For your amusement

I recently spent a week in the woods on a fundamental bush craft course, run by Ray Mears (him off the telly). It was a tough week in which we had to learn the various arts of fire-making, shelter building and rabbit-skinning as well as generally getting used to what life would feel like if we were deprived of things we now consider pivotal to our existence. Electricity. Running water. iPhone 4.

Regular readers of this blog will know that from time to time we like to entertain ourselves by finding parallels with the consulting industry in far-flung, unexpected places. Last week’s musings on which consulting firm resembles which make of car generated considerable interest (and there’s still time to fill in our two-minute survey telling us what you think). This week it’s Harry Potter.

Carrying out some research recently, I suddenly realised that each of the Big Four firms have now taken ‘ownership’ (in that special marketers meaning of the word) of one of the major colours. Was this deliberate? Suddenly I’ve got a picture in my mind of the Chief Marketing Officers from each firm sitting round a table, each with a large cuban in one hand and a balloon of Louis Treize in the other. They're eyeing each other nervously. Blue (KPMG) and yellow (Ernst & Young) have already been agreed; red and green remain in play.