Over the weekend we went to the Dippy Diplodocus exhibition at the Great North Museum. Dippy is on tour from the National History Museum – a rather famous dinosaur who has been living there for 100 years. He’s cast from a skeleton and is 21 metres long and 4 metres high. Very impressive when you see him!
Alongside Dippy there was a whole wall of information about climate change and the effects on the earth due to what we (humans) have done – as a timeline from the jurassic period until now – and how the earth could be affected if we don’t look after it.
Dinosaurs (as you’ll have noticed ’cause you’re not daft 😉 ) are extinct. They’ve not been around for millions of years.
But we still talk about them.
There’s something about them that we find fascinating. I remember when I was little, my brother and I made a newspaper about dinosaurs. I still have my dinosaur ruler from first school. We collected fossils. Now my son plays with dinosaur toys. He has plastic ones and big fluffy ones. We have books about dinosaurs. We’ve watched Andy’s Dinosaur Adventure. My son has dinosaur bedding. We actually have a toy dinosaur which lives permanently on our living room light! Dinosaurs are somehow an important part of my life – and yet they haven’t existed in so long.
What can we learn from dinosaurs that will help us build our own brands?
Dinosaurs made an impression.
Dinosaurs are one of the first impressions we have of our planet. When you think of the beginning of the world you think of Adam and Eve, Apes, and Dinosaurs. They were there right at the beginning. And they were BIIIIG. The biggest things to live here – aside from whales. Impressive.
Your first impression matters. It’s memorable. Rock up with amazing shoes or surprise people with an incredible booklet which showcases you – and people will remember. That’s what they talk about, because that first impression counts. It sticks. So get it right. Maybe we’ll be talking about you in 65 million years too? How can you go big with your impact and make a huge impression?
Dinosaurs left clues.
They roamed the earth for 180 million years. Not some meagre amount of time. That’s pretty significant. And they left traces which we are still holding on to, still finding, and still fascinated with.
What traces do you leave? These don’t have to be “things”. Dinosaurs can fill you with awe and amazement, those are not things. They did also leave fossils, you could leave leaflets, you could leave something special with your customers so that they remember the impact you made. They leave stories – made up stories that they’ve inspired and stories based on evidence and fact. What stories could you leave?
Dinosaurs get us talking.
The National History Museum says that they had “the ultimate bad day” when they were obliterated by an asteroid. Bang, and the dinosaurs were gone. It’s believed that prior to that, the earth was going through a time of climate change when the dinosaurs were wiped out. Because of this, many dinosaurs were struggling anyway and dwindling in number. Climate change is a huge topic that we are talking about now and can be inspired by the dinosaurs extinction. How much has the earth changed since then? and yet we are using the dinosaur to provoke conversation and action even now, such as the die-in with Dippy in Glasgow.
Whatever you do, there’ll be something there that you help people with. Either a pain that you solve or a problem that you ease. There’ll be important issues surrounding that. Perhaps it’s climate change for you too? Or maybe you help to boost confidence or talk about mental health or politics or growing our businesses or showing people how to clean their homes? There’ll be something that you love talking about that you can include as part of your conversation to help strengthen your brand.
Dinosaurs inspire us.
Dinosaurs are the inspiration behind so many things. Jurassic park. Dinosaur shaped soup spoons. Dinosaur patterned fabric. Dinosaur toys. Dinosaur books. Dinosaur programs. Dinosaur posters. Dinosaur parties and dressing up costumes. Dinosaurs feature on clothes and in songs. Kids pretend to be dinosaurs, roaring at each other. Dinosaur is a descriptive word for an out-dated person. We use them in jokes – Do-You-Think-He-Saurus? and of course in museum exhibitions.
How can you inspire others in your business? It may be through the conversations that you have, it may be through your actions, it may be that you leave a legacy or that you do something a certain way and that resonates with the right people – or perhaps you can gather inspiration from somewhere else – somewhere new where you’ve not looked before?
Dinosaurs are pretty amazing. If Dippy Diplodocus was alive, he’d be terrifying. Especially if he brought his friends. How can you make your business an impressive clue leaving talking point like a dinosaur?
Amy Purdie is the founder of Whiteacres (where you are now) she can help your business become irresistible to your ideal clients so that they can’t wait to work with you.
Amy has been enjoying designing logos, brand identities, illustration, print work and websites – since 2007 fuelled mainly by tea and chocolate.