As well as his high profile work with these monsters of rock, Bernie Torme is a talented songwriter and recording artist.  we spent some time exploring:

1. How the creative process works in music and how that translates into businesses looking to innovate
2. How working with rock stars with massive egos has a parallel lesson for people attempting to lead creative / precocious people
3. Presentation, performance and impact
4. Improvisation and creativity in music and business
5. Dealing with conflict and trouble at work – Rock’n'Roll is an excellent arena for learning such skills
6. Parallel lessons from the music business for business leaders

These days Bernie divides his time between his recording studios and work with his band GMT.  He is also available for business events and conferences where the audience get to interview him on a range of topics alongside cameo performances of his work if required.

On stage Bernie is a mighty force to be reckoned with.  Yet, in the pub, he is a great raconteur with fantastic insights and stories about the crazy world of rock’n'roll.  Contact me here or via Musical Experiences if you would like to book him for an Academy of Rock experience!

Finally, here’s Bernie playing a solo with his band GMT:

Peter Cook is the Rock’n’Roll Business Guru, delivering exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business and music.

One way to think about a brand is a kind of ‘shorthand’ designed to stop consumers from thinking about anything else other than your brand / product.  Get branding right and you have customers for life.  Get it wrong and you may never take off in business.

Take a look at this ‘basement video’ I made with my colleague Phil Hawthorn to understand the power of brands.  We look at Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Nike, Madonna, Pepsi and Prince in this short video.

Unilever is a particularly interesting example of a brand which has managed to preserve the diversity of its many different operating companies, which, in their own words:

“We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life”

This is exemplified down to the last detail in the logo for the company, which sells products from Dove, to Lipton Tea, to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and the logo carries meanings which include freshness, love, beauty, science, farming, freedom and so on – a pretty tall order for any corporation to live up to, but a mighty ambition nonetheless.

The ultimate test of a brand is the extent to which it enables your company to have longevity as Unilever have demonstrated over 120 years.  To see what I mean through the power of music, take a look at the 45 year old brand that is Pink Floyd:

And finally, purely for fun, the word branding began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp.  In a moment of musical madness, my Country and Western Glam Rock band (The Cowpokers) took this lesson literally, in a satirical pastiche of the classic Queen song ‘We Will Brand You’.  The audience is initially deluded into thinking that the rhythm track will be exactly as the original, but later on find out that it is not….

We are speaking / performing about brands and customer service at the Customer Service Training Awards on Friday 8th July at Heathrow.  Check out our starter menu of corporate event offerings for your next conference at RUEXPERIENCED.

Recently they got a large audience to attend a magnificent event to ignite improvisation and innovation.  Entitled “Jammy Creativity”, NORIBIC combined social networking with some serious messages about innovation, entrepreneurship and business development with the consumption of jam, via Fraser Doherty who is a 22 year old entrepreneur and founder of Superjam, which supplies sugar free jam to major supermarkets  in the UK.  What is really interesting about Fraser is how he managed to get past all the obstacles to get his product to market – no mean feat, when corporate buyers are concerned.

Alongside that, NORIBIC were kind enough to ask me to present ideas on corporate improvisation via a keynote seminar and a series of live demonstrations involving the audience.  Dangerous stuff indeed, working with people you have never met before to produce beautiful music together!  This culminated in a joint performance with members of Derry based rock / folk sensation John Derry and the Heads.

Here’s a video that NORIBIC made of the event for your enjoyment.

In the warped words of the Rolling Stones “It’s only jamming, but it leads to profitable innovation”…

Peter Cook is The Rock’n’Roll Business Guru and leads The Academy of Rock, delivering exceptional corporate events that blend business and music.

Keeping up with the latest available technology can be an impossible and sometimes thankless task, but is a necessary evil in this day and age, if only to be able to compete in the business market and keep one step ahead of your rivals.

Unless you already have a basic understanding of what you need to learn it is always a good idea to either pick the brains of a colleague or friend who is familiar with the product or employ someone that is capable of leaving you fully understanding what they have taught you.

