tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46671983667721375162024-03-05T17:16:35.198+00:00The Casablanca WeblogPhil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-86744986103835091152017-07-26T05:04:00.000+00:002017-07-26T05:04:07.193+00:00Joining Bilue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I’m thrilled to announce the next step in my career - I’m joining <a href="http://www.bilue.com.au/" target="_blank">Bilue</a> this week as General Manager. Bilue has its roots in native mobile app development, and has been building great apps for Woolworths, Domain, Stan and many more for over 6 years. We’re also announcing our latest incarnation; as The Mobile and Emerging Technology Company. If you want to understand and exploit the latest mobile capabilities, develop your wearables strategy, figure out your approach to voice / bots, implement a Blockchain app, create an Apple CareKit or ResearchKit app, or anything else cutting edge, give us a call. Likewise let me know if you want to work for a company that focuses on these areas - you know who you are! Specific vacancies will be announced here.<br />
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It’s gonna be a blast….</div>
Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-74440488801674246632017-05-29T00:59:00.000+00:002017-05-29T00:59:15.128+00:00Carving out a strategic advantage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.marketingmag.com.au/hubs-c/agile-whitehouse/" target="_blank">Marketing Mag</a> on 4 May 2017.<br />
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Crafting a holistic marketing strategy that drives growth is always a big challenge – to put it mildly – but it’s only half the battle. Making sure the whole organisation falls into line with the strategy is just as hard. Fortunately, a new approach offers an opportunity to roll out strategic direction in a more simple and coordinated way, and it even provides the flexibility to exploit new, previously unforeseen opportunities quickly and efficiently.<br />
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It involves stealing a very simple philosophy from the world of software development – that of agile delivery.<br />
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By now most marketing professionals have come across the term ‘agile’, and even if they haven’t had direct exposure to agile projects they understand the main principles. Agile is based on a simple premise; prioritise the functionality with the most strategic value, and get this into market first.<br />
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Less valuable functionality goes into a backlog for later release, and then we repeat the prioritise-and-release process in stages.<br />
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Not only does this get better, quicker returns, but also it drives constant attention to the business strategy. Every time we prioritise, we assess value according to the strategy. Any new initiatives – or old ones – have to fight for their place in the next phase of work based on what will generate the best return.<br />
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It keeps the team on the ground flexible in terms of how they meet the goals, and this flexibility and responsiveness provides a meaningful competitive advantage.<br />
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So, if agile delivers strategic value in the context of a project, can these principles be extended into other areas beyond software development? The answer is a resounding yes, and surprisingly it’s in business-as-usual where it can have the greatest impact of all.<br />
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The BAU team is now rising in prominence as they assume ownership of the newer digital capabilities that can grow the business by much larger increments than ever before. The opportunities relating to work already in market are often much greater than, say, completing a platform migration.<br />
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This means BAU should potentially steal resources from a well funded project! And when you see all the opportunities through a strategic lens, people get less attached to the notion of a project being ‘finished’, and combine in pursuit of the business goals.<br />
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Even campaign work can benefit from this way of thinking, as we enter the world of programmatic experiences. The strategic lens should guide us as we prioritise opportunities that flex over people, time and places. The data generated from the first wave of campaign activity can influence subsequent waves in shorter and shorter time frames, as we seek to build the loyalty base and maximise ROI and minimise the cost-per-acquisition.<br />
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Beyond campaigns, this approach can be applied across the whole ecosystem, from SEO to content marketing to social and beyond.<br />
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As more decisions are made with the available data, set against a strategic backdrop, we’re then better positioned to capitalise on the wave of automation and machine learning which is now upon us.<br />
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If all this sounds a bit like growth hacking, then you’re in the right ballpark. The rapid experimentation which is the hallmark of growth hacking applies here too, also underpinned by data, creativity and curiosity (to coin Aaron Ginn’s phrase).<br />
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Agile and growth hacking have complementary mindsets, and you might look at agile as helping to enable growth hacking for the enterprise, providing a lean framework of top down, coordinated strategy, bottom up accountability and autonomy, and cross-departmental transparency.<br />
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The latter is particularly important when it comes to the enterprise, given the need for brand, marketing and other departments to align with initiatives progressing at breakneck speed.<br />
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Ultimately it’s our ability to harness this wave – in our thinking and our ability to leverage technology – that will help us carve out a new strategic advantage in the years to come.<br />
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Phil Whitehouse is APAC innovation lead at DigitasLBi</div>
Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-77840582948230907432017-05-29T00:49:00.000+00:002017-05-29T00:49:24.801+00:00Hold on to what you've got<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This article first appeared in the print edition of <a href="https://www.cmo.com.au/" target="_blank">CMO magazine</a> in May 2017.<br />
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As the marketing zeitgeist evolves to encompass the promise of behavioural segmentation, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, a great deal will be written about what works and what doesn’t. But there’s a huge risk that we lose sight of what really matters to customers as we plot our path forwards.<br />
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As recently as ten years ago, I recall having to persuade senior marketers of the rationale for user experience design. It was somewhat ironic that they held a new iPhone in their hands as we explained that a great user experience was fundamental to user adoption and business growth - we had to fight hard to carve out the appropriate investment in UX, and the customer research that underpins it.<br />
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Fortunately, this focus on user experience itself has evolved greatly in the years since, fuelled at least in part by the success and techniques of Silicon Valley. Design Thinking entered our lexicon, with its mandate around research and experimentation, followed by Lean UX driving products into market as quickly as possible where they could be validated by real users. These tools and techniques have proven their value many times over, down to the bottom line and up to the boardroom, and combined with basic data analytics and A/B testing we had ourselves a method for continuous (and impressive) improvement.<br />
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Which brings us back to the more recent focus on behavioural segmentation, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. All of these are already proven to drive growth, unlock efficiency and inform strategy, and they’re rightfully taking their place in marketing best practice. However, this focus on numbers has the potential to come at a cost, and it comes down to this: if the underlying customer experience is poor to begin with, then no amount of data analysis is going to save you. If you’ve got a crap product, no-one’s going to visit regardless of how many incremental, data driven, automated improvements you make and how much personalisation you build in.<br />
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It’s absolutely critical that the human factor is retained during the design of the baseline product in the first place. In some cases, data can tell you what people are doing, but it’s only with direct human-to-human contact that we’ll understand why they’re doing it. We need to understand these motivations to build great products. Appropriate time and budget needs to be protected at all costs, or else the product will fail and damage the brand in the process.<br />
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Google and Amazon are great examples of companies that have done a great job at this. Both started with an indispensable product, and have since experimented on top of this. It’s remarkable in this day and age that hardly any retailers have managed to emulate Amazon’s cross sell functionality as effectively as they have. And in Google, executives take a very dim view of any hypothesis not backed up by real data. But they can afford this luxury, because they already know that they have great products and can afford to focus on iteration.<br />
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But it’s also noteworthy that they don’t just do this. Both organisations are constantly innovating and producing new products, and applying the right balance of data driven thinking and user centred discipline. It’s an excellent balance - use data to inform strategy, use humans to design products, use data to segment and predict in real time, and human invention again to identify new opportunities and drive growth.<br />
