the simple answer to your serious problems

The Perfume killed 19 people outside London Bridge Station on Tuesday morning.

T’was a ripe Tuesday morning. Buttery-bright sun flowering and blossoming and rolling and canoodling across the blue fields of sky.

The Shard sharked upwards. Commuters quaffed coffees. Scuttled seriously. Too seriously. Red buses coughed. Morning dragged. Buildings yawned. River Thames danced. Sun winked.

The Perfume blushed. The Perfume laughed. The Perfume moved.

Most didn’t notice The Perfume. Most use their eyes. They can’t see. Some use their nostrils and for them everything is clear.

I was outside Pret A Manger with my Romanian friend Raz. We’d just Ctrl + Alt + Deleted our third Ham & Cheese croissant. Thrice is the spice of life, chief.

“Wow, what’s that smell babe?!!”
“Bladdyy ell luv, that bladdy tre-MEN-dous luv”

Macho Mario, a stock broker from Essex, on his day off. Adidas sandals. Short sleeve blue and white stripy Ralph Lauren shirt. Portentously pudgy. burnished Lobster red suntan.

His Wife Sparkles Sandra shouted

“Mario, let’s follow that smell… where’s it going to take us?!”

Raz and I became infected by The Perfume, too.

Peaches, artichokes, serendipitous strawberries :: Natures Orchestra :: singing.

Crescendo of courgettes. Mellifluous mangos. Sonorous shallots. Aquiver aubergines.

The Perfume was unimaginably strong, we transmogrified to Vitamin C zombies. Vitamin C-eeing things. Vitamin D-elrious.

Laughing Elephants the colour of watermelon & bouncing Sicilian Lemon’s & Raining Kiwis & Running Egyptian Mangoes

Natures Acid Trip. ZONKKKKKK.

The Perfume courted us from London Bridge to Bermondsey Railway arches.

The kinda place where they film mediocre ITV Police Drama’s with Welsh actors who say “YESSS SARGE” too liberally.

The Perfume grew stronger:: spaffing out it’s intoxicating grip.

The Perfume blossomed from Natoora.

One of the most fascinating conversations I’ve ever had with founder, Franco Fubini.

Franco wrote a spell-bindingly gorgeous book “In Search of The Perfect Peach”

the answer for everything lies in nature.

Franco and I explored the parallels of Nature, Human Nature and Brand Building.

1.BRAND POSITIONING + NATURE

Brand Positioning is like planting a seed.
Sun and water and nutrients is attention & money.

so,

where do you plant the seed?
in the crowded forrest?
or the empty plains?

Where gets more water?
Where gets more sunlight?

Seth Godin:

Pick Your Competitors. Pick Your Future
Pick Your Customers. Pick Your Future.

Knowing where to plant your seed is essential to strategy.

so many brands enter crowded categories.

crowded categories, like forests, are busy.
crowded categories, like forests, it’s hard to get consumers attention (or water or sunlight)
crowded categories, like forests, are trees fighting for space (like Sainsbury’s shelf space)

so,
where are you going to plant your seed?

Pick the category no one is playing in.

Bold Bean did with Beans.
PerfectTed with Matcha.
MOJU shots.

Escaping competition never felt so good.

2.BRAND GROWTH + NATURE

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

LinkedIn makes founders obsess with fast growth.

Franco’s biggest lesson from Nature is learning to grow slow.

Ground your feet in the puddles of pragmatism.

Play the long game.
Avoid burnout.
Enjoy the process.
Smile.

A strong barbell strategy: Macro Patience vs. Micro Impatience.

MACRO PATIENCE

On a 5 - 10 year timeframe accept your mission will take a very, very, very long time. So slooooooooow down and enjoy it.

MICRO IMPATIENCE

On a daily or weekly timeframe, move at relentless pace, make things happen out of nothing. Graft. Grind. Hustle.

That tension. Dance there.

Grow, baby, grow.
Slow, baby, slow.

BRAND LEADERSHIP + HUMILITY + NATURE

Nature is a maddeningly stark reminder that so much is totally out of your control.

“Nature has its own rhythms and processes, and while we can influence it, we can't truly control it” - Rachel Carson

Californian Fires. Thailand Tsunamis. Global Pandemics. Small pox. Trees withering. Fires erupting.

Founders accepting that so much is out of your control is freeing.

