Category Archives: General

Jan 02 2020
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Brand, Business, Business Change, Business Transformation, Commerce, Consumer Experience, Consumer First, Conversation, Customer Experience, Experience, General, Innovation, Leadership, The Future, Uncategorized

20 for 2020: My predictions for the year ahead

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Image courtesy of Evie Shaffer on Pexels – Thank You

From the obvious to the not so obvious, for the last few years I’ve shared my musings for the year ahead at the break of each year and 2020 is set to be a big one so I’ve put some thought into a big list.

The below 20 predictions are informed by insights derived from three places; recurring conversations I’ve had with colleagues and clients over the last year as we look ahead together, industry roundtables and networking discussions and correlations derived with my team of data wizards (scientists make them sound rather boring) from multiple data sources.

I’ll certainly find it interesting to look back in a year and see how many were along the right lines. Grab a cuppa this is a 10 minute read (if you’re not skimming it)…

1. Voice will have a bigger say

Voice assistants continued to dominate 2019 with increased adoption of in-phone and in-home use, couple that with a wider acceptance that Alexa really isn’t interested in what you do in your spare time unless you ask her to be and it’s no wonder that by 2023 the estimated adoption will almost double from just over four billion in 2020 to eight billion voice assistants globally (source: Statista). 2020’s usage will extend through hands free use of ear buds and in car adoption.

2. 5G will destabilise mobile data expectancy

It was a big promise for 2019 that was never really delivered against so as it’s again marked for bigger adoption in 2020 many mobile experts are calling out that in fact when it does work it simply puts pressure on areas still in 3G (sometimes still 2G) to bridge the gap. The knock on effect to this is that supply chains are becoming more complex, more fragmented and finding it harder to deliver against consumer expectation at scale. This is not great news for brands with an audience who like to globetrot.

3. Next hour delivery will surge forwards

Yep, we’re a demanding bunch when it comes to getting what we want, when we want it wherever the heck we are. The rise of cashless societies and intelligent end to end supply chains – with the latter end being wherever our mobile phone is – and Amazon continuing to narrow the timeframe means we should expect; that last minute mascara drop, the oh sh*t I ran out of nappies drop and the night on the town LBD drop within an hour of hitting BUY NOW.

4. Data will make decisions

This might sound a bit obvious, but actually for all the hype around using data big or small, most brands are only really just getting to grips with analytics let alone algorithms. Brands that win will have a smart data lake set up to make insightful decisions. These decisions will be built around their consumers, geared for business profitability and secured for brand strength.

5. AI will get emotional

After years of dabbling with empathy notes through the use of AI we’ve teetered on the edge of putting it to good use, and I’m not talking about sophisticated spam (otherwise known as programmatic advertising). 2020 will see  the use of emotional AI to better predict a users need or desire and to ensure those needs and desires are reflected in how the brand interacts with them from that point on. This will move interactions from functional to emotional understanding of each journey stage from advertising through to CX for the lifetime of that relationship. The boundary between tech and human must remain intact however, it should be sentient not systematised stalking.

6. Our brains will start interfacing with computers

Not as crazy as you think! Yes it’s true Facebook acquired CTRL-Labs in 2019 and Elon got Neuralink working on rats, but closer to home there were several successes across 2019 to translate neuro-signals directly into computers in the medical field, to name a few; Texas Tech Uni translated EEG signals into emotional data, a team of scientists in Washington invented a device that can control neural circuits using a tiny brain implant controlled by a smartphone to help uncover brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, Dartmouth College Researchers identified a non-verbal, neural marker of autism offering potential to diagnose autism in the future. MedTech seeps into other industries so I suspect 2020 will see this technology being played out for experiences, I only hope Facebook don’t control the road there!

Talking of Facebook…

7. The social tech giants will feel a stronger spotlight upon them

More rigour will be put into setting rules and regulations that lend to ensure the services of big social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter help solve real, non-trivial, problems rather than create them. Following the political clusterf*cks of the past few years and the pending elections in 2020 the pressure will be on to ensure that humanity is enabled through social connection, not persuaded, influenced and cheated. Brands that win will demonstrate transparency and honesty in how they operate and use these platforms.

Meanwhile…

8. Deepfakes will work harder to stir up controversy

DF tech is not only hugely sophisticated now but more scarily it’s widely available. With the upcoming presidential election already something of a controversy I suspect that will be a big target. I only hope (as I know so many others do) that the general awareness of this tech and indeed overall fake news is leaving audiences informed enough to stop the spread.

but there is hope!

