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Beno Latest News Public Relations Windsor

Does your business suffer from Parkinson’s Law of Triviality?

Best known for his adage, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” former 1950s civil servant, C. Northcote Parkinson, has passed into business folklore as a wry observer of corporate culture.

So much so that the law has even gone global, as Mikhail Gorbachev observed in 1986, when Alessandro Natta complained about a swelling bureaucracy in Italy, “Parkinson’s Law works everywhere“.

Perhaps less well known is his Law of Triviality, first mentioned in the 1956 book “Parkinson’s law, and other studies in administration.”

Parkinson outlines his idea with a theoretical committee’s deliberations on a nuclear power plant, contrasting it to deliberation on a bicycle shed. As he put it:

“The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”

In other words, a nuclear reactor is so vastly expensive and complicated that an average person cannot understand it. So we assume that those working on it understand it. Even those with strong opinions often withhold them for fear of being shown to be insufficiently informed.

On the other hand, everyone can visualize a bicycle shed, so planning one can result in endless discussions because everyone involved wants to add his or her touch and show that they have contributed.

If that sounds familiar at least now you know why! Now, where did we put those bicycle clips…

Action Stations!

Classic quotes on the price of inaction…

“Never mistake motion for action” – Ernest Hemingway

“Well done is better than well said” – Benjamin Franklin

“A promise is a cloud; fulfilment is rain” – Arabian Proverb

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned” – Peter Marshall

“If you only do what you know you can do, you never do very much” – Tom Krause

“Talk doesn’t cook rice” Chinese Proverb

“If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt” – Henry J Kaiser
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Latest News Public Relations Rushlift

Rushlift Help Drive Calsonic Kansei Business Forward

Calsonic Kansei is the number one supplier of automotive parts to Nissan, and one of UK’s most successful manufacturers. Thanks to Rushlift, production remains firmly on the right road.

In the early 1990’s, Rushlift became the company’s material handling equipment supplier, and ever since has maintained this long standing partnership with the business.

Steve Ridley, logistics senior at the Calsonic Kansei Sunderland Ltd, explains: “We have worked with Rushlift for many years and have a strong relationship with them. We have gone through some changes over the years but Rushlift have always been our supplier for materials handling equipment and they have worked closely with us to offer excellent advice and service; we work well together”.

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Beno Doncaster Marketing TB Marketing

A Very Satisfying (ahem) Few Years

Yay! Today is my birthday, quite a big one too! Yep, thirty years old and I’m ver… sorry, what? Oh, okay, it’s bigger than that. Like most members of the big 4-0 club, I’m still in denial and the written number looks a lot bigger than the one rattling about my addled head.  That’s probably a good thing, as there’s a fairly slim chance I’ll start acting my age pretty soon (unless you count gardening, which of course, I don’t).

What with all the birthday shenanigans, the only-as-old-as-the-woman-you-feel –type clichés; the ‘I need to go home for a nap’ jokes (actually, not a joke) and losing my train of thought at precisely the wrong… where was I going with this… anyway, it’s natural to reflect on some of the top stuff we’ve done over the years.

In the past I’ve been involved in some great projects – Tomorrow’s World, National Superdome, Paul Eyre… but if I told you too much about them, I’d probably end up getting sued. Again. So here’s Birthday Beno’s guide to the Top 5 Most Satisfying Jobs by Doncaster’s finest marketing agency*.

Before we start, there’s no room for presentations, posters, mailers, exhibitions and loads of other stuff that didn’t make this list, but you can still see a shot of some of them here. Okay, here we go…

  •  Number 5: Our work for NAMTEC was simultaneously incredibly satisfying and very frustrating. Some nice design work by Pato, a bit of strategy from Beno and a lot of hard database work by our mate at Waspmedia meant this was the best confused job we ever did.
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Ben TB Marketing

In the likely event of a zombie apocalypse…

It appears that it isn’t just a few avid gamers, excitable slasher fans and late-night cheese eaters that have contemplated the potential risk of a zombie apocalypse. The US assistant surgeon general, Ali Khan, posted on the government’s health and safety agency blog last year in the ‘Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’ section, on how to prepare for a Night of the Living Dead scenario in your own town. However, Khan offers no advice on how best to fight off the Zombie hordes – chainsaw? Shotgun? Or even a cricket bat, popular with Shaun of the Dead enthusiasts I’m sure. Instead he recommends preparing a survival strategy ‘to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp’. Pfft, booooooorring. So, here’s the deal: we are going to explore survival techniques in the event of a zombie outbreak, firearms vs melee weapons, where to set up camp and how to stay alive whilst kickin’ ass and crackin’ skulls. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and that we at TB Marketing have prepared you for such an event – it could save your life.

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Beno Fun Stuff Latest News TB Marketing

Marvin & The Starlighters

 

 Fame at last! Great spot from our mates at Windsor… Can’t beat a bit of twist rock.

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Danielle Latest News Public Relations TB Marketing

A Bit Of A ‘Situation’ Situation

Can paying an undesirable customer not to use your products save you from brand damage- or does it because more harm than good?

Concerned that its brand image was going to be tainted by the stars of popular reality TV show Jersey Shore (nope I’ve never heard of it either) US clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch have taken the bold step of offering to pay the cast NOT to wear its clothes.

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Doosan Latest News

Doosan’s Direct Investment

Leading forklift manufacturer, Doosan, has made a major capital investment in its top regional distributor, Fork Truck Direct.

The Essex-based dealer sells over 100 new Doosan forklifts each year and aims to increase its annual turnover, currently in excess of £3.5m, by 30 to 35 percent within the next 3 years. The move follows Doosan’s recent decision to create a new standalone business, Doosan Industrial Vehicles.

DIV UK director and general manager, Tim Waples, believes the six figure investment will enable FTD to expand their coverage, as well as recruit additional sales and service personnel, and help Doosan to become the UK’s dominant player.