Go Skinny!
The Skinny Innovation event at our NYC office last week was fantastic. It was great to see so many people there with ideas and positive vibes about doing innovation in these tough times.
Some highlights:
70 people from 40 different companies gathering together and getting to know each other at our new space the East Village. Someone’s favorite moment: “Walking in and seeing someone from Godiva talking to someone from Virgin and Johnson & Johnson and Independent Diplomat. I mean I don’t think that’s combination has happened in the history of the world before. Like, ever!”
Everyone voting with a show of fingers on which of the Skinny 6 principles were most applicable to their company!
There was ‘skinny’ food and not so ‘skinny’ food, a Wii to test your own personal agility, a photo exhibit of consumers showing how they’ve adapted to the recession, and a great group of panelists!
Highlights from the panel:
Jeff Semenchuk, EVP and Head of Growth Ventures, Citigroup: Citi is learning how to say no earlier and focus on fewer things, using the principle of “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee.”
Lorrie Copeland, SVP, Consumer Insight, Hasbro: Lorrie shared some brilliant stuff on how consumers and shoppers have changed. She mentioned the increase of boomerang shopping at retail, where shoppers pick up items, then leave them at another place in the store when they find another item of more value.
Julie Cottineau, VP, Brand, Virgin USA: She talked about Virgin rarely doing testing as a company. She was talking about putting the mood lighting on Virgin America planes, and how they just DID IT. “You don’t ask a customer what will delight them. You just know that flying shouldn’t feel like you’re having your kidneys removed!”
To find out more about Skinny Innovation go here:
http://www.whatifinnovation.com/SkinnyInnovation/
Lost romance?
The other day I picked up an airline timetable. Remember those? The little books with thin, crackly paper, packed full with information on routes and services to cities which one had never heard of. For a few minutes it stirred my imagination as I leafed through and imagined possible itineraries.
At some point people’s initial contact with airlines went from timetables to online booking (for which read price comparison). Air travel for most people stopped being about the romantic world of travel possibilities and started being about navigating a frustrating and opaque world of price gouging. Was this really in response to consumer demand? Or, if airlines had some sort of transparent and fair pricing, would their passengers again open up to the world of possibilities inherent in an old-fashioned timetable?
Rough & Ready Wins the Day
Worried about getting it right first time, especially given economic times?… Relax, take a deep breath and trust others to make it work. The aesthetic lover within me insists that I shouldn’t judge a design until it’s finished; rare is a masterpiece beautiful during construction. But if you really want to innovate you can’t afford to create a piece of perfection on your own and get people to make it better – especially if you’re wedded to the outcome. If you are focused on what the outcome looks like, are you really being creative. The key is to chuck it out into the public domain and get reactions. I share this with you as I’ve just heard a client confess that after 23 years in his business, everything he knows at present has no relevance in present times. The economic situation prevents his R+D and his marketing people tweaking and poking in the way they could. His advice to his managers was ‘get a rough something out and fix as you go. I trust you to make that work’. Utter genius. A bit like the seen in Apollo 13 when they fixed the problem of rising Co2 and falling oxygen by working with their hands with sticky tape rather than sitting in a room and having a think. So with his advice ringing in my ears I shared a few nursery thoughts with my team today and signaled they weren’t that well formed but trusted that at the end of the day we’d have the solution. And guess what, we did.
The Hierarchy Of Tweets - Analysing The Psychology of Twitter
Click for bigger
Ever noticed the number of people using Twitter to tell you about what they’re eating? I was wondering exactly that last week, and my thoughts led me back to an early A-Level Psychology class from 10 years ago. Back in 1943, Abraham Maslow was studying what motivates people and how these motivations are structured, and these thoughts led him to create the Hierarchy of Needs. And looking over this, I realised that most Tweets could be categorised into something similar, in the same major areas. So behold, “The Hierachy Of Tweets”, along with layer descriptions, and examples from Twitter.
Physiological
Maslow described this stage as dealing with people’s primary needs, those which keep them alive. Or in the land of Twitter, letting people know exactly what you’re up to in the physical world - “general verbing” being a great supplier of what Leisa Reichelt calls “Ambient Intimacy”. If you’re following friends and real people, rather than companies and “tech celebrities”, you might find the majority of your reading goes on in this area.