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All things told, while the world of data is advancing at a furious pace, we need to retain a balanced approach to marketing otherwise it’ll be a pyrrhic victory. Remember that commerce has always been based on relationships, and humanity will always have a role to play at the heart of business. Empowering your User Experience team to continue playing a leading role will ensure you keep the customer satisfied while you capitalise on the data-driven opportunity. </div>
Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-71005604920760167532016-05-30T03:48:00.001+00:002016-06-20T01:12:23.621+00:00Making sense of artificial intelligence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This post originally appeared on the <a href="http://www.cmo.com.au/blog/food-thought/2016/05/10/making-sense-of-artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank">CMO website on 10 May 2016</a>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When new trends and technologies burst onto the marketing scene, there’s always a frantic effort to either keep up or provide guidance, especially when serious amounts of money are involved. It happened with social media, it happened with personalisation and “Big Data” (it’s just data!), and it’s happening now with Artificial Intelligence. We’re approaching the top of the hype cycle where, like teenage sex, everyone is talking about it but very few are actually doing it. Conditions are perfect for the snake oil salesmen to move in. But there’s real substance behind some of work being done in this field, and in this blog post I’ll try to navigate through the fog of rhetoric to understand what’s required to make the most of the significant opportunities.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To go forward, let’s first look backwards. AI has been a popular subject in science fiction for decades, often running alongside robotics to create some of the most original storylines of all time, from the utopian (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Star Trek</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I, Robot</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*) to the dystopian (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blade Runner</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2001</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Matrix</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Terminator</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), and everywhere in between. And, as a result, the term has become attached to the future, framing expectations around the art of the possible in the present. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As with all science fiction, it serves as inspiration for the people working on real life applications. We still have a way to go before we catch up with fiction, but actual developments have — in their own way — been no less notable. The </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bombe that helped to decipher Enigma</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in WW2 meets the definition of AI, and it wasn’t the first of its kind. </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/02/19/a-short-history-of-machine-learning-every-manager-should-read/2/#1b9c887e323f" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Machine learning</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has been around since the fifties, growing alongside the development of computers, and held back mainly by computational power. More recently, as processor growth has followed Moore’s Law, the high profile milestones have come thicker and faster, from </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_versus_Garry_Kasparov" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deep Blue beating Garry Kasparow</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1997, to </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puhs2LuO3Zc" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Watson winning Jeopardy</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (and now </span><a href="http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibmwatson/watson-oncology.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trying to cure cancer</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), to Google’s DeepMind </span><a href="https://gogameguru.com/tag/deepmind-alphago-lee-sedol/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">beating Lee Sedol at Go</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, through to Facebook’s Bots </span><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/18/11422278/facebook-messenger-bots-david-marcus-interview" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unveiled at F8 </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">recently — one can argue that all of these qualify as Artificial Intelligence, and each one nudges the industry forward in a different way. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When developments in the real world start to mimic science fiction, this will get a lot of attention. We can anticipate lots of stories like this in the coming years. Apocryphal headline grabbers such as the </span><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft Barbie Bot</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> will gradually be replaced by the exceptions-that-prove-the-rule such as the recent </span><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/29/11134344/google-self-driving-car-crash-report" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">incident with Google’s self driving car</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (a.k.a. </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGi6j2VrL0o" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Johnny Cabs</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). The really big advances will come when we crack something called </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">general</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> artificial intelligence</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/23/doomsday-invention-artificial-intelligence-nick-bostrom" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">experts concur that we’re many years away from that</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but in the meantime we can expect an array of intriguing developments.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a clamour of investment taking place, usually a good sign of fire behind the smoke. From </span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/25/investing-in-artificial-intelligence/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2% of VC investment in 2013 to 5% in 2015</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, interest is significant and growing. Google, Facebook, IBM, Apple, Salesforce, Cisco, Intel and many more have invested hundreds of millions in this space over several years, particularly in the AdTech and finance fields. Our parent group </span><a href="http://publicis.sapient.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Publicis.Sapient</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has bought a minority stake in </span><a href="http://www.lucid.ai/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lucid.ai</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Wired luminary (and all round good guy) Kevin Kelly says “</span><a href="https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly/status/718166465216512001" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The business plans of the next 10,000 startups are easy to forecast: Take X and add AI</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So let’s take a step back and ask: What is AI? If you look at the </span><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial%20intelligence" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dictionary definition</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it’s a broad church. Arguably, a simple calculator qualifies as artificial intelligence. So, yes, I can see startups, vendors and suppliers claiming that their products and services include an element of AI. No-one can claim AI is a new thing, but it will sell regardless, so look out for wagons being hitched to that horse. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One way to start conversations with vendors, partners, and potential recruits and employers is by asking them what they mean by the term artificial intelligence. As with Big Data and Innovation, it means different things to different people, and a time can be wasted assuming you’re on the same page. There are fast moving developments on many different fronts, so it’s tricky proposition to pin down. We’ll need to develop our lexicon before we can sort the wheat from the chaff.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the marketing and technology sector, this territory is (currently) dominated by the data scientists. The challenge extracting value from huge data sets is in some ways fueling the interest in AI. The goal here is to make even better use of data to support strategic planning and drive real-time decision making, reducing our dependency on expensive, fallible data scientists and customer support staff, and increasingly automating the next steps without human intervention. There is already a wide range of examples in this space, from automated pricing to predictive customer care, from personalisation to ad targeting, and more. This </span><a href="https://econsultancy.com/blog/67745-15-examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-marketing/?utm_campaign=bloglikes&utm_medium=socialnetwork&utm_source=facebook" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">list of 15 examples</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is worth a scan.