9. Not for profit news will take force 

Whilst the eye of Mordor will be on the social and for profit news platforms, the growth of nonprofit, public serving news teams will start to make a difference. In the states there are several state specific newsrooms that have sprung up over the last couple of years, and across Europe we’re seeing the same too. They will win by providing their communities with independent, balanced, informed and trusted news so that local communities can make their own decisions.

10. Humans will reconnect without tech

There is fatigue around being constantly connected to each other all of the time and just because we can be on the internet, doesn’t mean we should. In the workplace we will see continued efforts to create spaces for people to come together away from email, more workshops will take place outdoors away from the office, day to day people are booking WiFi free holidays, escaping up mountains or under the sea, families are enforcing mobile phone free time and making more effort to bring generations together more often. Hooray for real hugs and not virtual ones!

OK, we’re halfway through..

11. Pier-to-pier services will grow

Whether you’re getting your IKEA shelves assembled, your car pooled, your business funded or your lost luggage returned by a guest staying at the hotel you just left – pier to pier support networks are taking off in clusters around the globe and I think we’ll see an upward surge in adoption of these services.

12. Demand for on Demand will rise and simplify

We’ve seen a proliferation of streaming services and the (ahem) rollout of 5G should make it easier to access content on the go but, it’s been getting messy and service providers have got desperate in the greedy race against each other. 2020 will be the year consumers realise they don’t need to spend as much on entertainment and will choose their preferred supplier and cut the rest.

OK, less about tech and more about people…

13. People will focus on fun more

The last decade has largely been about saving for your future self, a self that for the masses has been thrown into turmoil by political and economical strife. As we stride into the ‘Experience Era’, we do so with consumers who are realising once again that life is for living  and freeing themselves of the shackles their previous generations held them to. We will see much more fun and excitement in how people go about their every day whilst still keeping an eye to what’s next. Brands that win will embrace and enable this as often as they can.

14. GenZ will make treads on writing the change for our future

2019 saw a huge uprising in GenZers self proclaiming to be the generation that will save us all from the damage we have caused; the world, the news, our images, our self esteem and so on. 2020 is set to be stirred up and driven even more by GenZ seeking to change the future whether; Greta Thunberg for climate change (I imagine you know who she is), Billy Monger for Adversity (a double amputee F1 racer) or Tiffany Zhong for smart investing (she’s one of the worlds youngest VC’s). And if you think you’re older and wiser you should still be listening because according to McKinsey and Gartner GenZ will make up 40% of consumers before 2020 is out.

15. Brands that ignore CX will lose out

We have seen first hand how the digital evolution is fundamentally altering consumer expectations; changing how companies and brands create, deliver and capture value. Simply changing technology or ‘doing’ digital is not enough. Our BAV  studies (you can learn about this here) showed that brands that create connected experiences for and around their consumers (CX) see on average: 51% uplift in differentiation from those that don’t, +38% brand esteem (strength and stature), 41% increase to become a top preference, see +21% emotional commitment, have +17% commitment and loyalty and +31% pricing power. It quantifiably strengthens not just the brand but the sustained business growth.  The Forrester CX Index shows that every CX focused business profited in 2019, an insight also backed by the S&P 500 that additionally highlights those that didn’t embrace CX fell in value.

16. Successful brands will show loyalty (proactive CX) before expecting loyalty in return

Smart brands know that profitability is better related to loyalty rather than constant market share growth. Having spent years challenging lazy marketers to stop handing out briefs that have the objective ‘to grow’ in them (obviously you want to grow if you’re marketing!!!) I am finally seeing many, many more brands leaning in to proactively sorting their CX offering so they can offer credible value to consumers before expecting purchase in return. These brands will win in 2020 and the next decade belongs to them.

17. Businesses will combine and simplify their revenue portfolios

Brands and businesses that understand their consumers have already started aligning silo’d teams around combined business models as an output, combining;  sales, marketing, customer services and product development. This helps de-silo customer data and provide a ‘one customer pov’ (if you believe in such a thing).  2020 will see the knock on effect of this, and as business model innovation leads to full attribution and one overall return so we will need the coming together of all revenue-driving teams.

