Back of the net - Branding - it's all in the game

The foundations of successful branding shares a lot with  the winning principles of competitive gaming. So reckons Rishi Dhir  in a very readable and thought-provoking article.

The five principles:

1. make it challenging
2. make it competitive
3. make it rewarding
4. allow continual discovery
5. incentivise collaboration

You can find our original  post about  Rishi Dhir's article with link here


Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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The four different collaborative styles in a nutshell

Its very simplistic but the formulae below really do capture the essence of the 4 different collaborative styles:

1 + 1 = 0 -> This is Conflict

1 + 1 = 1 -> This is Compromise

1 + 1 = 2 - > This is Co-operation

1 + 1 = 3 - > This is Co-Invention

So which one are you?

Ken Thompson (aka The BumbleBee) blogs about bioteams, virtual collaboration and business simulation at www.bioteams.com.

Follow @kenthompson

Collaboration brings new selling opportunities

Made in the Jewellery Quarter was the first collaborative group formed  with the help of  Interiors & Lifestyle Futures. Its four members are all based, naturally, in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The key to success was finding a joint need – new selling opportunities.

Find out more about the collaboration of Alabaster & Wilson, Capricorn Coatings, David Louis.com and LJ Millington in this case study.

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Follow@adrianilfutures

What does a successful network of 400 West Midlands companies do next?

I had a great day with a group of very talented companies including designer/makers on Wednesday April 25 at Aedas, Birmingham.

They networked themselves silly, gave us great programme feedback and collaborated with us on the start of a design and discovery process regarding what the ILF community might do in the future! We explored numerous options including Networking, Shared Branding, Self-Help Networks and Collective Bidding Groups. To join the conversation or for more info.

Ken Thompson (aka The BumbleBee) blogs about bioteams, virtual collaboration and business simulation at www.bioteams.com.

Follow @kenthompson

Great new online resource for Low Carbon innovators

West Midlands companies looking for partners or funding for any low carbon initiatives they are planning,  should check out this new online resource: www.lowcarbonfunding.org.uk. It is intended to  be "particularly valuable to smaller technology companies who struggle to keep up to speed with the myriad of support mechanisms in the UK."

This is part of a package of funding announced this week by the Department of Energy & Climate Change, which also includes: £35m for an Energy Entrepreneurs Fund and a £3m competition for heat storage innovation.  More here

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Follow@adrianilfutures

April 25 Future gazing - what does ILF do next?

The Interiors & Lifestyle Futures' event on April 25 event is very near! A number of companies are joining the ILF team and collaboration expert Ken Thompson to thrash out ideas on how we met the needs of the West Midlands' interiors and lifestyle business community.

Looking forward to seeing those who have signed up.

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Follow@adrianilfutures