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And as time goes on we can expect these services to become more accessible to less technically-minded people. There has also been plenty of talk about bots, especially after Facebook introduced a way of embedding bots in their Messenger app (used by 900 million people, so it deserves attention). They refer to it as a hybrid between language recognition, decision tree mapping, and customer care — so essentially it’s a form of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_voice_response" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interactive Voice Response</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for text. For the best examples, check out </span><a href="http://poncho.is/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poncho</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and either </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10154681015546509/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CNN</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or the </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/wsj/videos/10154216438473128/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on Messenger. The demos look good, but </span><a href="http://gizmodo.com/facebook-messenger-chatbots-are-more-frustrating-than-h-1770732045" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">early results are poor</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And even when it improves, this only barely qualifies as AI — until it reaches a greater level of sophistication it’s mostly creating the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">illusion of intelligence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> because of its dependence on pre-determined decision trees. That isn’t to say the bot approach isn’t worth exploring — far from it. Just don’t get lulled into thinking you’re in the vanguard of artificial intelligence while you’re at it, and get ready for a frustrating time in the short term.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">general</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> artificial intelligence might be many years away, it’s worth keeping an eye on emerging developments in that space as well. They’ll probably be useful well before they hit their stated goals. One of the more interesting developments is </span><a href="http://viv.ai/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">viv.ai</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a service being </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/31/viv-artificial-intelligence-wants-to-run-your-life-siri-personal-assistants" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">developed by one of the ambitious Siri co-creators, Dag Kittlaus</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Not only does he want to create a cloud-based platform for finding connections between disparate data sets, he wants to put a universally-recognised voice interface on it. He’d like his ‘V’ logo to be as ubiquitous as the bluetooth logo, so we know how to engage with the system. Apparently we speak 3-4 times faster than we write, so this makes sense so long as the system isn’t plagued by the same challenges as Siri or Google Now. When it comes to voice interaction in general, the </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/26/amazon-echo-alexa-voice-recognition-superfans" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">early signs from Alexa</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (from Amazon) are very promising, so maybe we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough here.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The broad consensus is that we shouldn’t think of AI as simply improving the tasks we currently perform. We should also think that it can approach problems in completely different and unexpected ways to achieve much greater outcomes (with </span><a href="https://twitter.com/sriramk/status/707955202687688704" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AlphaGo’s behaviour</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> being a great early example). “</span><a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601139/how-google-plans-to-solve-artificial-intelligence/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reinforcement learning</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” — teaching computers how to learn for themselves — appears to be a more fruitful approach than “human teaching” or decision tree mapping, as it’s less constrained by our own human shortcomings. This is also where Neural Networks such as </span><a href="http://playground.tensorflow.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this interesting experiment from TensorFlow</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> come in. In their own words, the network is “asked to solve a problem, which it attempts to do over and over, each time strengthening the connections that lead to success and diminishing those that lead to failure”. It’s a general principle that applies to one of the most interesting areas of AI. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On this front, we don’t know exactly where the emergence of Artificial Intelligence will take us, which makes the whole venture so exciting. Certain aspects — those relating to general artificial intelligence — will be exponential by their very nature. That’s when things get scary </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">very</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> quickly, and for a taste of that I highly recommend this </span><a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wait But Why article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. When people like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_on_Artificial_Intelligence" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">says there’s a significant danger</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it’s time for all of us to sit up and take notice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the short term though, we can start looking for opportunities to exploit AI technologies as they mature and generate new forms of value. It’s important to get a early, solid understanding of how the opportunity can be exploited and, as with the technology waves that came before, a few well-chosen bets may pay off handsomely. She who dares wins, but let the buyer beware!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*We’ve had some fun debates in the studio about whether these qualify as utopian or not! Some say that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was actually dystopian because it represents a sad version of humanity, but maybe society itself was utopian and it’s humanity that’s flawed. One thing’s for sure — it’s a better world than </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Matrix</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!</span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-40772548713384131492016-05-02T00:32:00.001+00:002016-12-06T22:29:06.588+00:00Customer experience is the new brand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post first appeared in the now decommissioned STW blog, as well as the DT blog, back in July 2012.</span></i><br />
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We are living out our careers on shifting sands. But from here, in our offices and behind our desks, it’s easy to lose sight of just how big these changes are. ‘Shifting’ doesn’t quite capture it.</div>
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The seismic transfer of power and influence from large organisations to individuals is increasing at an extraordinary rate. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">Governments have literally fallen</a>. Business models haven’t just been disrupted –<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer_file_sharing" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">they’ve been obliterated.</a> Virtually every sector is undergoing reconstruction from <a href="http://schoolofeverything.com/" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">education</a>, <a href="http://www.nike.com/au/en_gb/?flp=lp/nikeplusfuelband&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnextness.com.au%2Finsights%2Fcustomer-experience-is-the-new-brand%2F" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">sport</a>, and <a href="http://globalhumancapital.org/web-20-case-study-barack-obamas-use-of-social-media/" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">politics</a>, to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">commerce</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">finance</a> and <a href="http://www.ifc.com/fix/2011/12/louis-ck-live-at-the-beacon-theater" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">entertainment</a> – the list goes on. And citizens have the power and tools to self-organise on a global scale.</div>
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It’s human nature to play down the extent of these changes, especially when our careers have been built on the status quo. Our brain is simultaneously <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">tricking itself that it understands complex scenarios more than it actually does</a>, and then prompting decisive action based on these assumptions. It’s a defence mechanism for trying to cope with such dramatic uncertainty. The reality is that the rate of change is, itself, increasing, further reducing our ability to predict the future – never mind understand the present.</div>
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Commentators occasionally draw parallels with the impact of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">movable type</a>. There were plenty of naysayers – <a href="http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/printing_press#Diffusion_of_printing_in_Europe" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">religious</a> <a href="http://www.academia.edu/949836/Competing_Accounts_for_the_Ummahs_Long_Resistance_to_the_Printing_Press" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">leaders</a>, mostly – who did their best to resist the inevitable. In that case, it took several decades for the physical apparatus to spread through the cities of Europe before the impact was felt. We’re dealing with an entirely different phenomenon today, and given the proliferation of devices and technologies, and near-instant impact of innovation, we can expect to see a dizzying array of changing behaviours. The revolution is just getting started.</div>
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It’s clear that hoping things will calm down isn’t a strategy for success. So let’s face facts. Our customers have developed bullshit detectors, finely tuned to sniff out marketing messages that are style without any substance. They have (almost) complete control over the messages they receive, and can filter out unwanted distractions with ease.</div>
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But exhibiting style <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: "fs me web bold" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "verdana" , sans-serif;">with</span> substance through conventional marketing channels is fine, and helps to establish a brand identity synonymous with integrity, purpose and dependability. There are emerging tools and techniques for making sure your company still has the potential to get in front of customers and exhibit this substance. Where do you start?</div>