My most acrimoniously-anxious and pathologically-plummeting states of mind rouse when I try to control things outside of my control.

You can’t control an employee making a huge mistake costing you £15k.
You can’t control an investor saying no as their business took a downturn suddenly.
You can’t control the Sainsbury’s buyer picking another brand over you as they had a bigger marketing budget

Just like rain falling when you’re expecting sunshine.

It’s out your control.

the answer?
Stoicism

Stoicism distinguishes between what is within our control (our thoughts, choices, and actions) and what is not (external events, other people's actions, etc.).

"It is not things that upset us, but our judgments about things." - Epictetus

"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality." - Seneca.

"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius

5.BUILDING GREAT BRAND TEAMS + DIVERSITY

“Diversity makes eco-systems stronger” - David Beckham

Diversity is crucial for the health and resilience of ecosystems, providing numerous benefits for both nature and humanity.

Diverse ecosystems are more stable, productive, and better able to withstand environmental changes and pressures.

Your brand is an eco-system.
Your team is an eco-system.

Diverse Teams > Uniform Teams

Hire for attitude > aptitude.
Hire for curiosity > degrees.
Hire beautiful misfits > boring conformists.

6.STATUS SIGNALLING + BRAND BUILDING + HUMAN NATURE

3 universal truths of marketing by Seth Godin.

humans buy things if it gives them one or a combination of the following.

1. Status

2. Affiliation (connection)

3. Freedom (of fear)

Animals signal status + affiliation in Nature too.

Peacock wings are status signalling devises.

Rhinos:

White rhinoceroses use olfactory marking (dung and urine) to establish territories and signal their presence to other rhinos.

Yep, for Rhino’s shite is status signalling.

Turtles:

Green turtles and other sea turtles use visual displays and movements to establish dominance during mating rituals.

Elephants:

African forest elephants and other elephants use vocalisations, body postures, and displays of tusks to communicate their status and social standing.

the brand building lesson?

The best brands give their consumer a sharable-story that allows them to signals status and affiliation (or connection)

Luis Vuitton handbags:

Status Story = “I have money and resources”.
Affiliation Story = “I belong at Royal Ascot”

Supreme Sneaker Drops:

Status Story = “I managed to get the limited edition sneakers…so many people missed out”.
Affiliation Story = “I belong at East London Fashion conference”

Buying a Keep A Cup:

Status Story = “I love coffee but also care about the environment more than the average fucker”.

Affiliation Story = “look, look I’ve gotta a Keep Cup… I belong at this Vegan coffee yoga session in Victoria Park” (personally would rather rather eat my own shit, than attend one of those functions)

Tony’s Chocolonely

Status Story = “I love chocolate, but also really care about solving slavery in the chocolate supply chain”

Affiliation Story = “look, look I’ve brought a new type of chocolate… it’s thicker and each individual piece represents the inequalities in chocolate”.

CONNECTION + BRAND BUILDING + NATURE

Hunter-Gatherers are tribes. Gorillas + Monkeys. Fish + Dolphins. Birds flying in the V formation.

We crave tribes. And, connection and status are primal survival instincts.

Seth Godin - Marketing is humans version of Ants signalling to each other.

Buying Nike Crossfit trainers, give you connection to your Cross Fit tribe.

7. NATURE + SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IN BRAND BUILDING

Charles Darwin was a clever cloggs, especially with his Theory of Evolution.

Natural Selection:

Darwin's theory of natural selection explains how organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce in a particular environment, passing on those beneficial traits to future generations.

Survival of the Fittest:

Herbert Spencer used the term "survival of the fittest" to describe a similar concept, focusing on the process where organisms best adapted to their environment survive and reproduce, while others die off.

Competition in nature.

Competition in business.

No competition, no progress.

Embrace competition.

Competition makes you stronger and fitter.

Just like humans evolve, brands must evolve too.

Competition makes you evolve.

Stories + Data = Unlock Supermarket Listings
Stories + Data = Unlock Supermarket Listings
Stories + Data = Unlock Supermarket Listings

You do the Story.
North does the Data

Data speaks buyers language.
Buyers increase your distribution.
Simples.

Perfect Ted, TRIP, Bold Bean Co, DASH use North Star.

Want to know how Stories + Data can unlock supermarket listings.

All revealed in 30 minutes. Click this magical link for a free demo with Andy.

https://calendly.com/andy-northstar