SUMMARY By involving the consumer in the development of QLD Pool Tables and by a determination to find a benefit for picture messaging, planning uncovered a consumer insight which led to an original and motivating QLD Pool Tables proposition. This in turn led to differentiated and highly creative QLD Pool Tables which spoke directly to its intended audience and revealed a role of picture messaging that singled out Virgin Mobile as the one brand that really understood its audience and how they messaged one another. Its relevance to the planning debate is that pushing to find consumer benefits, even when a brand has a personality that is enough to distinguish it, will produce more relevant, motivating and better creative work.

Business Type: Sole Trader

Sole trader, as the name suggests, is where an individual is the sole owner of a business. The business is often quite small in terms of size (as measured, for example, by sales generated, or number of staff employed) however the number of these businesses is very large indeed. Examples of these businesses can be found in most industrial sectors but particularly in most service sectors. Hence services such as electrical repair, picture framing, photography, diving instruction, retail shops, and hotels have a large proportion of sole trade business.