Serial entrepreneur with 25+ years & 2 exits. Led a publicly traded company to £250M+ valuation. I share the strategies that actually work for scaling businesses & developing leaders. 10,000+ founders read my weekly insights on growth, M&A, and building winning cultures.
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Before you spend on media, read this | The Growth Mindset
Published about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Before you spend on media, read this
Read time: 4 mins
Hi Reader
What do snacks, bitcoin and AI failures have in common? Absolutely nothing – except they’re all in this week’s newsletter. Sometimes, the best ideas come from the unlikeliest places, whether it’s learning from AI disasters, spotting marketing brilliance at an airport gate or digging into the surprising economics of going green. So, grab a coffee (or a bag of Boundless Chips – more about this below), and let’s see where the inspiration takes you.
Enjoy!
Find the best growth channels for your business
I came across some great media research that’s been released recently – Profit Ability 2.0. Essentially, it helps you understand how media channels play into the long and short of brand building and, this week, it won the best Application of Analytics at the Market Research Society (MRS) awards.
Some take-outs from it:
If you include long-term profit effects, advertising generally creates £4+ profit ROI.
All channels pay back in the long and short. Even Pay Per Click has long-term effects.
All categories would benefit from more TV in their plan.
Print, Cinema and Radio are underinvested and currently generate a higher % profit than their % media spend in plans.
TV is the best “performance” channel. It pays back most, quickest.
Brand managers need to be aware of saturation points as they could be overspending in younger digital channels.
Although the report is based on larger brands, any company can use it to determine the best growth channels that are available and how to structure their spend across them. Check out the study here.
Is this the year’s best collection of fascinating facts?
Something I look forward to at the end of each year is design consultant Tom Whitwell's list of 52 things he learned over the last 12 months. It’s such a quirky and brilliantly curated collection of Freakonomics-style facts that it’s little wonder the list goes viral every year. One of my favourite nuggets from 2024’s rundown is that around 10% of Anguilla’s GDP comes from fees for its .ai domain name. Read the full list here.
Why it’s cheaper being green
It's cheaper to invest in green tech than the alternatives. Or at least that's how companies perceive it – meaning that it's easier for these companies to borrow and invest. Investment strategist Joachim Klement has crunched the numbers on this, which you can read here. At the same time, this Harvard Law study reveals that the number of ESG funds is dropping as formerly “greenwashing” funds close to avoid violating new regulations. The ESG market has tightened, in other words, but investor interest remains high.
A clever way to share your brand on social
Last week, following its launch into WH Smith Travel, a smart community manager from snack company Boundless Chips posted a TikTok of him scanning a bag of the tasty treats to get through airport security. The gates opened and viral chaos ensued online, with millions of views across social channels and the burning question from users being: “Can you really scan a snack as a boarding pass?” It’s a great reminder that you don’t need always a big marketing budget to get cut-through because a simple (and sometimes silly) idea will do it.
Lessons learned from AI start-up disasters
HackerNoon has come up with a useful set of dos and don’ts for anyone launching a start-up that has AI at its heart. For example, it emphasises the importance of creating Maximum Precision Products (MPPs) that excel in a single task, rather than broad, multi-function AI solutions that can become resource drains. And if you’re the sort of person that likes your insights served with a side of schadenfreude, then some of the epic fail tales here will definitely hit the spot. Take a read to help build focused, user-centric products that stand a better chance of success.
How a B2B software company became one of the world's largest owners of bitcoin
MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm, has transformed into a major bitcoin holder under CEO Michael Saylor's leadership. Since 2020, the company has invested approximately $22bn to acquire 386,700 bitcoins, averaging $57,000 per coin. This strategy has led to a significant increase in MicroStrategy's stock value, outperforming even tech giants like Nvidia. This excellent long read from Trung Phan gets to the heart of the story. All particularly pertinent right now considering Bitcoin’s recent bull run.
Discover over 800mn free-to-use creative works
Searching for that killer image for your next presentation or a musical soundbed for a product video? Openverse has you covered.
Failure to launch
As January swings into view, many of us will be thinking about plans and resolutions, whether in business or our personal life. But making the first move to enacting those ambitions can easily fizzle out. Here are the signs to watch out for so you can recognise them – and then overcome them.
Drop me a line
That’s a wrap for this week! Hopefully, something here sparked an idea, made you think differently or gave you a laugh. If you’ve got a story, insight or quirky find you think should be featured, then do get in touch. Let’s keep the ideas flowing and the conversation going.
Cheers! Adam
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Serial entrepreneur with 25+ years & 2 exits. Led a publicly traded company to £250M+ valuation. I share the strategies that actually work for scaling businesses & developing leaders. 10,000+ founders read my weekly insights on growth, M&A, and building winning cultures.
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