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The simple answer is that you start with the customer, and work backwards from there. And straight away you can see an important parallel with conventional marketing. But the key difference is where conventional marketing seeks to obfuscate the customer into easily digestible abstract chunks, ready for broadcast, the new approach cozies up to customers with all their foibles.</div>
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People are messy. They have a dizzying array of needs, wants, ambitions, drivers and motives. They have affairs, commit crimes, lie, and think they’re entitled to better customer service than everyone else. They’re also friendly, and charitable, sexy, and have lots of other great qualities too.</div>
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And if you’re not listening to them, and working with them, on their terms, then one of your competitors will do this for you.</div>
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The trick is in acknowledging that people are messy, and can interact with your brand in any multitude of ways. Not only that, they can bob and weave across literally dozens of potential touchpoints – TV adverts, word-of-mouth, twitter, facebook, web site, shop, phone, letter, eDM, banners, posters, morning TV shows, newspapers and many more.</div>
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The touchpoints which the customer trusts the most are those which you seemingly have little direct control over. If someone complains about your product on twitter, the potential reach is global and instantaneous.</div>
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And this is what I mean when I say that Customer Experience is the new brand. Word of mouth has long been trusted by customers above advertising, but now the tools of the internet have amplified word of mouth to the point where it eclipses messaging in the paid media space. All with a flick of the wrist.</div>
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As this new world order takes shape, a few things become clear. First, the companies that will be the most successful are those who share the same values as the customers they seek. This can’t just be a veneer, the companies have to actually have and care about these values, and demonstrate this across the various touchpoints. The business of developing and communicating these values internally will increase greatly in the years to come – and the challenge for larger companies is articulating how these values should be applied across every touchpoint in a way that makes sense to employees.</div>
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These values are important enough that you shouldn’t hire people who don’t exhibit them. Even the HR department needs to be customer centric. And if you’re thinking that exposing your staff to your customers is risky, it’s worth remembering that people expect human behaviour in the social space. Mistakes will be forgiven so long as you’re quick to admit them. People don’t want you to be perfect – they want you to be useful. And honest. And reliable. What’s more, given the volume of activity across the social space, giving staff support to engage on behalf of the company is one way to make sure the adventure scales.</div>
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But the truly great thing about these company values is that, once you’ve defined them, they’ll become the lights that guide every execution across all those touchpoints. You can use these values to drive consistency everywhere.</div>
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Think about it this way. To succeed in the social space, you need to earn trust. As Doc Searls and his band of Cluetrainers have <a href="http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">said for years</a>, first you have a conversation, then you build a relationship, and only then can you pursue transactions. You need to exhibit human qualities to get there. Empathise. Show some humility. Recognise and demonstrate that you need the customer far more than they need you.</div>
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The customer experience across every digital touchpoint – whether paid, owned or earned – should be akin to a good waiter in a top restaurant, or a concierge in a top hotel. The thought given to the customer should be evident by the ease with which they can meet their goals. They should be able to move seamlessly, joyfully through the system.</div>
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Pick your technology very, very carefully. Decide what you want the technology to do <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: "fs me web bold" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "verdana" , sans-serif;">before</span> you select it. Amazingly, the majority of companies still don’t do this. If you’ve already selected a platform before deciding what you want to do with it, you may have a big problem. Remember that an optimum customer experience is now the cost of operating in a competitive environment. Can you afford to use the wrong platform, if it delivers a sub-optimum experience? Probably not.</div>
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You might ask where advertising comes into this. David Ogilvy wrote, back in 1963, “Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image”. I would argue that this is just as true today as it’s ever been. The web has simply reasserted more transparency on the value of marketing alongside the value of a quality product or service – the former can no longer paper over the cracks of the latter (incidentally, the vast majority of Ogilvy’s advice stands true today. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/David-Ogilvy/e/B000APAF1O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">His books are well worth a read</a>).</div>
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At first blush, this emerging landscape may seem rife with risks and threats. But once again you can fall back on one of your traditional marketing tools – the good old SWOT analysis. Many of these threats can be turned into opportunities. But it has to happen from the inside out.</div>
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Those readers who frequently attend conferences will be sick of the sight of comparisons with Apple. But, from a customer experience advocates’ view, they’re a godsend. Here we have a company which claimed <a href="http://www.asymco.com/2012/02/03/first-apples-rank-in-mobile-phone-profitability-and-revenues/" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">9% of the market share for smartphones, and 75% of the profit</a>. 75%!! Proof positive that people are willing to pay big bucks for a premium customer experience.</div>
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But look at the other end of the market. At the time of writing, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/nokia-to-cut-10-000-jobs-as-elop-tries-to-stanch-losses.html" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer; transition: color 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">Nokia has just fired 10,000 people, and their stock fell 19%</a>. Again, proof positive that there isn’t room in that specific market for someone not providing an amazing customer experience. Is there room in yours? If so, how long do you think that’ll last?</div>
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And if you can develop this awesome experience across every touch point, it has an all-important cumulative effect. And it turns out that you *can* influence word-of-mouth. As your great reputation gathers momentum, you’ll wonder why you ever failed to put the customer experience at the heart of your business.</div>
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Of course, there will be those among you who will say that nothing important has changed. Certain companies have always been synonymous with good service, and made a tidy profit as a result – well before the age of the internet. But my point still stands; the advent of the internet has heralded a new era of brand transparency, with much more to come. And in this emerging landscape, Customer experience will become more and more important to the point where it’s far and away the most important aspect of running a business.</div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-70094178341029617602016-04-13T01:47:00.000+00:002016-04-13T01:47:18.552+00:00Getting fit and healthy with the least amount of effort<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxp4O8Y1h9DKhotm3oC0AFNkKpXXTod0HXqcViflvfAmhbySnlTKVsJ_PbCMQqDJXp7qHQePPgveHKOfOQVGqsP-gAq9csEf3o0uuvUFTr4aqALZ43qu8Bw8_4Ib9uJHVRFBYdjq-3dg/s1600/fitnessfunny10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxp4O8Y1h9DKhotm3oC0AFNkKpXXTod0HXqcViflvfAmhbySnlTKVsJ_PbCMQqDJXp7qHQePPgveHKOfOQVGqsP-gAq9csEf3o0uuvUFTr4aqALZ43qu8Bw8_4Ib9uJHVRFBYdjq-3dg/s320/fitnessfunny10.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post is about getting fitter and more healthy with the least amount of effort. If you’re interested in doing something similar, you’ll just need a smartphone. Having some kind of fitness tracker is well worthwhile. I’ve tried to make the most of my Apple iPhone 6S and Apple Watch, but I’m sure there are equivalents for everything I list.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, some context. A few points have recently converged for me:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recently put on a tonne of weight (</span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/25267648684/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ate and drank my body weight at SXSW</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the dominant themes at SXSW was how apps are not just good at gathering and presenting data, but also getting better at providing useful, timely insights to drive behaviour change. This </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUTtT6XnviY" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under Armour</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> video gives you a flavour, if you can see past the chest thumping, although I gather the expensive products don’t quite match the promise (yet).