Under no circumstances should you seek help from someone who is not able to explain the process in plain English themselves and certainly never even consider employing the services of someone like Brian Badonde as you can see from this following video clip!

Thank God that Brian Badonde is a fictional comedy character, the roving art critic on TV’s Facejacker who is being used to promote this series of video clips sponsored by Bing that show one mans ignorance toward the Art of Technology.

Badonde is in fact on a mission to find out how he can embrace the latest tecnology available and how it can be used to enrich his already extravagant lifestyle.

In future episodes of this hilarious series Bandonde will cause his usual mayhem by taking control of a class of adults on the first step to learning about how to use a computer and learning to ride and race on a Segway vehicle in Los Angleles.

You can see the whole series by visiting the You Tube Art of Technology here.

Sponsored by Bing

Whether you need address labels or a safety sign, it’s important that your labels be well-designed and project the right impression of your company.

Labels can be a crucial part of making a good impression on potential customers. Oftentimes, a customer’s contact with your business will be through mailings, packaging, product labels or signs. These labels will become part of your business’s identity and will shape the ideas customers have about your company. Poorly-made labels could make customers think your business is run by people who don’t know how to use technology. Customers may believe products with boring or confusing labels are also boring or confusing.

Professional labels can also increase sales and your customer base. When address labels, product labels and signs are eye-catching and sharp, they are more likely to grab customers’ attention. When customers can’t distinguish between similar products, they are more likely to choose the one with the best-looking label. Companies that post a well-designed safety sign show customers that they are concerned about their well-being.

If you can’t afford to hire a graphic designer to create professional labels, many computer software programs make it easy to design them yourself. Don’t let poorly-made labels create the wrong idea about your company.

Build A Brand In 30 Days with Simon Middleton

Simon Middleton’s business self-help book ‘Build a Brand in 30 Days’ has shot to the top of the ‘Small Business Branding’ chart on Amazon.

‘Build a Brand in 30 Days’ brings intelligent brand strategy into the realms of every businessperson and every business regardless of size. You don’t need a marketing degree or intensive training to build an attention-grabbing brand; you just need this book – and 30 days.

“No matter how high your budget the fundamental truths of brand and branding remain the same,” explains Mr Middleton, who has advised British Airways, Barclays, Aviva, Pret A Manger, The Broads National Park on branding.

“’Brand’ isn’t to do with logo, or even with advertising, but with meaning. Your brand is what YOU mean to your audiences, and it consists of four vital elements: being authentic, being distinctive, being compelling, and being good at something.”

Middleton made an appearance on BBC TV’s Newsnight in discussion with Jeremy Paxman  last week about the effect of the Quantas A380 incident on the brand of Rolls-Royce.

See our review of Build a Brand in 30 Days by Simon Middleton.

The alliance appears to be well on target and Renault are about to hit the road on an incredible European tour to showcase their brand new electric vehicles in the form of the Kangoo Express ZE and its sister the Fluence ZE.

For the next six months, both vehicles are being tested by 2,000 people across Europe, who are being given the chance to get behind the wheel of both vehicles to find out for themselves just what the public can expect when they are released for general sale in Spring 2011.

Renault have already estimated that electric vehicles will account for ten percent of the world market by 2010 and have been striving to develop their own range of vehicles that will cater for the tastes and needs of all their customers.

The Kangoo Express ZE and Fluence ZE are the first two from a range of four vehicles that the French manufacturer expects to release in 2011. All four vehicles have been designed and developed to incorporate the most cutting edge technologies at an affordable price for Renault customers.

Company owners should consider the kudos of being among the first in the UK to use such vehicles, particularly as the Kangoo is already among the most popular of small commercial vehicles and offers ideal advertising opportunities in its Zero Emissions form.

As the vehicles are basically the same as the petrol and diesel engined varieties that are already on the UK roads, insuring such vehicles should not be a problem, but its worth getting a quote from Admiral car insurance or similar before placing an order.

While the two Renault models will not be available until Spring 2010, interested parties are invited to visit the renault-ze.com website to place pre-orders for either of the zero emission versions of the Kangoo Express and Fluence.

