I know I know, it’s a guilty pleasure and some of us won’t admit to it but the undeniable fact is that millions DO watch X factor and even though 100,000s are turning off each week much to the anger of Simon Cowell it is great car crash TV. You probably wouldn’t book any of them to sing at your function but the reality is that we do get emotionally attached to them as characters and there is a pleasure at its’ bare minimum of shouting for the least worse (if there is such a phrase) of them. The most stunning performance in my opinion of any X Factor ever was that of 2011 contestant Janet Devlin who performed the Elvis classic ‘Can’t help falling in love with you’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osfEXfBO1LI and sends shivers up my spine.
The exploits on this weeks’ Strictly focussed mainly on whether Nancy Dell’olio was ever going to be put down by her professional partner Anton Du Beke (christened as Anthony Paul Beke in a Mrs Bucket styley) who seemed to spend most of the performance being dragged, pulled and pushed. Anton is the expert at this kind of ‘cover-up the inadequacies of your partner’ technique having spent most of last season dragging Ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe around on her backside in a new dance move called ‘The Floor-cleaner’ (or did I just make that up!. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lb9cn
On a more serious note, the new series from Fashion mogul Mary Portas is fascinating and definitely one for the SKY+ series link. It’s a very brave move for a lady who has made her television career on troubleshooting other businesses without actually having a staked interest in them in the mould of Sir John Harvey-Jones who became the staple diet of our Business lectures at University. With this project she is resting her reputation on getting things right and to never appear on TV again if she is wrong. To balance this however, she does have a wealthy backer and once the series is live, millions of viewers to help with ‘free’ advertising but it’s still a bold move. Her inciteful knowledge of fashion and marketing is great viewing and I admire above all her bullish no-nonsense approach in the face of the slightly ‘set-in-their ways’ executives of the department store ‘House of Fraser’. Her tenacity and determination is fantastic and it isn’t just a case of her just flexing her muscles but delivers results with turnover hitting well over the targets set for her. Her Modus operandi is to target the Over 40s who have the most disposable income and the least choice on the high street. Portas believes that every clothes retailer is trying to dress all women like teenagers and forgets those of more mature years or simply palms them off with a mini-skirt or some similarly unsuitable item. This is a classic marketing lesson in listening to your customers’ needs and satisfying them rather than funnelling them into what YOU THINK they should buy. There are massive opportunities in providing specialist products to niche markets rather than competing on price with everyone else. Business theory very much rejects this competition purely on the basis of price as long term there will be no winner in a like-for-like contest with margins shrunk to a position where neither company can survive. More power to Portas’ elbow in providing real customer service which we can all agree is greatly lacking in the faceless stores up and down the UK.
Until the next time….
About Author