</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This also made me curious about the impact that my activities have on my sleep. I’ve been sleeping reasonably well lately, but there’s room for improvement. What if my phone could tell me the latest time of day I should drink coffee if I want a good night’s sleep? Or help me work out the best time to go to bed? </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I’m getting older, weight goes on much more easily and doesn’t come off as quickly as it used to. In spite of the fact I play football every week, I’ve been gradually putting on weight for the past 5 years or so, even though I’ve been drinking less. It’s a trend I want to address.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m suffering from a damaged </span><a href="http://www.durrantortho.co.nz/durrant/wp-content/uploads/rotator-cuff-muscles.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rotator cuff</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, brought on by a lifetime of bad posture. This post isn’t about that, but my physiotherapy is part of the health picture for me. I’m working on that, too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><a href="https://twitter.com/DigitasLBiAU" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">agency I work for</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has a partnership with </span><a href="http://saatchihealth.com.au/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saatchi Health</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (together we’re known as </span><a href="https://www.digitashealth.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DigitasHealth</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), and so I’ve taken more of an interest in Apple’s health ecosystem as one of many initiatives</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A while back </span><a href="http://blog.dilbert.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scott Adams</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> claimed that he lost weight </span><a href="http://blog.dilbert.com/post/105476869136/diet-science-in-2014" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just by getting a better understanding of nutrition</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The notion of health being 20% exercise related and 80% nutrition is an interesting one. I like Scott Adams.</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I don't like gyms.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it was time to make a few changes from a holistic standpoint. To summarise my goal: I want to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">improve the quality and duration of my life</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, without too many short term compromises, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the minimum of effort and expense</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Easy, right?!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sidebar: I’ve had an Apple Watch for about 9 months. And my mini-review: I find </span><a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=apple+watch+notifications&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwyN_CrYrMAhVTv5QKHYRsAPsQ_AUIBygB&biw=1280&bih=705" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">notifications</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be really useful, </span><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2988910/wearables/the-best-glances-for-the-apple-watch.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">glances</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are pretty good, and most apps are too slow to be useful (quicker to pull out your phone). At this point, if you’re considering buying one, I’d recommend you hold out for the thinner, faster models. But version 1 does track activity, heart rate and more, and I didn’t want to buy another wearable, so I was curious what role the watch could play in this.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, traditional diets never work for me. Boom and bust. This new approach had to be smarter and more sustainable. Ideally I wanted to make a few key tweaks that had a big impact, add some exercise (of course), get myself down to a healthy weight level, and I can then carefully adjust to a slighter more liberal regime that allowed me to enjoy most of the things I enjoy now. #agencylife</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also can’t be bothered spending too much time evaluating every app and review that’s out there. Who’s got the time for that? I’m looking for 20% of the effort for 80% of the benefit. If you have better recommendations I’d love to hear them! In the meantime I’ve settled on a regime based largely on app popularity, convenience and personal recommendations, rather than an exhaustive search for the Best Thing Out There.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here’s what I’ve done:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Started diligently logging all my food and drink. I use an app called </span><a href="https://lifesum.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lifesum</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to do that (hat tip to </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Snowbadger" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Warren</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the recommendation), and the free version is quick, easy and effective. It’s impossible to track food metrics with 100% accuracy - it’s too impractical to, for example, weigh and catalogue the contents of a chicken salad sandwich - but Lifesum lets you get close enough, quickly. The mere act of finding this approximation has been illuminating - it roughly breaks down the nutritional value of each item you add, helping you make smarter choices. As a result, among other things, and given the choice, I now choose brown rice over white, have one less coffee-with-sugar per day, go for chicken or fish over red meat, have a few less sandwiches, serve myself slightly smaller portions, and I drink much more water. Nice improvement without much pain. I’ve now started paying $10 a month to support the service, and it’s giving me a </span><a href="https://lifesum.com/gold" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bunch of other features</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on top of the free essentials.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Started tracking my sleep with </span><a href="http://www.sleepcycle.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sleep Cycle</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The Apple Watch needs to charge at least every other night, so that couldn’t play a role as a wearable. And I didn’t want to splash out on another wearable device just to track my sleep. Sleep Cycle works by monitoring your movement at night (you point your phone’s speaker at yourself, from the bedside table), and makes some reasonable assumptions about your </span><a href="http://www.sleepcycle.com/howitworks.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sleep patterns</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from this movement and from sound. There are quite a few articles about the accuracy of this technique (and some extensive ones </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-christopher-winter/sleep-tips_b_4792760.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for wearables</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as well), but just tracking the duration of sleep will help with my awareness. I’ve paid about $11 for the year to support the service, which gives you access to your sleep trends as well as data backup.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Probably not relevant for y’all, but as part of my physiotherapy for my rotator cuff issues, I have to spend 10 minutes a day with a </span><a href="https://kaitlynroland.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dsc_0091.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rolled up towel under my back</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. So I thought I’d try some </span><a href="http://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mindfulness meditation</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to pass the time, and it turns out that helps with sleep as well. Easy.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve increased my walking and added a weekly jog to the mix. For this I use the </span><a href="http://www.apple.com/au/watch/fitness/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Workout app</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the watch (which isn’t the most accurate, but is good enough), and I strap my iPhone 6S to my arm using the </span><a href="http://www.belkin.com/au/F8W634-Belkin/p/P-F8W634" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Belkin Slim-Fit Plus Armband</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This seems to be working well, as I can pause the workout and change the music using the Apple Watch, without getting the phone out of the armband. The Armband is comfortable and easy to handwash, but a pain to dry - you have to lodge something inside so the air can flow through. Maybe I’ll just have to wash it less frequently, although people report it starts to smell after a bit. Yuk. Anyway, all the data feeds into my Activity Monitor and Health App on the watch and phone, so everything’s in one place, ready to mine for insights. I’ve tracked my distances and I’m aiming to gradually increase speed and length. Nothing crazy.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m planning to try </span><a href="https://zombiesrungame.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zombies, Run!</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at some point. Looks like fun!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One challenge is tracking activity when I can’t wear my watch (such as swimming, which I haven’t done lately due to Rotator Cuff business) or when I’m not allowed to (Football). The problem is working out which app to add the activity to afterwards. If you add this kind of activity via the central Health app (see below), it doesn’t record calories burned or steps, and it doesn’t flow back to the Activity app - it all messes too much with your totals. I’ve taken to adding the activity via Lifesum, which at least means I’ve recorded KJ burned for that day (Lifesum shows a target KJ for each day, which changes as you eat and burn KJ). Think I’m going to buy a sweatband for my wrist so I can cover my watch and see if they let me play soccer with it on...still not quite ideal.