M Power is a Melbourne based public relations company that believes communication empowers. Karen Morath is the founder and Managing Director of M Power. M Power provides consulting, training and communication services to organisations largely in the locality of Melbourne

This is m-news, M Power's monthly e-newsletter. It's in its fifth year and goes out each month to hundreds of people who work in or run organisations and understand the power of effective communication.

m-news includes information about related themes - four snippets about business, organisational and individual effectiveness, communication and public relations.

M Power is a public relations company which also runs a speakers' agency and a publishing service. It was founded on the belief that communication empowers.

Karen Morath, managing director, M Power

The ‘fast four’ for January are

1. M Power expansion and relocation (gratuitous plug)
2. It's all about the brand
3. Resolutions for an effective new year
4. Good marketing

1. M Power expansion and relocation (gratuitous plug)

M Power announces three new office locations - we're now also in Sydney and the Gold Coast and our head office in Melbourne has moved to 326 Cotham Road, Kew 3101. Call us on 03 9817 4111.

2. It's all about the brand

If you haven't got a niche or a brand, you won't survive. Modern businesses don't have stuff on their balance sheets - it's about strategy, marketing, branding and intellectual property.

Source - Sue Prestney, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia, BRW December 8, 2005

3. Resolutions for an effective new year

We all make plans in January. Here is the M Power Five Point Approach to Increasing Your Personal and Professional Effectiveness in 2006 and Beyond.

1. Identify your top 5 stressors (personal and/or professional) and work out what you need to do to reduce their impact or rid yourself of them completely.

2. Establish what gives you pleasure at work or play and develop a plan that puts more of it at your fingertips.

3. Think about how you want to be perceived and start acting that way.

4. Every month, either pay something toward reducing debt or increasing your cash reserves, whatever your priority.

5. Subtract your age from 80 and this is the number of years just like the one ahead that you can statistically expect to live. Decide how you want to live in 2006 and then the others beyond.

4. Good marketing

Congrats to the VB marketing team. The Boony doll is without doubt the best gift with purchase/sales promotion since, well, anyone under 20 had heard of Boony.

It shines the spotlight on VB's sponsorship of cricket in a way that is in the spirit of the product and the sport.

We have three Boony dolls lined up at our place (and not a VB drinker in sight!), declaring that ‘the cricket's about to start’ and asking the big questions - my kids’ favourite being ‘has anyone seen my thongs?’

Those of you who don't watch cricket, drink beer, watch commercial television or live and breathe in Melbourne and haven't seen the promotion - buy two slabs of VB and you get a free plastic doll in Boony's image, that talks when positioned close to the telly.

They deserve to be selling oceans of the stuff.

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