Two months ago I was introduced to the thoughts of Mitch Joel, a Canadian with a growing reputation as a “digital visionary” and author of best selling book “Six Pixels of Separation”.I was waiting for a delayed flight in Dubbo – filling the time by reading Mitch’s book.

Upon reaching page 51 I realised that I was discovering a few new things about the Internet – quite a statement for an old marketing hack with nearly 40 years in the business. My next thought was “hey – this guy is on to something!” – and then the sceptic in me kicked in. Is he just another marketing guy trying to cash in on a fad?

EVERYONE IS CONNECTED
Mitch’s main message seemed at odds with my background in marketing which ranged from mass media advertising to direct marketing and loyalty – and none of which prepared me for the insight that in the online world everyone is connected.

On an impulse I thought I would follow up on Mitch’s advice that warned online marketers to be highly responsive to any communication they receive. I emailed Mitch telling him how much I was enjoying his book – told him where I was etc – and wondered whether there would be any response from Montreal.

MITCH REPLIED!!
True to his words Mitch replied within a few hours – I am guessing first thing in the Canadian morning – telling me I had made his day – and asked me to stay in touch. I don’t think I was quite prepared for his reply – not being in the habit of emailing authors of books I have read – but it left me thinking about how the Internet had already worked for our design business – and raised all sorts of questions in my mind.

Back in the office I passed on the Six Pixels book to some younger, far more net savvy colleagues – and they all found something that interested them.

RED BLOG LAUNCHED
After a brainstorm or two we cobbled together some new thoughts that took shape as a blog strategy and ultimately resulted in this, the launch of our RED blog and the first post that you are now reading.

The blog will explore new thinking in retail and stimulate discussion and debate on a variety of related topics. The RED team will be given an opportunity to express their opinions and share their expertise with the wider retail community.

So here it is – our first post on the RED blog.

Thanks to Brent Riddell and Adrian Lotrean, members of the RED team, who helped develop the strategy, design the layout and implement the blog. Thanks also to Kirstie Bedford, our PR consultant, whose thoughts on social media releases were included in this blog.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Retailing has been through some tough times recently, and we feel it is about to go through some fundamental changes. Finding out what you are interested in is probably the most important thing in our minds right now so if there are any topics you would be interested to hear about please let us know.

You can expect to hear a lot of discussion around the future of retail and since we have a very broad base of clients across different design disciplines (architecture, interior design and branding) and a team which ranges in age from 22 to 58 – we expect we cover a lot of ground – hopefully some of which will interest you.

Our goal is to generate a response – not sell you something!

What do you think?