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of the above data finds it’s way into the </span><a href="http://www.apple.com/au/ios/health/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple Health app</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is best treated as a central data repository. It’s quite utilitarian, and captures pretty much anything you can throw at it (everything from Selenium consumption to electrodermal activity to number of times fallen and much, much more) - it really is a broader wellness app rather than being focused on fitness. And it’s now soaking up all my nutrition, sleep, heart rate and activity data, plus some other things I hadn’t even thought about. For example, the barometer in the 6S is supposed to track steps climbed, although I’m not sure how it handles lifts and elevators...anyway, now I’m looking for general insights based on all this collected data, above and beyond what the above apps provide.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far I’ve only tried </span><a href="https://addapp.io/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Addapp</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for additional insights. It’s free and it’s pretty good, and it sends me a couple of insights and related tips each day. One of today’s tips, for example, is a link found between my carb intake and number of steps taken. It provides advice around the type of carbs to eat, and how soon prior to exercise (even walking). I’m now curious whether I should have my breakfast at home or at the office, so I might look into that. To be honest though I haven’t done much research on the insight apps side of things, so if there are other apps you think I should introduce into the mix please let me know. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for results, I’ve introduced all of these gradually over the past 4 weeks (since SXSW!). I’ve had an overseas trip in that time, with lots of food and alcohol consumed, but I tracked everything diligently, held back a couple of times when normally I’d go all-in, and got back on the horse quickly when the trip was over. Long story short, this regime is already working - my weight is falling off, I’m feeling better about myself, but I know these are early days and we can’t assess sustainability for a good while yet. Writing this blog will hopefully help keep me honest.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One other point. I’m sure most health insurance companies offer tools that do all or some of the above. But if I have to lock my data into a health ecosystem, I’d rather it’s one I’ve trusted for years (Apple) than a health insurer I might change at any time. This also means I’m free to experiment with other apps as part of a collective suite bound together by the Apple Health datastore - so if you’ve got any recommendations I’d love to know.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ve found it useful. Happy healthing!</span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-13543182936823955942016-03-21T02:01:00.000+00:002016-06-20T01:12:42.042+00:00Thoughts on SXSW 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't like words, just like pictures? Then check out <a href="http://sxsw.dlbi.me/" target="_blank">this technology-focused photo album</a> compiled by myself and <a href="https://twitter.com/lorenzowood" target="_blank">Lorenzo Wood</a>, or my broader Austin photos in <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/albums/72157663801311824" target="_blank">this Flickr album</a>. Warning: it will make you hungry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Austin was magnificent, as always. A mix of great company (cap doffed at <a href="https://twitter.com/Snowbadger" target="_blank">Warren</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/dunners" target="_blank">Dave</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/thewince" target="_blank">Gavin</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/lorenzowood" target="_blank">Lorenzo</a> and others), amazing food (BBQ at <a href="https://www.kreuzmarket.com/" target="_blank">Kreuz Market</a>, amazing steaks, OMG brisket) and terrific entertainment (<a href="http://www.thewhitehorseaustin.com/" target="_blank">The White Horse</a>, Pedalo Karaoke, Buffalo Billiards) adds up to a winning combination. Was fab having so many DigitasLBi colleagues there from around the world too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As for the actual sessions, there are over<i> 1,500</i> to choose from now, no really, which not only means you can only attend a tiny percentage, but also means you end up choosing the ones you want based on session title only. Who has the time to read 1,500 synopses, never mind thousands of speaker bios? I heard quite a few grumbles about the quality of the talks, but it's impossible to manage. </span><a href="http://lanyrd.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Lanyrd</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> used to be brilliant at crowdsorting through this mess, helping sort the wheat from the chaff, but that's only worthwhile if everyone's using it. Hopefully the <a href="http://upcoming.org/" target="_blank">Upcoming renaissance</a> will be ready for next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The net result was that the sessions I attended were an equal spread of awesome, good and poor. But the awesome ones alone made everything worthwhile, especially those exploring the cutting edge of AI. Obviously <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35810133" target="_blank">AlphaGo's success</a> was the talk of the town, but it was the nature of the success that was so exciting. By making <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/03/two-moves-alphago-lee-sedol-redefined-future/" target="_blank">moves that humans couldn't predict or understand</a>, it gave an insight into our machine-dominated future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the short term, we can expect ongoing examples of narrow excellence, much as we've seen already going back to Deep Blue and Watson, but coming thicker and faster. The big difference between these and AlphaGo is that we didn't teach the computer how to play Go, we taught it how to <i>learn</i>. As we, and they, get better at this, the growth becomes exponential, especially when we invite these learning machines to deal with systems that are too complex for humans to process or understand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As with AlphaGo, they'll probably find insights and opportunities that are beyond our comprehension, leaving us with the question: when should we start to put our faith in them?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Plus the way these systems overlap with biotechnology, genetics and nanotechnology is truly scary - and not in a good way. I still highly recommend the <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html" target="_blank">Wait But Why article</a> on this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I digress. Back to the talks. I particularly enjoyed the talk given by <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/11/10/meet-dag-kittlaus-the-guy-who-made-siri-and-became-a-millionaire-following-a-personal-phone-call-from-steve-jobs/" target="_blank">Dag Kittlaus</a>, whose team developed Siri. He's now working on a system which not only lets you upload data sets into the cloud for their systems to combine and learn from, but which also has a voice interface. He imagines a world where his <a href="http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/Viv_Labs_V_Logo_Square.png" target="_blank">'v' logo</a> is as ubiquitous as the Bluetooth logo - when you see it, you can talk to it. An incredibly smart and engaging speaker. Check out <a href="http://viv.ai/">viv.ai</a><span id="goog_68129090"></span><span id="goog_68129091"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a> to find out more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What else? Obama was excellent (no I didn't win the ballot and see him in person) - <a href="http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/news/2016/president-obama-sxsw-keynote-video" target="_blank">watch the video</a> when you get a minute. JJ Abrams was good, talking about imbuing robots with human characteristics to drive empathy. Kevin Kelly was engaging as always - he talked about pills that can measure you from inside your body, and dictate the contents of the pill for the following day. Far out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The keynote by the Under Armour CEO (Kevin Plank) was pretty inspirational too, albeit in a chest thumping kind of way. His main message was that it isn't good enough to have a connected ecosystem that tells you about past or present events - it needs to guide you on the future as well. We already have constituent parts (apps) that help us understand diet, exercise, sleep, wellbeing, happiness and more - but as yet nothing stitches it together very well to help you make smart decisions in real time. I believe the companies that get this right across each sector have a bright future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And VR was <i>everywhere</i>. We're clearly at the tipping point. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/albums/72157663801311824" target="_blank">Check the photos</a> for some interesting applications, including how you can trick people into walking around a virtual environment that's larger than the room you're standing in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One final personal note. It's three years since I was last at SXSW, but the combination of Uber plus <a href="http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/plans/international-roaming" target="_blank">Vodafone's $5-a-day roaming plan</a> made the whole experience so much better. No more waiting for the shuttle bus, no more missed sessions, no more waiting for an hour at 3am for taxis, no more worrying about missing flights. RIP Austin taxis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So that's it. SXSW isn't without its detractors, but it brings to mind the old Yogi Berra quote - nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded. As a conference it's challenging to get the best out of the experience, but if you relax a little and strike the right balance between sessions, entertainment, the trade hall, networking, socialising, eating and generally soaking up Austin, it's still the best nerdfest the world has to offer. Viva la South-By!</span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-51412736786378705762016-03-21T00:45:00.005+00:002016-06-20T01:12:56.797+00:00The path to success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This post <a href="http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/406405,Creating+disruption+in+a+dont-rock-the-boat+world.aspx" target="_blank">originally appeared in Campaign Asia</a> on 8 March 2016.