And to end on a few big points…

18. Climate change will force business change

At some point in every business value chain there is a crossroad with nature and the ignorance to the impact of these crossroads has been displaced too much over the last few years. There is nowhere to hide and no excuse to do so anymore and I think 2020 is the year that businesses will be forced to stop ignoring the signs as their bottom lines decline whether directly or indirectly related to climate change. A mixture of social responsibility, shifts in management, technology adoption, consumer awareness and consumer loyalty combined have got us to a critical mass for changing business models in order to address their damage on our climate.

19. Consumers will enforce profit and purpose to become combined metrics through their purchase decisions

Further to my point above, consumers buy into brands that consistently and clearly stand for something good. 2019 called for brands to DO stuff not just SAY stuff and 2020 will see the evolution of this. My mantra remains steady as we head into this next year ‘Good Businesses will do Good Business’. It’s not complicated; if you’re damaging the climate then you’re damaging your bottom line. So if you use plastic packaging, find a way to stop. If your product is full of unsustainable sources, find sustainable ones. STOP putting the emphasis on your consumers and START putting it on your business.

20. Businesses will recognise that people (not tech) will lead them into the future

From start ups to global corporations, the era of relying on technology to drive the future is shifting to one that recognises more widely that technology should drive the people to drive the future. I think we will see a reprioritisation of effort and investment around human centred thinking and doing within organisations, this in turn will be reflected on how these businesses act outwardly and the uplift on brand strength and business performance will be visible. As Henry Ford once said, ‘A business that makes only money is a very poor business.’

And there you have it, if you got to the end THANK YOU. I hope you found some of it interesting and the very best of luck to you and your business in 2020.

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Jul 14 2016
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Advertising, Business, Conversation, General

Too Punchy apparently…

I originally wrote this for a university blog who asked for some tips for their students on breaking in and succeeding in the advertising industry. Apparently this candid account of my journey so far is too punchy, they asked me to ‘tame it down’, I said NO! I have just the audience who might appreciate this as it is. So I’m publishing it here.

It’s longer than my normal posts, so grab a brew, take five and I hope you find some of this useful…

My Seven Tips for Survival

My job didn’t exist when I was at uni, it barely existed five years ago. I didn’t grow up thinking ‘One day I shall be a Transformation Strategist, or a Creative Technologist’. The reason I studied Art & Design at college is because I liked my teacher who taught design at school and I wanted to create beautiful things.

When I went on to university, the degree was titled ‘Graphic Design and New Media’; my first lesson was on search engines, an introduction to Google, my degree introduced me to Flash, Quark, InDesign and Freehand and on the day I graduated all of those skills were already out of date.

The reason I’m telling you this is that my first tip for stepping into our industry is to understand that it moves and evolves at breakneck speed, there’s a new start up every two minutes and a new technology every one. You have to be on your game every second to stay ahead.

What I did learn during my studies was that design and creativity is a fluid process; the principles of craft, attention to perfection (not just detail) and experimenting with how far you could push the boundaries would always deliver a result. Following graduation I found that print quickly bored me, so I taught myself to code and started to design interfaces, basic brand websites back then, and got excited. Code seemed to not only bend the rules but break them entirely, what you could achieve with dots per pixel rather than dots per inch seemed to know no boundaries, the only limitations were those of my mind. This brings me to my second tip, always push the boundaries and seek terrain unexplored.

Having realised this I quickly sought out the best agency in my area to learn how to do just that, I lived in Leeds at the time. I waited for a vaguely relevant job to come up, then when it did, I hounded them to employ me. I got the job, my first proper footing on the ladder (this was about two years after I graduated), that first foot is the hardest but most important one you’ll ever take.

The job was as an Account Executive, I didn’t exactly love booking rooms and making the tea, but I was surrounded by clever, fun people and quickly identified who I wanted my mentor to be, the smartest most rock ’n’ roll guy in the building who also happened to be leading the digital transformation for the whole agency. I stuck to him like glue for the following four years and he helped me become a savvy client facing strategist, adept in the rapidly changing world of digital. Tip three, surround yourself with the people you aspire to be and don’t be afraid to ask them to mentor you.

When it was time to move on life took me to London. I got a job at one of the leading UK agencies where I learnt how to manage big platform projects and start up enterprise solutions. I worked 12-18 hour days, every day to cram 3 years of progress into 18 months. It paid off, one of the top agencies in the world head hunted me into their team.

From then it was about jumping in with everything I had and pivoting my way through the most breakneck world I had ever experienced. I said yes to everything, then worried about how afterwards. I pushed myself to be the best at everything I took on, failure was not a situation I would accept. Tip four, do whatever it takes, if you don’t someone else will.

