What if your locations are Stoke-on-Trent, Essex and Manchester - be proud of your anti-big city roots. Or, use your localisation - if you only serve a small town, be proud and share the pride with your customers in all your communications. If you have manufacturing in Spain, China and Thailand, why not make them the anti-heroes and get your manufacturers involved in your advertising (ok, it has risks, but could work).

- If you are looking to expand the scale of customers, how can you efficiently claim locality in their nearest city? The addition of an agent in NYC and Shanghai suddenly gives you global reach. Which would of course need to be backed by quality delivery.

- Business idea: take the serviced office idea to the next level, make it co-working spaces that extend online and inter-city as well with active encouragement to network between co-working cities. Put enough entrepreneurial people in a room and businesses will incubate themselves to a global scale.

- If you are global - you could add to the mystique and allure of being global by promotional activities - have Tokyo day in your store, arrange transfers between offices, give people a window into the other cities showing fashion shows and lifestyles in the other city - with curated city brand stories.

- My feeling is this builds on that old adage, "success breeds success". Instead of using cities, could you use growth statistics, employee promotions, number of sales, people dressed, clients served in your banners and communications. Show how hot you are - and watch people flock to it.

It's powerful.

Observation Day 7: Your normal

Observation: Walking the streaming, deliciously fragrant, multicultural and multi-coloured laneways around London's Brick Lane it becomes clear that for many there that may appear radical if placed in the heart of the trading district, this is their normal.

It's both a celebration and a chance to be one of them, if only just for one day (assuming that this isn't your normal).

Opportunities:

- Create a 'just for one day' business where people can live the life of an artist, a street vendor, a city trader or an advertising exec. Just for one day.

- Create a vertically integrated business not along production lines but amongst lifestyle lines. If your customers are middle class go-getters paying off their mortgage and supporting their children, can you add a car dealership or family holiday business. The focus (and value) is on your relationships with your customers, the expertise can be brought (or bought) in.

- Marketing idea: Are you assuming your normal is the same as others? How can you bring along new people to your view of the word, appreciating your product or service?

Photo credit: Jarek Jarosz

Observation Day 6: I never knew I wanted vintage butter dish

Observation: Hundreds of people braving biting winds and an early weekend morning to trawl through piles, tables, racks and stacks of stuff at a car boot sale.

Somehow, most people end up walking away with something they never knew they wanted. In my case, a vintage butter dish. Asking people why they loved it, they responded that it is the prospect of a bargain, the joy of finding something to add to their collection, the amusement of finding so many strange things and the slightly voyeuristic interest in seeing people's lives on sale.

There is so much to take from this simple experience - from the raving fans that hunt for years for their favourite pieces, the creation of a satisfying and inspiring hunt for a bargain and the creative inspiration that comes from the unexpected.

For now, I'll focus on one opportunity, the notion of creating a delightful rummage.

Opportunities:

- Create a virtual rummage sale. Each page is 50-100 images (a cross between google images with iPhone functionality). People can quickly scan what is available, maybe location limited, click through to price, live text-haggling and standard buy-now facilities.

- Create a virtual job-lot / car boot dump (maybe in addition to the above). People literally dump the contents of what they have to sell, take a pic, people get to 'rummage' through the images, tag what they are interested in and live-chat or email to finalise the purchase.

- Marketing idea - if you have a strong brand that people re-sell or trade, be it jeans or memorabilia, why not create a virtual meet-up or a virtual flash-sale for them all to meet and trade?

Observation Day 5: Community noticeboards are crap

Observation: Community noticeboards are in general, rubbish. Tatty, ill-maintainted, bad locations and even worse content. This is a prime example slapped to the side a a building.

By all accounts, it is healthy for the community and individuals themselves to be involved with others in the community. So how do we get to this goodness with such woeful tools?

Opportunities:

- Co-source subsidised community wi-fi for the neighbourhood, gaining discounts for people and importantly a central, literal, home page where people can organise events, lobby for change or discuss isssues.