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everyone wants to channel the incredible disruption and success of Silicon Valley, but how should we go about doing it? Whenever great leaders write their memoirs or business self-help books, common themes tend to emerge. The path to success is rarely straight, usually featuring a fair dose of good fortune, adversity, hard work and close calls that make the story compelling. And the companies involved often share the personalities of their leaders. These companies, particularly those in the technology sector, often bear the hallmarks of resilience and adaptation that should see them flourish for years to come.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But when we look inside the typical organisation things aren’t so encouraging. We can see that many processes and practices are designed in such a way that they limit exposure to the conditions that drive success. A new business forged in harsh market conditions can only succeed through a maniacal focus on customer needs, so why do so many companies restrict this frequent contact with their customers? </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It isn’t all bad news. Some processes, such as those employed in product design, have established methodologies to drive user engagement and validation, from inception through to launch. Maybe this is because failure rates are generally high if customers aren’t directly involved along the way. But others, particularly in the marketing space, fall short. From strategy to design to production, unvalidated assumptions are made about the customers’ motivations and behaviours, usually through rose-tinted glasses. The team works for months in an echo chamber, and then wonders why the end result falls flat. The failure to engage with customers across the board leads to a business which is less effective and ultimately more exposed to an unforgiving market.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why is this so? Are the ideas so majestic and Earth-shattering that any member of the public would immediately break any non-disclosure agreement to get the news out? Of course not. In fact from experience I’d say not involving the customers makes the opposite likely. Assuming the leader has been brave enough to back an innovative idea, it tends to get watered down between agreement and launch as the lawyers and jobsworths have their say — unless the customer’s voice keeps the idea alive. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Given how many successful people and companies talk about testing and learning and iteration and validation, it’s remarkable how few companies actually put it into practice. Remarkable — but understandable. It’s time-consuming, can be expensive, impacts your potential to hit deadlines and it forces you to confront criticism. And those are just a few of the reasons. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But when we start to pull the thread of those excuses, they start to unravel. Testing with customers can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. By putting effective constraints around the ideas being tested, for example using paper sketches rather than production quality assets, and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">insisting on quick and fast tests</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, we can prepare in a fraction of the time and cost. Products and services such as </span><a href="https://www.usertesting.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Usertesting.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.testbirds.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Testbirds</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://marvelapp.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marvel</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.invisionapp.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Invision</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> can help. And as it turns out, the less time you invest in the assets, the better you take the criticism because you haven’t invested too much of your soul in them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This one constraint can unlock a huge amount of potential. By testing early, we’re getting incredibly rich and valuable feedback from the marketplace. This doesn’t just help us to improve our idea, it can also help open up completely new avenues for exploration. It’s this repeated exposure to the market that helped Odeo pivot into Twitter, helped Game Neverending pivot into Flickr, turned Burbn into Instagram, and</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonnazar/2013/10/08/14-famous-business-pivots/#20d8228c1fb9" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">many more</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You might still find you can’t hit your deadlines, and that’s OK. Much better to know you’ll be failing early on in the process, and pursue an approach with far better prospects for success.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In short, having a boss that supports and drives innovative behaviour is the key to unlocking this huge opportunity. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One concern that has to be addressed head-on is the huge percentage of startups that fail. It’s said that somewhere between 75% and 90% of startups fail in their first three years, and it’s fair to say no-one’s career is going to last long with that kind of strike rate. But this is where comparisons with Silicon Valley and the world of start-ups isn’t really that helpful. You don’t need close inspection to see that the starting conditions are having a huge impact on the outcome. Large organisations have an existing successful business model and customer base that would be the envy of any start-up. And by their very nature, start-ups are typically bringing an untested product or service to market that has to successfully jostle for space in the crowded lives and wallets of their potential customers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Protecting brand equity is also an interesting area to explore. You could argue that their nothing-to-lose attitude gives start-ups free reign to explore ideas that could cause irreversible damage to an established company. The bigger the brand, the greater the fear that a small mistake can have catastrophic repercussions - and the higher the chance that risks won’t be taken.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-acde5ee6-96a1-effa-5318-18a052cb3355"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We can see there are dynamics at play within the start-up world that are appealing to established companies, but adopting them wholesale is unlikely to get the results we’re looking for. By carefully adapting them for the corporate environment, and by getting closer to our customers, we can plot our path to success.</span></span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-32317978231840037852016-02-21T22:57:00.000+00:002016-06-20T01:13:11.333+00:00Brave New World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A version of this originally appeared on the <a href="http://www.cmo.com.au/blog/food-thought/2016/02/16/our-brave-new-world/" target="_blank">CMO website</a> in February 2016.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In recent years we’ve witnessed not just dramatic creation of value — Instagram, WhatsApp, Uber and Airbnb being the poster children — but also cataclysmic value destruction. Pottering around on </span><a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/02/05/microsoft-nokia-blass" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daring Fireball</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the other day, I noticed Gruber reminding us that Nokia had a market cap of $245 billion as recently as the year 2000. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$245 billion</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It beggars belief, and they’re not alone — several seemingly too-big-to-fails have, well, failed. We salute you Kodak, Blockbuster and Borders, and on the technology front we’ve bid a speedy hello </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> goodbye to the digital point and click camera, the un-smartphone and the all-conquering iPod. Even in the software world, iTunes had a monopolistic lock on the music scene, and moments later Spotify and Pandora provided stiff competition.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But no-one cries for that long because, well, they deserved it, didn’t they? We all know that companies that fail to innovate eventually get disrupted, and dismantled, and we all purse lips and nod knowingly as they go down. After all, it’s always been the nature of business to go out of business. I’d say go and ask the original Fortune 500 companies what they think, but only 60 of them are still on the go. The only companies with genuine longevity are those who are always evolving and adapting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And most CEOs know this. They always save a segment to talk about how important innovation is, and if they’re smart they’ll talk about the value of their R&D portfolio (although maybe don’t look too closely at those numbers). Building resilience into the business will always be a top table priority, and rightfully so. But if that’s the case, then why do so many large companies struggle to drive the patterns of innovation that produce genuine results?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fact is that many large companies have built their success on a certain way of doing things. Even though many CMOs talk about the fabled </span><a href="http://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/using-the-702010-rule-in-marketing/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">70/20/10 budget split</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in my experience it’s more like 90/10/0 - even though it’s the riskiest work that makes the biggest impact. It’s human nature to keep doing things that have been successful in the past even though, to coin a phrase, 'what got you here won’t get you there’.