The hard work paid off when six months into the job I got a real chance to prove my abilities, arguably the turning point that made my career. Following leading a successful series of workshops I was asked to move to Japan and run the resulting global project for a major client. I had one week to pack up my life, lock up my flat and get on a plane, I didn’t even have an address to go to, it all happened so quickly my living arrangements were being organised whilst I was on the 13 hour flight to Narita.

48 hours later I found myself in an alien environment; I was half the age of the people around me, western, female and not able to speak the language. Was I nervous? Hell yes. I was amongst an incredibly intelligent bunch of people who knew this organisation inside out. Japan is a culture that lends to following a career path within the same company for the span of an entire career, these guys had started on the factory floor and worked their way to the top, then here I was to lead them through a massive change program. I swallowed the nerves, rolled my sleeves up and threw myself in. Tip five; if you’re not shi*tting yourself slightly, then you’re not pushing yourself enough.

Over the next six months I had to adapt daily to navigate many challenges. I started to build a strong team around me and the agency team back in London were nothing short of amazing. We spoke every day, we tackled problems together, when I got stuck they were there, when they couldn’t tell what was happening where I was, I brought them in, it was fluid, with many highs and lows but collectively we succeeded by working tightly together. Tip six; you are only as good as the team around you.

Since starting my career I’ve been a designer, a coder, a planner, a strategist, a client lead and half of a creative team. I’ve built teams, projects and many, many beautiful, useful things. I’ve changed minds and lives, kickstarted businesses, led huge programs, mentored, managed and broken every rule in the book. Most of all I’ve taken risks. Tip seven; don’t be afraid to take risks, it’s how we improve ourselves.

The words of my mentor when I left that first job in Leeds still ring true today, ‘Why will Karen succeed? Quite simply, because she has no fear’.

So my advice to you as you start on your journey in a particularly exciting but turbulent industry, is ‘Just say yes, be brave and jump in’.

What’s the worst that can happen…

jumping-off-a-cliff.jpgimage found on https://developingourwings.wordpress.com/ – thank you

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Apr 30 2012
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Client questions answered, Digital, General

The future’s cloudy

I’ve been asked a few times recently what this is, in simple terms, so here goes:

Cloud storage basically lets you create documents and save to a central location which, you can access from all of your devices; laptops, tablets, mobiles etc.

This means you can view or edit your files on the hop, wherever you want without having to sync or transfer explicitly from one device to the other. Your work is effectively floating, like a cloud, waiting to be rinsed for information.

So, if you’re running to a meeting and you’ve picked up your personal mobile, not your work mobile (not that I ever do that of course) it means you can save your graces and find the file regardless.

Phew!

Want to know more? I thought this post was insightful too.

 

 

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Dec 17 2010
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Digital, General, Interesting stuff

Digital to Analogue

I was sat with my grandfather  the other evening putting the world to rights over a glass of Cotes Du Rhone. Fed up with the crap on TV we started trying to fine tune his relic of an analogue receiver, this lasted about  five minutes before I got annoyed and fired up my laptop.

I suggested perhaps now that he has his own laptop (there’s got to be some bonuses from having a geeky granddaughter right?) we try streaming something through the internet which, returned rather a blank expression. (Worth noting at this point when I first showed my grandfather how to work his laptop the first question asked was ‘where does the paper come out when you print these ‘email things?’)

Never the less, it took less than an hour to get him set up on iTunes and creating playlists of all his favourite artists and minutes later we were ordering speakers from amazon.

This got me thinking about just how much we’ve progressed in the world of digital audio. Its usefulness in the recording and quick mass-production of sound has made distribution of music across the internet staggeringly easy.

(If you find this interesting read on, if you don’t skip to the last paragraph for the happy ending…)

With an analogue audio system, when sound is created it’s done so as a physical waveform which moves in currents across the air, to capture that sound you have to transform the waves into an electrical representation via a transducer where it will be stored or transmitted. Then to re-create into sound, the process is reversed through amplification and then converted back into physical waveforms via speakers.

With digital audio you take the analogue sample and convert the pulses/ waves into binary signals which are then normally further encoded to allow modification and enhancement. This digital audio is then far simpler to transfer, transmit or store and from today’s wild variations of music you will know that filters and effects are commonly applied too (think N-Dubz, Gorillaz etc).

