It’s with enormous sadness that we heard of Vidal Sassoon’s death yesterday.

Women owe Sassoon a lot. He changed hairstyling forever – from being about the set to being about the cut, and in doing so helped to free women to live the lives they wanted.

The salon industry also owes Sassoon a great debt of gratitude. Not only making hairdressing a creative profession that many have subsequently made fabulous careers from but also training them along the way.

Finally Dew Gibbons owe him a great debt, he gave us one of our best credentials, one which we effectively build our business on.

In all the work we did on his brand across a number of years we only met Vidal 3 times. He was an extraordinary vital and energetic man and much to our astonishment he remembered our names in each subsequent meeting. So not only was he extraordinarily creative he also had enormous interpersonal skills – it’s very rare to find those two skills together in one person and they were exactly what was needed to revolutionise an industry.

It seems to us that the issue of compliance – the adherence or otherwise of patients taking their drugs – is massive.

As OTC brands face ever-increasing competition from both the generics and retailers, how they do their bit to overcome compliance problems could provide a useful weapon in their armoury for building engagement with their consumers and differentiating themselves from their competitors.

Up to a staggering 50% of prescribed medicines for long term care patients are used incorrectly and although the research on OTC compliance is a little uncertain it is suspected that the figures are even worse. This waste is enormous in the context of the annual NHS drugs bill of £10 billion and rising. But from the point of view of an OTC brand or one of the emerging umbrella brands the opportunity to really grasp the compliance issue is equally enormous.

Much more could be done to help consumers with the packaging (for instance why has the blister technique for the contraceptive pill not found greater use elsewhere?), but in my mind the real villain of the piece is the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) – even its name evokes a yawn. The PIL has to be one of the most turgid pieces of consumer communications ever invented. Despite the best efforts of the MHRA in the UK – for instance with their ‘PIL of the Month Award’ (the Oscars of the PIL world and definitely not to be missed) and revised legal obligations requiring manufacturers to test their leaflets with consumers – no one has really grasped this as a piece of consumer communication. Only one ‘winning’ example in the last two years utilizes any form of visual communication and even then the illustrations were of the poorest quality.

I’m prepared to eat my hat if more than one in 20 PILs ever gets read. To really shake things up it just needs one brand to take this seriously and think the communication through from first principles.

Our featured image shows cartons of discarded drugs from just one pharmacy in the UK. Courtesy of Graham Phillips, Manor Pharmacy Group.

In the current economic climate we are all looking to cut costs. At the same time, a little slice of luxury or pampering helps to sweep the recessionary blues away.  For the savvy, these two elements make for a winning formula. Groupon has capitalised on this with aplomb. I know lots who have used the site and been delighted with a bargain. Others, like me, have had bad experiences.

When you see what looks like a credible massage advertised in Central London with a price saving of over 65% it seems like a no-brainer. Why not? I work hard and that enticing discount means I can spa until my heart is content without those guilt pangs spoiling it.  Decision made, I buy. You wouldn’t then expect a booking line that hardly seems to answer or a three month wait for an appointment. Once you’re booked in, would you be disappointed if you are cancelled by text the day before? Or when you eventually turn up, the location is not the beautiful Asian-inspired, haven of karma imagined but a pop-up room in an uninspiring basement office space?

Our shopping habits in the UK have changed. When we enter a supermarket, consciously or not, we are being guided on price and not brands. 3 for 2′s, buy 1 get 1 free have become our shopping staples. Great for us consumers but damaging for brands. Brand loyalty is constantly being challenged.

There’s nothing wrong with a bargain, I’m the first in the queue. Just be careful, do your research in advance. The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ still holds true.

We were at the world’s biggest beauty, spa and wellness exhibition last week and in our latest edition of Open Eye we have packaged up our pick of the best, most innovative and the downright crazy in the endless human quest for inner, but mainly outer, beauty. You can read it here.

Something we’ve spotted around the corner at premium cosmetic specialists Aesop.

Aside from lovely packaging and products to match, we feel they’re using a classic yet effective merchandising innovation. Lets be honest, samples are nothing new, but they rarely seem so considered as having a free pump of hand cream for pedestrians on your door – especially during the skin-chapping winter.

This is brilliant for a number of reasons. Firstly, it widens their market by putting their products in the hands (literally) of those who would not previously have known about, or had time for them. Secondly, it invites people into the store, not only as a sneaky peak of what’s on offer, but it also removes some of the intimidation of going into a premium store.

Perhaps the most important benefit of this merchandising however, is that of any product sample. It demonstrates the quality of the product and puts the consumer at the heart of the experience.

In short, it’s a simple action that beats any poster they could have put up in their window.

