david hieatt

What happens when you stop doing the chalk board every day?

(Pic from the amazing @campovida, home to Do USA. Pic by @jessiewebster)

When I lived in London, I used to ride by a wine shop. Each day it changed the chalkboard outside the shop.I could feel their energy. I could feel their passion for wine. Just from them changing it everyday, I got the fact that they were bursting with love of wine.

When I went into the shop, they were as expected. They were full of young students who loved, like really loved, wine. Their knowledge was amazing. And they just wanted to share it.

I became a regular customer. I loved it.

Then one day they got sold. And almost overnight, the chalkboards just stopped being changed. I didn’t know they had been sold. But I knew it wasn’t the same anymore.

They seemed to lose their mojo. They seemed to hire people less in love with wine. And eventually, they lost me as a customer.

I later learned they had been sold. And then sold again. And they later went into receivership. Only to be saved by another company. They took the name, but not the quest to tell the world about amazing wine. The chalkboards now just say the name. Whereas it used to say: Passion.

And as customers, we love passion.

We gravitate toward it.

How to Build A Great Brand With Very Little Money. London. Nov 20th.

My Book: Do Purpose.