Peter J Thomson

Lightroom Preset for Street Photography

Peter Thomson — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:53:29 +0000

I’ve been asked a number of time what presets I use for Lightroom. Street photography is a style that seems to benefit form very simple black and white because it lets you focus in on the details, the light in … Continue reading →

- Read more at London Street Photo

Brand creation for entrepreneurs

Peter Thomson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:02:00 +0000

Recently I’ve been helping more start-ups and entrepreneurs with their brand creation. My friend Klaus is working on a fitness start-up, Annabelle is working on a clothing line and my cousin Lucy has been growing her snowboarding brand. What I’ve found is that the challenges that you face starting your own brand as an entrepenuer are surprisingly similar to the work that I usually do rebranding a multinational company or launching a consumer electronic product.

A fashion entrepreneur faces many of the same branding challenges as a multinational company.
The elements of a successful brand are a vision, values, attributes, tagline, stories and key messages. The internal brand architecture is your little secret, but it will inform everything that you do. The communications framework is an external tool that you can pick and mix from to build websites, social media and marketing collateral.

Brand architecture
The vision for your brand needs to be framed in terms of the difference that you make in your customer’s lives. Aim for a short punchy statement about why you exist. This is not your tagline so don’t wordsmith it too much….

- Read more at Economics of Innovation

14mm Lens Review

Peter Thomson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:49:24 +0000

My GF2 came with the Panasonic 14mm lens as part of the kit so I never realised how many street photographers haven’t tried this powerful little lens. Recently I’ve met more and more micro four thirds street shooters and I’m … Continue reading →

- Read more at London Street Photo

Owned, earned and paid media

Peter Thomson — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:35:00 +0000

In 2009 Forrester picked up on some discussions in social media circles from people such as David Armano and codified the classification of digital media into owned, earned and paid types of media. This structure makes a classification based on the nature of the media itself rather than the activity that you do on it.

A strategy model is only useful if it helps you solve real world problems.MEC (part of WPP) see the different types of media in a sequence. First you get the message out with paid, then you feed people content in your owned media, then your story gets spread through earned media. Community management firm Temporo have a great blog post summarising the model.

- Read more at Economics of Innovation

Dose Espresso

Peter Thomson — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:28:02 +0000

Dose Espresso was the first cafe that we visited in Clerkenwell. We were exploring the Barbican while apartment hunting and needed a coffee to help brace us for the steep local property prices. It was early days in London for us so I was pretty impressed when we bumped into two Sloan Rangers in mock riding gear. I thought to myself, this is a haven of modern classiness in a sea of grungy hipsters. In the year or so since then, Dose has continued to impress as a clean, efficient and modern cafe. City bankers mix easily with Farringdon web designers and Clerkenwell architects.

The latte at Dose is small but perfectly formed.

The seating, architecture and vibe are welcoming, but not too welcoming….

- Read more at Coffee Hunter

Oxford Street Flasher

Peter Thomson — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:01:26 +0000

On the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Rd today I stumbled across a photographer using a hand-held flash to grab street portraits. It was a moment of serendipity because I was wandering along, thinking about how “asked” stranger … Continue reading →

- Read more at London Street Photo

Abtin Eshraghi Guest Photographer

Peter Thomson — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:07:24 +0000

Abtin Eshraghi is a self taught photographer from London. He was born in Iran, raised in the UK and lived briefly in the US. I first noticed Abtin’s work through Google Plus, which has a great network of street photographers. … Continue reading →

- Read more at London Street Photo

Flat White Cafe

Peter Thomson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:13:04 +0000

Flat White in Soho started in 2005 before the flat white was widely available in the UK. It was the original antipodean cafe in London and therefore the first place that I went when we landed in London after living in Colorado for a ski season.

A flat white from Flat White and a peak of the best chocolate brownie in London.

I vividly remember the feeling of sitting in Flat White in Soho on a grey London day. Homesick for the fist time and hearing the first New Zealand accents that I’d heard in months. Suddenly I understood China Town in San Francisco, the Jewish Quarter in Paris or the British expat bars in Asia. When we are a long way from home, we take some comfort in familiar accents, customs and foods. When I travel I’ve always studiously avoided the expat ghettos and sought out local experiences….

- Read more at Coffee Hunter

In search of the New New Zealand Man

Peter Thomson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:28:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we curate our identities with brands. Menswear is a particularly interesting area of branding because so many men want to entirely avoid the issue of dressing, yet it conveys so much to others and to ourselves. The worst challenge for most modern men is Causal Fridays. As my dear friend Brian Richards says, men are left in limbo on Fridays, unsure of how to dress when deprived of both their jeans and their suit. Although personally, I’ve found that a smart velvet sports coat can cover a multitude of sins.

There is a lot that we can learn from the designers and entrepreneurs who have managed to capture the zeitgeist of menswear while strongly conveying their own take on what is means to be a man. To build a menswear business requires an interesting blend of confidence and inquisitiveness.

Crane Brothers founder, Murray Crane in London.Murray Crane has built several successful menswear brands and the Crane Brothers business that bears his name is going from strength to strength. I caught up with Murray for a coffee in London during one of his research and buying trips to Milan, Paris, London and New York….

- Read more at Economics of Innovation

Gary Vaynerchuk on Social Media

Peter Thomson — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Gary Vaynerchuk explodes off the screen on YouTube the Wine Guy. I specialise in social media for brands and business, but Gary Vaynerchuk is the master of social media for individual entrepreneurs. He started as a baseball card collector and grew a multi million dollar wine business.

Gary’s presentation in 2008 at Web Expo 2.0 was a turning point in the discussion of social media in business. There are lots of other people who can give you advice about ‘how’ to use social media, but no one but Gary can tell you so forcefully ‘why’ to use social media.

If you have a colleague, boss or client that is resisting social media then send them a link to this video. In his presentation, Gary is like a human social media grenade. I’ve always believed in the power of presentations and story telling. Gary reminds us that a presentation can be compelling just because of the sheer force of personality that comes through on stage….

- Read more at Economics of Innovation