A new model = a real brand

The phrase "a different perspective" is synonymous with Marcus Brown. He's one of the boldest, most daring marketing bloggers I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know. So it came as no surprise to me that he has crafted a completely new model for serving up ideas to clients.

The Ides of March works like this. In his own words…

All you have to do is get in touch and tell me what the problem is. It could be anything from developing a new kind of pizza, changing a process, launching or developing a new product, improving something, telling a story, repositioning something, finding staff, or getting your existing staff to smile. It could also be an idea for winning a piece of new business or finding the missing link in a brand thingy you’re trying to do for a client. It could be anything.

So you send me your problem and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours with any questions and tell you how long you have to wait for my idea. When I’ve come up with something I’ll send it through per email and you can have a look and a think and if you think you can use it then you pay me.

And you pay me what you think the idea is worth. It’s completely up to you. The absolute minimum per idea is 10 Euros. Once you’ve bought the idea it’s yours. You own it.

If you choose not to buy the idea it remains my property and I will post it on this blog.

I think anyone in the business has pondering this pricing model but we've got too much overhead and too little courage to try it. I can't wait to watch it take off and be ridiculously successful.

And I get a front row seat. One of the mechanics Marcus has added to his company is the creation of his Senate. A world-wide smattering of professionals that Marcus can call on as he needs them. I'm proud to be among the list. Here are my fellow Senators:

Victor Houghton, Jason V. Lonsdale , Grant McCracken, Christian Baujard, Todd Foutz, Angus Whines, Sean Howard, Tim Keil, Age Conte, Rob Campbell, Mark McGuinness, Rob Mortimer, Luc Debaisieux, Faris Yakob, Dan Germain, Nina Zimmermann, Paul H. Colman, Mark Earls, Fredrik Sarnblad, Andy Boucher, Richard Huntington, Henry Lambert, John Grant, Andrew Hovells, Gavin Heaton, Sebastian Oehme, Rory Sutherland, Russell Davies, David Brabbins, Charles Frith, Beeker Northam, William Humphrey, Mark Goren, Giles Rhys Jones, Gareth Kay, David Bausola, Philip Hubertus, John Dodds, Graeme Douglas, Amelia Torode, Drew McLellan, Dan Shute, Niku Banaie, Paul McEnany.

Marcus is boldly going to a completely new space within an age-old industry. Do you think he'll have any trouble differentiating his business from the pack? This is about actually doing something different, rather than just talking different about the same old thing.

That's branding at its core. You start by doing something different. What are you doing that's different?