- Have a community van. Like an old-fashioned ice cream van, it comes round with music playing, but people can come learn about things in the hood, meet with others there and it can even sell things to be self funding or more. This could be extended into a business where this concept is run across multiple councils.

- Create easily programable and extremely robust digital versions to increase engagement and updates. Could include on location at popular local bus stops.

Observation Day 4: Portion Control

Observation: Small grocers often sell using bowls, not kilograms.

It gives them a clear minimum sale, speeds up the transaction and creates a colourful and impactful display that almost becomes an impulse purchase via the enticingly easy to grab bowl.

It's smart and leaves me with the question, what else could we portion control?

Opportunities:

- Portion control your service business. No more small value, high admin transactions - make your minimum sale a day, a week, $500. If you set the terms up front and show why you are worth it, people will accept it as good business practice.

- Start a fully portion controlled restaurant / eatery - all meals served come in 100cal, 200, 400cal sizes so you can easily manage a healthy diet. Builds on the 100 calorie snack bar trend.

- Make your product or service a deliciously appealing impulse purchase. For example, add a tick box for 5 hours consulting + 1 hour free to your next invoice. Bundle your product with a complimentary one and pitch the bundle to a retailer. Examples include drinks and a snack bar for convenience outlets (a proven successful sales driver), umbrellas + tissues, ice creams + a cooler bag or perhaps you can bundle small business tax advice with doing their personal advice too.

How can you make your product a deliciously bite sized morsel?

Observation Day 3: Can my bag sit here?

Observation: Half of the seats in a cafe are taken up by bags.

Yes, this may be an effective social technique to keep some distance from others and a clean, convenient and safe spot to be able to reach it. But it also takes up seating space and is not necessarily safe.

Opportunities:

- Create a new type of chair with an extra 'shelf' under it for your Stuff.

- Create a chair that has an in-built storage box in it, similar to the old-fashioned school desk. In fact, why not make the table a hinged box similar to the old fashioned school desk? You could even leave secret messages in there for customers to find.

- Marketing / business ideas:

- Are you a high-end fashion retailer? Why not have a cafe or champagne lounge with special padded seats just for beloved handbags, or handbag dogs!

- Are you a retailer or f&b outlet near an airport or train station? Why not create a safe corral space for people's luggage so they can relax in comfort and traffic flows smoothly (and quickly, allowing you to serve more people).

- Similar concept, but in a high retail area - why not have fun with it and call it the trophy table, where people can proudly display their purchases. It could even be an elevated addition to the table where people can display their favourite purchase of the day - be it shoes, a vase, pot plants?

Imagine the PR and word of mouth opportunities it would bring.

Observation Day 2: How to shop when you can barely walk?

Observation: An old man pausing with his shopping on a bench outside the supermarket. Standing there with his eyes closed clearly marshalling himself for the next stage in the journey home.

How to get food when you can barely walk, have a tight budget and are from an era that pre-dates popular use of the net?

Opportunities:

- A meet your neighbour community programme where you get to know your elderly neighbours and once a week walk with them or drive them to get their groceries. Get sponsorship from a major retailer so you both get 10% off and they get more traffic.

- Retailers to create a specific community support programme for the seniors in their area, offering free home delivery and on pension days arranging a volunteer roster to shop and walk home with them. Heck, why not make it an outing day, going for a picnic or sight seeing once a month followed by a shop for heavier items with all people dropped off home at the end.

- Have a limited-time window concierge service each week so all those in the area with limited mobility can have a pick-up or at least a drop off with their groceries.

- Design a super-light weight, inexpensive and easy to operate shopping buggy (cross between child buggy and A frame) that requires limited finger mobility and requires limited bending over to use.

- Retailer to offer loyalty shopping carts (the fabric covered kind) for senior customers - they get a stamp per shop and from 20 stamps they get a branded cart.

Imagine the good, the publicity and the brand loyalty.

Image credit: Amelia PS