- Eating “Cooking my special spicy egg fried rice to take in for lunch tomorrow” (@dakegra)
- Drinking “Has anyone else noticed just how great coffee tastes on a Monday morning? And a red wine goes down pretty dam smoothly on a Friday evening?” (@simon_barton)
- Sleeping (alone) “I feel blah and tired. Want sleep. Maybe on the next conference call?” (@notsofocused)
- Sleeping (with someone else) “For all those just tuning in. I’m 6 and half hrs in on a 36 hour tantric sex session. Welcome” (@iamdiddy)
- General verbing “listening to “Great DJ - The Ting Tings” http://ff.im/-1DsLG” (@dhowell)
Safety
One of the greatest advantages to Twitter users is the ability to gain the “information upperhand” via other people’s Tweets, and using this to gain security - both in your work and personal life. Keeping “plugged in” to what’s going on in the wider world has been the driving force of most internet innovations, and Twitter is no different. So a large area of chatter is based around hyperlinking, passing on knowledge to other followers, keeping informed on what might be going on at your workplace, or local club. Two other areas of safety are more intrinsically linked with Twitter - the safety that is gained from your popularity, and making sure you’re not wasting your time on Twitter by berating everyone that doesn’t get it (done brilliantly by Twitter founder Evan Williams in the example below).
- Sharing knowledge “Wow, great article on brands we ‘think’ are sustainable that are actually owned by big co’s, balanced & well written, http://bit.ly/JQZrb” (@jamieburdett)
- Staying in the loop “It’s been a good monday at the Picseli offices. Lots of work done and new designs due by the end of the week. Will keep you posted!” (@picseli)
- Popularity “(Wondering how many followers I’ve haemorraged in the last ten minutes)” (@reynolds)
- Personal health and security “Walking out the office door as an employee for what may be the last time. Working from home tomorrow & Monday is d-day.” (@ursulaa)
- Non-users berating “couple near me at whole foods are discussing Twitter. she thinks it’s boring. bitch.” (@ev)
Love/Belonging
You probably take them for granted now, but when Twitter launched @replies were never part of the larger idea. But when users started engaging in conversations with each other, they became integral to the user experience, and are now a critical part of how Twitter works. These features now satisfy what Maslow called “social needs” and allow a sense of community to foster. You can engage in conversations (and use Twitter search to follow individual conversations), you can introduce new followers to your audience (a great way to say hello) or answer questions people are posing out there (Twitter is an amazing hive mind resource for tech help). Another area which Twitter aids Belonging is Hashtagging, which allows anyone to follow a wider conversation topic - be it a natural disaster, important event, or ongoing meme, and as with most of the Hierachy of Tweets this works well in tandem with something else: see how #followfriday brings Hashtagging and Introductions together for example.
- Conversations “@mayhemstudios Those bastards are lazy as hell and I’m booked ’till the end may so who knows when we’ll get started:)” (@kodespark)
- Introductions “@inokua @sheigh @EDF_InnovEx @adriandayton @raymondpirouz @Innovagle @ludwikc @BrianKurtz Welcome New Followers!” (@remyarteaga)
- Answering questions “@jaxthatgirl did you try another usb port?” (@styleit)
- Hashtagging “Ben killed Dumbledore. #lost” (@jkottke)
Esteem
With Maslow, when we get this far up the hierarchy it becomes more about massaging the ego, becoming accepted, feeliing valued, and Twitter is no different in that respect. There is a massive emphasis put on social standing in Twitter - how many people are following you, who is reading your blog. As Twitter becomes more popular, savvy users are realising that number of followers isn’t a sufficient method of measuring authority, but number of ReTweets is a better indicator of output quality. On the flip side of Esteem, but which comes with the ego territory, is self-promoting. This isn’t frowned upon in Twitter, as if you have a blog you’ll need to get your message out, but be wary of flooding people’s streams with a barrage of automated blog post notifications. Nothing says “unfollow” like a bot kicking out links 24/7. Another great way to get followers and status in the world of Twitter is to be the bearer of news, good or bad - Janis Krums, who took the picture of the crashed Airbus A320 in the Hudson River, gained a few thousand followers in days, and now calls himself “The Miracle on the Hudson Photo Guy” - and if you follow a news breaker, make sure to ReTweet it for some Knowledge Sharing points of your own! If Esteem is your thing, you might want to try a bit of follow-baiting - get out there and actively seek new followers, by being completely blatant about it - or for extra kudos, do it on behalf of a charity like Tim Ferriss did!
A warning from Maslow well worth quoting here in full “Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. These people may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. It may be noted, however, that many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally.” So remember - fix yourself first, because 10,000 followers won’t be able to do it for you!
