A brilliant video from Lorna Jayne – a great Aussie Brand – on how they are using social media. I love her passion for the customer and brand.

If you’ve got a first class ticket, the highest level of status with the airlines network and partners, the highest status with the brand in another market, you’d think that would be enough to get you access to the airline lounge. But alas, not so with Virgin America.

And their employees think it sucks too. One said to me today ‘we get that complaint a lot, it’s a stupid rule’. So, how does the employee drive a solution and provide that feedback to management – how does a customer?

This is where platforms like Salesforce Chatter and Ideas come into their own – when matched with a new management playbook.

Virgin is a brand I love. Virgin Australia is brilliant and the employees seem much more empowered to drive customer delight than those here in the US.

But in the age of the connected customer, brands need new systems of engagement to overcome the inevitable service failures that come with scale.

That’s how great brands become greater.

I was asked the other day for a list of my favourite brands. So here it goes. A post a week for awhile on brands I love, collect and follow. First up, Heath Ceramics – simple, elegant, honest designs. Natural tones. Pure quality. What’s not to like.

Here’s an interview with Catherine Bailey of Heath.

Change is always equaly parts terrifying and exciting.

This morning we announced that I’ll be moving on from CommBank. It’s been an amazing journey. We did what we set out to do, and then some.

In 2011 I joined CommBank with the specific aims of working with you to relaunch our Brand, enhance our marketing effectiveness and accelerate our momentum in digital, mobile and social.

We have made incredible progress on all fronts but more importantly have made it simpler and easier for our customers to engage and bank with us. Today they enjoy doing business with us more than any other Bank. Our brand and marketing resonates more than ever. And we are engaging our customers through industry leading applications and social platforms. I am enormously proud that our work together has had such a positive impact.

After a great deal of reflection I have decided that the time is right for me to leave CommBank and say “can” to new opportunities. This is in part due to the tremendous progress we have made together – and, in part, the passion I have for building great brands and engaging customers through technology.

It is has been a privilege to lead such an exceptional team and be part of such a remarkable story. It feels like we have compressed four years of work into two, and I appreciate the energy our team and Agency partners – especially Icon, M&C Saatchi and One Green Bean — have all brought to our work together. You can be very proud of what we have done for one of Australia’s most important brands and the positive impact you have all had on our customers.

More than anything though I feel very privileged to have got to know so many of you personally and shared in your lives – and hope that continues well into the future. 

The Spokesman from dean saffron on Vimeo.