Based on this catchy insight The British Heart Foundation with Grey London have created an outstanding campaign uniting humour and music to get across a strong public health information message that clears up considerable confusion and helps to save lives (sadly only 10% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside hospital survive).

http://youtu.be/JR0aZX1_TD8

And who better to bring this to life than our favourite British ‘hard man’ – Vinnie Jones (plus matching thugs). What is so brilliant about the ad is the attention to the finest detail throughout. The styling, location, acting and spot on dialogue ensure you pay attention to what you are being told even down to where to place your hands … ‘on the sovereign.’

“First off you call 999 ….. I know” – look to camera

“Here’s one I made earlier …” as an ain’t-breathing ‘volunteer’ is slid across the lock up floor.

“No kissing … you only kiss your Mrs on the lips” – those reluctant to practice mouth to mouth through fear of catching something now have no excuse.

The consistency of message throughout the campaign as well as use of social media to spread the word is second to none and highlights a good idea can run and run. The campaign has already received over a million hits on YouTube.

Taking it one step further, the BHF are campaigning to get Emergency Life Skills onto the national curriculum and have started an online petition – no bad thing considering the constant pressure the NHS is under.

http://bit.ly/campaignbhf

It’s a long way from the ‘do or die’ government health messages of the 80’s and I hope the deserved success of this campaign helps raise the mission, profile and reach of the British Heart Foundation for years to come.

#hardandfast

Well at first sight it is a dramatic golden sweep of a building that raises the pulse and sets your expectations racing. But alas the reality is an overblown unfit-for-purpose triumph of architectural vanity to match any invading Roman emperor’s ambitions. What in God’s name was the client thinking of, and what hypnotic powers must the architect have held over the usually canny burghers of Colchester.

A building of enormous volume the vast majority of which is singularly useless for displaying either modern or traditional art. The spine of the building is a great wall that simultaneously curves along its length and slopes outwards as it rises – a compound curve that defies the sensible display of just about anything. The building’s footprint is relatively constrained and allows few opportunities for free circulation around large freestanding objects and an array of windows at many different levels makes the blocking of light impossible for video piece.

This is an example of architecture that’s nothing about displaying art and everything about displaying architecture – in this instance the architect’s own.

I enjoyed a really rather lovely meal at the Gilbert Scott restaurant in the new Renaissance Hotel at St Pancras last week. Great food, charming service and stunning surroundings. The building is worth a visit even if you’re not staying for food – the architects and interior designers have done a beautiful job making the most of the extraordinary ceiling heights, the unique setting and the many original features. A lot of time, money and more importantly, thought has gone into the detail of the design on every level….except it seems in the loos.

Not that they aren’t equally beautiful – but someone has forgotten one of the first rules of design. If Steve Jobs and co can design something as clever as an ipad that works so intuitively my mum can use it – how come these taps are so complicated they need written instructions? Taps!

To be fair, this is by no means the only example I’ve come across of over-designed sanitaryware. I like to think of myself as fairly bright, but I have struggled to get hot water, dispense soap (and even find the ladies’, instead of the mens’) on more than one occasion….

There’s a place for fancy-pants design – but in this bloggers view… it’s not in the loo.

1. Despite initial optimism, the service is actually terrible. It feels like the opposite of London in that it’s done with a smile but as soon as you ask a question you get a blank stare. It’s frustrating and devalues the whole experience.

2. The local women are obsessed with luxury beauty and fashion. They are groomed to within an inch of their abayas. The trends reflected in the malls are luxury – bling and gold – although some natural brands are making some impact in the market (Kiehls and Neal’s Yard in particular). Halal cosmetics are emerging on the scene too.

3. You can’t buy atmosphere. Nowhere is this more obvious than the restaurants.  The people are transient, the buildings are new and the food is imported. It doesn’t make for a genuine experience. But go off the beaten track and you can get an amazing  curry for £1.

4. They understand the value of the experience. Everything is geared around the customer journey. The aquarium in the Dubai Mall (largest in the world) was stunning and blew my three year old’s mind. Emirates give parents free use of Maclaren buggies at Dubai International Airport.  Both adding value to the experience.

5. If you are beauty junkie then you are probably in heaven. As long as you don’t apply that to the architecture. Spas are everywhere and are very good value.

6. Emirates Airline is Dubai’s greatest export. It’s wonderful. Not a peep from a three year old in seven hours due to their on-board entertainment system and treats on tap. Worth paying that bit more.

7. The scale of the haves and have-nots is laid bare as you watch the gratuitously rich drive their Lamborghinis past the thin labourers sweating in the midday sun. It makes you turn rather uncomfortably in your sun lounger as you question where you should be spending your hard-earned cash.