The website allows buyers to select their vehicle and enjoy priority access to their choice when the two models go on sale.

Build A Brand In 30 Days with Simon Middleton

Simon Middleton is promoted as ‘the brand strategy expert’ in his new book, Build a Brand in 30 Days.

Brand is serious and important to your business: but it’s also very simple in its essence. Brand is about meaning. In short, your brand is the sum total of all the meanings that all your possible audiences carry around about you in their heads and in their hearts.

Build A Brand In 30 Days is divided appropriately into 30 days each with a clear exercise to follow.

I am always sceptical about self or business help books that attempt to sell you a concept on the basis that anyone who buys this book and follows these simple steps can reach their goal’.

Life isn’t as simple and straightforward as that.  If it were, anyone who put any effort or dedication into running a successful business would indeed be…. successful.

Branding is probably something that many small business owners overlook, believe is not approrirate to their business due to size or cost.  But theis book shows it is important and can ve applied for less money that is often perceived; and like all good business books, it helps you to focus on a strategy and a way of thinking.

Aimed at new enterprises, businesses struggling to stand-out from the crowd or in need of reinvention, Build A Brand In 30 Days shows you how to create, manage and communicate your brand profoundly and effectively, in just 30 days, by following 30 clear exercises.

In his introduction Simon Middleton states the reader can use Build A Brand In 30 Days to:

•    Educate yourself fast in the art of branding
•    Actually build a proper brand for your business or for any of its products or services
•    Build a brand for a charity or public sector organization
•    Build a brand for your team or department within a bigger organization
•    Build your own personal brand in order to enhance your career

What I like about Simon Middleton’s book is the way he has broken down the exercises into bite-size chunks, allowing the small business owner or would-be entrepreneur to see the wood from the trees; and by undertaking these 30 exercises, even if it takes longer than 30 days, the focus you will achieve with your company brand will for sure raise your company profile and help you onwards, towards business success.

Build A Brand In 30 Days shows you how to:

•    Establish your brand values and positioning
•    Get the all-important name right
•    Bring your brand to life
•    Turn your customers into your advocates
•    Manage your PR and use your marketing budget wisely
•    Inspire your staff to live the brand
•    Deal with problems when something goes wrong

One of the exercises explains how to create a ‘Personality‘ for your business that customers will respond to.  Reading some of the points also helps you to look at why you like other brands and  to apply that to your own brand.

Build A Brand In 30 Days is the ideal guide to branding for entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises (SME’s). Published by Capstone, price £12.99.

The project will allow young people across the capital to gain invaluable experience within the arts and includes partnerships with London’s leading art galleries, Hayward Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, South London Gallery, Tate Britain and Whitechapel Gallery.

The investment will facilitate a three year programme that will give young Londoners aged between 13 – 25 from across the city unique access to the museum directors and curators, artists and collectors who shape the British contemporary art scene.

Holiday makers and business people alike were stranded around the world waiting for the ash to clear the sky-ways of Northern Europe before they could embark on their journey home.

The television news programmes appeared to be revelling in the grief of stranded passengers as they turned up at various air and sea ports to report on the latest situation.

Many travellers were willing to pay extortionate amounts to get themselves closer to home, while others simply had no choice but to sit and wait for the skies to clear.

While insurance companies and the UK Government argued about who was to blame and where compensation should be paid, it was reassuring that the UK’s largest credit card provider responded by announcing that it would re-imburse card holders with any charges they had incurred when withdrawing emergency cash abroad during the disruption.

While these charges may be minimal in the scheme of things it is none the less commendable given how sceptical of the financial institutions we have become during the credit crisis.

The financial institutions really need to show that they are helping out their customers in these difficult times and while others are withdrawing their zero percent transfer offers on credit cards, MBNA still offer this service along with other low APR credit card offers.

Re-imbursing charges incurred while drawing cash to cope with the volcanic disruption may appear a token gesture, but it is also a good business move, helping restore a little faith in an industry that has dragged us all through the mire during the financial crisis. It may well be worth remembering next time you apply for the best credit card deals that MBNA at least did something for their customers while others chose to blame everyone else.