This has nothing to do with banking, but all to do with marketing. John Lewis, a mutual partnership retail store in Britain, recently launched a new advert. Costing £6 million, it's a remarkable ad and captures and inspires citizens across Britain, particularly women: "All over Britain, women are kneeling in front of their tellies, heads…
So we had the third and final leadership debate last night before the UK goes to the polls to vote for a hung Parliament (the most likely result). The debate is between the David Cameron for the Conservatives (leading the polls), Gordon Brown for Labour (rather gaff-prone this week) and Nick Clegg for the Liberal-Democrats…
Fascinating report in the FT this week about Global Brands, with the financial sector bouncing back the strongest of all. MasterCard and Visa led the financial pack, although Goldman Sachs saw a 25% growth in brand value over the last year … I wonder how much they lost this year? Anyways, considering banks had the…
Just back from a short haul flight to Spain. Reading the BA Business Mag, I stumbled across this (doubleclick photo to see the full-size picture): Yes, it's Joseph Stiglitz: Poster Boy! Actually, it's the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, economist and professor at Columbia University. In a short interview, he talks about life and views…
I just downloaded Harris Interactive’s 11th annual reputation survey of America’s most visible companies. The reputation survey assesses companies on a scale of twenty attributes in six dimensions … … and, during the first six weeks of 2010, Harris Interactive interviewed almost 30,000 people to see what they thought of America's 60 "most visible" brands….
Jamie Dimon’s letter to JPMorgan Chase’s shareholders was released over the weekend. It’s a great 36-page read and, although I don’t normally do this, I thought it worth reprinting some of the key aspects here as it provides a fascinating insight into a global bank’s operations. This takes the form of four posts. This first…
Jamie Dimon’s letter to JPMorgan Chase’s shareholders included some interesting comments related to banker's bonuses and TARP: “Many commentators, in an attempt to measure fairness and reasonableness of a company’s compensation payouts, have looked at total compensation as a percentage of revenue. On this basis, JPMorgan Chase’s total compensation (salaries, benefits and bonuses) was 27%…
Jamie Dimon’s letter to JPMorgan Chase’s shareholders created quite a storm of commentary amongst various industry observers, not all of it complementary. Tom Brown of Bankstocks.com says that the letter is: "outstanding. The letter isn’t just a wrap-up of how Morgan did last year (although, as is typical, Jamie’s candid on the topic)—it’s also a…
I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I know I did. Lots of chocolate, reading, walking and sleep. Eating, drinking, chocolate and chat. TV, driving, thinking and chocolate. Wonderful. During my reading I came across this, first published in the magazine Punch back in April 1957. It’s a classic and worth everyone taking…