- ReTweeting “RT Brilliant advice @MySpeakingCoach Speaker secret - “Always give your own speech; never give somebody else’s ” Dr. Wayne W. Dyer” (@MediaCoach)
- Self-promoting “New Blog Post: A Day of Quality e-Commerce Online Talk Radio http://Twurl.nl/a0vono” (@Trent_T)
- Breaking the news “http://Twitpic.com/135xa There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy” (@jrkums)
- Follow-baiting “The Tweet to Beat - Paying $3 Per Twitter Follower: http://ping.fm/tlwsi” (@tferriss)
Self-actualization
Right at the top of the hierarchy concerns with “the full realisation of one’s potential”, and how this can be achieved through Twitter. Most Tweets in this area can be viewed as very self-referential and post-modern, with great relevance placed on Tweets that help people use Twitter better - the original Tweet below from @unmarketing needed 40 pages worth of ReTweet wading to find! There becomes a lot of meta-Twitter chatter around here - talk about “Twooshing” (the act of the perfect 140 character Tweet), and a lot of talk “about Twitter on Twitter”. Finally, and the area of some of my favourite Tweets, is people berating the nature of Twitter itself - Merlin Mann might well be the king of this particular pastime - check out his UnfollowMe for some real post-Twitter blasting!
- Twooshing “I’m going to force myself to write a Twoosh before I am allowed to go to class. Just a new way to procrastinate. Dang easier than I thought.” (@acubsfan)
- Meta-Tweeting “There’s WAY too much Twittering about Twitter on Twitter” (@jryden)
- “Tweet better” Tweets “The Five Steps of Twitter Success: Follow, Reply, ReTweet, Share, Repeat” (@unmarketing)
- Post-Twitter Tweets “I’ve instructed my intern not to update my Facebook until @barackobama’s intern updates his Twitter. Mr. Obama, tear DOWN this fake wall.” (@hotdogsladies)
So …
… there you go. A bit long I know, but thanks if you read this far, and it’s good to get this out of my head and onto a page, and free myself from ZeFrank’s famous Brain Crack. This is the fruit of a days thinking, so it might well be imperfect - if you feel there’s something missing, let us know. And also I’d love to know more about how this relates to you - which area do most of your Tweets fall?
Thanks for reading. Why not follow me / us on Twitter or grab our RSS?
Take Flight With Great Britons
One of the many perks of the job hear at ?What If! is something we call Dreamcatchers - twice a year, someone is chosen from a eager pool of ?!ers and given £1000 and 2 weeks holiday to “realise your dream” - whether that be teaching children in India, starting a program to give out classic novels to commuters on the Tube, or putting on a show in Central London featuring children from underpriveledged background (these are just a few that have come through ?What If!
It seems that the folks at British Airways have had a similar idea, with the launch of their Great Britons project. They are giving away 180 tickets to any location in the world, for people to realise their potential “whether they are the next Mark Ronson on the road to the Miami Music Conference, the future Sam Mendes planning a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, or even a local cricket team looking to train abroad.”
And the reason you’re reading it here, is that there are six categories to apply under, and one is “Innovation” - so all the budding Inventors out there can get their chance to head to Silicon Valley to get VC funding for their new social networking concept, or fly to Tokyo to research competition for that must-have gadget.
A dream is a goal with a deadline - get there before time runs out!
The 10 Commandments Of Good Design
“Things which are different in order simply to be different are seldom better, but that which is made to be better is almost always different ” Dieter Rams (1993)
Dieter Rams is best thought of Jonathan Ive, born 30 years earlier, and in Germany instead of the UK - he was the aesthetic brain behind Braun Electronics, who came up with some of the most iconic electronic designs of the 50s and 60s. And the reason behind this post is to point you in the direction of his Ten Commandments On Good Design, a great way to open your mind to the things you see around you.
Slumdog Dentist Chair
Taking recycling to the extreme - Jon and Clare from our Manchester office are in India at the moment, and came across this bucket of second-hand teeth for sale. Anybody have an order they want to pass on?
Leaving It All On The Astroturf
Wednesday saw a team of plucky male ?What If!ers (including Ed Mehmed, Ed Herten, Tim Frost, Steve Deadmon, Andrew Patterson, Dave Allan and James Baderman) take on the might of the London Wieden + Kennedy office in a 5-a-side battle to the death. This meeting of the minds and feet came about through our very own Harriet, whose boyfriend Dave works W+K, and who suggested we saw how the skills of advertising vs. innovation might translate to kicking a bit of leather around on some fake turf.
