‘I see no ships’ named Abbey National, Bradford & Bingley, Alliance & Leicester, Nat West in Scotland or RBS in England. What is going on with our British retail banking?
In 1558 the Spanish were rebuffed by SFD but 450 years later the financial tide has turned.

Global predators are ready and able to snap up and snuff out brands that over expose themselves so vigilance is a key Intellectual Asset.

DeLaRue

Printing money has been like, well printing money for De La Rue over many years. A shame if paper making problems cause them to loose a major contract for Indian banknotes. You must be on top of quality at all times!

20 Years ago I read a book ‘The Brotherhood of Money: The Secret World of Bank Note Printers’ by Murray Teigh Bloom and recently came across this review on Amazon ‘…..deals with the production, corruption, counterfeiting and screw-ups in the world money-makers and you suddenly find yourself thinking very differently about those little pieces of paper in your pocket!

By Jove what a cracking strapline for this Fund Management Group. ‘On the planet to perform’.

Sadly this industry has had it’s woes with accusations of high charges and below par performances.
However, ‘What Investment’ have awarded Jupiter Unit Trust manager of the year 2009 and 2010.
By Jupiter Buy Jupiter as I am wont to say.

Be wary though, there are more awards than planets in the sky and not all investments give a celestial performance.

After a spell in prison, Paris Hilton now faces a law suit from her sponsor Hairtech International. Allegedly she has been wearing the wrong hair pieces, (a bit of a bald statement).
Who says blondes have all the fun, not Paris if she has to stump up $35 million.

The cult of celebrity will forgive reckless driving but wearing someone else’s hair extension, that is a personal branding no-no.

The slogan I can live with and wish this new banking venture well (it has to be better than some of the other fringe banking activities we have seen recently).

Why are Dogs being treated by the new online bank. Are dog owners more affluent pet lovers and can you love your bank last and not man’s best friend.

Skype are seeking to raise $100million in a share floatation – a ’sky high’ number (or even telephone numbers).

Hard on that announcement are more details on the trademark dispute with BSKYB over the similarity between Sky and Skype. The EU Office for Harmonisation on Internal Markets (OHIM) has already ruled in Sky’s favour on some issues.

Good news and bad news for my wife who had never ordered anything on line until last week.
Amazon didn’t have the book she wanted but great service from Alibris encouraged her to buy 4 books more than she intended.

It is good she has overcome the phobia of internet shopping but bad that she may spend 4 times what she intended – watch out credit cards.

Amazon can still deliver the goods with this book which espouses ‘businesses don’t succeed by inventing a better mousetrap; they succeed by finding the best, most cost-effective way to get rid of their customers’ mice’.

Affiliates can be a new route to market  and well chosen partners can add credibility to your web site.

Gardeners Tips content is provided daily by the jolly Gardeners at Gardeners Tips and they have appropriate affiliate links to help readers and add gardening credibility.

Young businesses must have a good over view of web activities and how they can impact on a brand. You are known by the company you keep.

Scramble! Egg the online banking business is for sale by parent bank Citigroup. Well you can’t repair a banking crisis without breaking Eggs.

Will the brand and customer base be strong enough to fetch a good price or will it be Egg all over someone’s face?
Continue reading →

Music rings the tills for HMV, no more so than at the Hammersmith Apollo. 8 store Fopp have also been bought.
Waterstones, HMV’s book retailing high street brand has had problems with  ‘It’s Supply Chain’ and online competition despite the demise of Borders.

Your supply chain is a key intellectual asset. Mismanage or ignore these assets and you get what you deserve.
Let us hope Waterstones performance picks up because customers want the vast variety of books displaying as well as being available online.