Once all this fancy pants wizardry has been applied the digital audio is ready to be distributed, which is significantly easier and cheaper as audio data files rather than as physical objects e.g. CD’s (or records if you’re my grandfather).

To be honest I lost him the second I started chatting about waveforms, but the story ends with a happy grandfather with the complete works of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven all for less than a fiver.

Sorted, thank you digital audio.

 

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Jun 21 2010
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General, new technology

Achieving digital balance

The online world evolves at such a breakneck speed it’s easy to get sidetracked by the latest shiny gadget or cutting edge technology.

Once we lived in a world where clients would phone up and say ‘We want a website’, now more often than not the call I take is ‘I saw this and I want one for our businesses’.

The key is to strive for digital balance. Remember the business requirement but add in enough innovation and excitement to keep your client and the audience enticed. By delivering a balanced media plan you will achieve a greater ROI by allocating accountability and measurement to each media chosen. By being media and technology neutral your results will be integrated and effective.

I’m not saying that you should ignore new technologies and only rely on the tried and tested, absolutely not, but don’t just adopt technology for technology’s sake.

Start with your staple ingredients of a tried and tested planning model, add in a dash of innovation, a spoonful of pioneering technology, a splash of something daring then check it against your ROI model.

If it all adds up you’re on way to achieving your digital balance.

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Jun 03 2010
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General, musings

If you don’t make mistakes, you won’t make anything

Being wrong is ok, failures and false starts are a precondition of success.

Some of the most successful people and companies I know are so, because they allow themselves to fail. Edison made over 200 light bulbs before he made the one that worked but he learned something from every mistake before reaching the end result.

It is the wrong turns in work and life that define us, risks are a measure of who you are. Those of us that take risks will end up leading more fruitful lives. Knowledge is built upon things that happen but if you stop taking risks and only keep the same knowledge it will quickly become unoriginal, and lets face it, who wants that label.

So, go on, get it wrong! It’s the right thing to do.

‘Fail. Fail again. Fail better.’ Samuel Beckett

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May 18 2010
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General, Uncategorized

handy tips to successful email marketing

  1. Create an eye-catching, attention grabbing ‘open me’ title. The title will be the first thing your reader see’s so keep it snappy and relevant.
  2. Ensure you have a lovely creative feel. Following on from your snappy headline your content needs to entice the reader down the page so you can get them to…
  3. A clear Call to Action. What do you want the user to do? Keep it clear and un-cluttered
  4. Hooray – No spam here! Honesty is the best policy, the email content and subject line must be accurate. Avoid using language that spam filters will pick up on. If you want more information on this I would recommend reading Econsultancy’s best practice guidelines. (It’s very comprehensive)
  5. Get your timing right. Think about when would be best for your intended recipient to receive the email. Hint – Monday morning first thing = bulk delete of emails
  6. Don’t send emails for the sake of it. Everyone’s gets annoyed when they’re bombarded so send relevant information over a considered length of time. Develop a contact strategy based on the trends of your consumers.
  7. Track it and optimise your campaigns! What’s the point in sending an email if you don’t know how many people opened it or clicked on your CTA? Implement some basic tracking and read the reports… this will help you optimise your campaign and improve your results.
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Apr 18 2010
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Charity, General

working with the Brainstrust

I’ve just finished the first draft of a children’s book for the Brainstrust and I’m really excited to be working with these guys as they truly are a brilliant organisation.

Essentially they’re a support service but unlike other charities, they offer pragmatic support and advice at the point of diagnosis and they have a
unique network of advisors in the medical, scientific and nursing community.

Ultimately their work aims to help put those with brain tumours back in control of a very daunting situation. One of the latest things these guys are providing is a Brainbox containing useful tools such as a ‘brain book’  for keeping a record, a pill box, leaflet’s and lots of information about what’s available for you. You can read more about it here.

Essentially this book is aimed to help both children who have been diagnosed with a brain tumour and their carers, in it is featured ‘the monster’ (brain tumour) and the ‘elephant in the corner’ (Brainstrust’s mascot). The story helps identify symptoms of a brain tumour and what help and support you can get.

It’s only a first draft but I’m really happy to have this chance to help make a difference and raise some awareness. I will be posting updates here so check back to read the latest…

If you or someone you know could benefit from the services that the Brainstrust offers or if you would like to get involved in some way please visit www.brainstrust.org.uk and get in touch.

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