After a closely fought game, ?What If! came out on top, narrowly beating the Honda-loving homies 18-6. The picture above is Dave and Tim celebrating in the boozer afterwards, no doubt hogging the “tacky Chinese ornate framed drawing trophy” which will be constantly retained and cherished.
We’ll be meeting again every 3 months for a rematch, but the bigger news is the imminent creation of the “London Agencies Beginning With W” inter-city cup. WCRS, WPP can you hear that? It’s the sound of the gauntlet being thrown down!
The Changing Face of Online Conversations
It wouldn’t be hard to argue that the last month has seen Twitter reach it’s tipping point, with Stephen Fry, #uksnow and even the national newspapers getting in on the action. But there was one tweet that really stood out online in this maelstrom of mumbling - Robin Grant, MD of conversation agency we are social, accidentally sent out a direct message (meant for one person) to his 2,000 followers. So far, so ordinary. But here’s where it gets interesting - instead of deleting the comment, and pretending it never existed, he followed up with what you see above - an open invite for anyone to meet up with him for a coffee. In under 140 letters, he turned a technological slip into a great piece of PR for his company.
It’ll come as no big news to any of you, but conversations are changing online. With the ability constantly edit your content so simple, a certain level of confidence, willpower and humility is required to talk online. You might say it all started with the strikeout - way back in the formative years of the blogosphere, writers decided upon the etiquette of using the strikeout to allow their readers to keep track of any changes in a document. Prior to this, some online commentators had been burned by editing a document after it was already released into the wild (sometimes in order to correct mistakes brought to life in comments/email) and then appear rather stupid when they get caught out!
And in today’s world, “deleting” simply isn’t good enough. Google’s cache is constantly watching, and anyone with a bit of know-how can find old versions of current pages. So if you think you can change without anyone noticing, you might be in for a bit of a shock, and with an even bigger battle on your hands!
Our Innovation Predictions for 2009 - The Miscellania
Wrapping up our predictions for 2009, here’s a big free-for-all that didn’t make it into the last two categories - some short, some long, looking at tech, entertainment,
eBay will become more real-world and establish itself as an alternative route for charity shops, who’s stock is rapidly diminishing in the face of the recession.
Phone cameras will send images directly to on-line clouds or home email addresses - the soon the iPhone will sync over MobileMe, and other operators (especially Nokia, with their Ovi platform) will follow suit.
People will start to be paid for knowing where to ‘find’ information, rather than ‘own’ information - David Byrne said way back in the 80s that the real power will belong to those who filter information, and not who produce it, and this is becoming more true now than ever. Tools to overcome information overload will become more popular than ever - the RSS plateau that has been reached will be surpassed by more people using RSS without even knowing it - see Alltop for a vision of the future …
The development of a game that involve players’ emotions affecting the game and not the other way around.
These will be the following innovations most appreciated by the Brits in ‘09 - music on buses (let’s start the day happy), train fares will come down, the BBC will accept advertising and the world will keep turning, the burst water main outside the old Jack Straw’s Castle pub in Hampstead will get fixed, there will be several non political appointments at cabinet level (we finally get experienced business people in the government rather than career politicians), there will be a resurgence of support for the Royal Family.
Emergence of entertainment ‘muses’ to replace traditional entertainment schedules, with the uptake in internet TV and digital downloading. But by the end of the year people will start to really worry about piracy of books and TV and potential ensuing cultural dark age.
With the current climate affecting newspaper behemoths so drastically, philanthropists will aid in financing investigative journalism.
The tougher conditions could be really good news for the music industry. The labels have been under pressure for some time, but more innovative approaches from them will now be essential. You could argue that has already been the case, but too much old school thinking is still allowed there. Similarly, a big issue has been the complexity of rights - the downturn can act as a catalyst to really force action on reluctant rights societies. They must move to where consumers want to be and do - more action, less talk, and so on all around.
Mobile will be double edged - expect smaller innovative companies to struggle for funds and credit like other sectors. But you will also see acceleration of a better consumer focus from operators and vendors - consumer behaviour will continue to shift to using more on mobile, and mobile ’supertankers’ being forced to serve their consumers better, which is a good thing. But, not all will manage this because internal processes are too slow. Time to get dramatically nimbler!
And Finally
Our Chairman Matt has forced politely requested us to predict that this will be the year that Tottenham Hotspur will win the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and narrowly avoid relegation - 2009 will be the year of the Glorious Double. Unfortunately this was predicted before Manchester United knocked them out of the FA Cup, so at least that’s one prediction we know won’t be happening this year …