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, what to do? In my experience, the challenges can be grouped into one of three buckets: culture, people and process. Let’s look at these one by one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Culture</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is usually the appropriate starting point, and the hardest one to fix. There are usually some tell-tale signs. Does the company support and promote innovative practices, such as experimentation and test-and-learn? Does it adopt agile software development practices, driving focus on delivering the highest value first? Does it focus almost exclusively on the same practices it was doing ten years ago? Is there wiggle room for line managers to identify and support the interesting activity that might generate new value? How close are people to customers and their changing needs? By working through these knotty, political cultural issues, and resolving the patterns of communication that suppress innovation, seemingly insurmountable obstacles can start to erode.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And while fixing a culture is hard, finding the right </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> comes in a not-too-distant second. It can be as scary as hell to change tried and trusted methods, and the people involved need support, training and encouragement. At the same time, you can’t wait around too long to find the right people — especially if the culture is unlikely to attract them — so partnering with someone who can help turbo-charge innovative behaviour, and can help bring your people up to speed, pays quick dividends. No one has a monopoly on good ideas, and so extending the diversity of the team outside your business will generally pay off. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, there’s the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">process</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Boring but essential — it’s the difference between doing innovation, and doing it well. How can you generate the right ideas, and make sure the right ones are selected for advancement? This is one situation where you don’t want the </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/derosetichy/2013/04/15/what-happens-when-a-hippo-runs-your-company/#c8843c448477" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HiPPO</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to dominate, because they’re often less well connected to the emerging markets. And once you’ve identified interesting ideas to explore, how do you test and learn your way to validation? What time frames should you work to, and what funding and endorsement gates are put in place? For one of our clients we run a regular process that goes from identifying a promising challenge to a customer-tested prototype, a business model and a commercial sponsor in 10 weeks. Your mileage might vary, of course, but getting everyone to understand the process is half the battle won, and de-risks activities from slipping into more conventional, expensive and time-consuming sinkholes.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f1ce0203-0608-ecec-6ea4-2eed2144aae5"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We’ve seen from recent years that the cycles of disruption are getting shorter and shorter. This should terrify and excite us in equal measure, and spur us into action. One thing’s for sure: the longer we wait to make change, the greater the prospect of someone else doing the disrupting. Just ask Nokia.</span></span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-12179035197771725832016-02-21T22:39:00.003+00:002016-02-21T22:39:40.173+00:00Death by a thousand tags<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This post first appeared on the DigitasLBi blog, <a href="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/spark/death-by-a-thousand-tags" target="_blank">What's Next</a> in September 2015.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever had that experience where you follow a link from Twitter or Facebook on your mobile, and you stare at a blank screen waiting for it to appear? It’s a frustrating experience, especially when the page finally loads and it’s clearly been well designed. Why would an organisation spend so much money and energy building a site that looks good but which takes ages to load?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many well known reasons why performance suffers – high image sizes for retina devices, the use of weighty javascript libraries, and underperforming platforms are pretty well known – but there’s an emerging issue that’s harder to control, certainly within the context of a web build project. One that, for the user, could make the difference between acceptable load times and I’m-not-waiting-for-that. One which makes browsing the web on a mobile device far more painful than it needs to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m talking about web tracking tags. As you wander around the web, sites collect what they know about you so they can serve up more relevant adverts. Then of course there are analytics tags, which ping the server every time you visit a page. And in recent years, the leading content management platforms have evolved into experience management platforms, driving the seductive promise of personalised customer experiences, dropping even more tags to enable the mapping of people to content or functionality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These personalised experiences are sometimes a pretty good deal for the user. Done well, you end up with a service a bit like a waiter in a top restaurant, where the website can anticipate the needs of the customer and offer a tailored experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the problems start when a page has too many tags, slowing the site down and greatly offsetting the benefits for the users. <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2015/07/safari_content_blocker_imore">One random page clocked in at 14mb worth of tags</a> – hardly noticeable on powerful devices using broadband, but painful on a mobile with a weak cell signal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s surprising just how many tags are being used these days. Try installing the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghostery/mlomiejdfkolichcflejclcbmpeaniij" target="_blank">Ghostery Chrome extension</a> and you’ll see that your favourite sites use a whole host of tags. Here are some examples.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the Guardian:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/guardian.png"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="guardian" class="aligncenter wp-image-16179" height="117" src="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/guardian.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 1em auto; text-align: left;" width="235" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the BBC:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/bbc.png"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="bbc" class="aligncenter wp-image-16180" height="230" src="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/bbc-363x360.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 1em auto; text-align: left;" width="232" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the New York Times:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/NY-Times.png"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="NY Times" class="aligncenter wp-image-16181" height="136" src="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/NY-Times-600x353.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 1em auto; text-align: left;" width="230" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I think we have a winner from the Sydney Morning Herald:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/Sydney-Herald.png"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Sydney Herald" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16182" height="360" src="http://www.wearewhatsnext.com/wp-content/uploads/Sydney-Herald-206x360.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 1em auto; text-align: left;" width="206" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google has zero tags. Loads quickly, doesn’t it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s no secret that mobile users have zero patience for slow sites. And why should they? Customer experience champions such as Apple are <a href="http://bgr.com/2015/06/11/ios-9-safari-ad-blocking-apps-extensions/" target="_blank">updating their browsers</a> making it easy to block tags such as these – no big surprise. The experience related tags could become collateral damage in the face of these blockers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what can be done in the meantime? A few things come to mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. UX people, stand up! Educate yourselves, and ensure someone on the team takes responsibility for managing this issue. Fact is that you need to drive success for both the business and the user experience, and occasionally there will be trade offs. You’re well positioned to hold a view on what these look like – you’re responsible for the overall user experience. Do what you can to counterbalance any abuse of these opportunities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Developers, set yourself a performance budget – a page size (including tags) above which the page load times become unacceptable. The amount devoted to tags should be limited to a mobile, low bandwidth world as the lowest common denominator. Influence the design process to impact the design-related aspects of page weight. Ensure the page loads promptly as a priority. Understand how tag management systems work, and make sure they compress and optimise the way tags load.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, consider that one tag might have a larger initial load but make fewer async calls while another may be small initially but then pull down a big subsequent load from the server.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Testers, understand the impact on the user experience, and test on low power mobiles before and after launch over low bandwidth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Managers, develop a tag management framework, whereby existing tags constantly have to fight for their place alongside new ones. Your marketing team needs to be kept under control, otherwise they could try to exploit the opportunities without understanding the impact. Kill off dormant tags to keep your site lean and mean. Determine whether tracking tags are the culprit – it may in fact be tags that attempt to load additional content…tracking tags tend to load only a 1x1 clear gif. If you’re developing a culture of continuous improvement – and if not, why not? – then build this consideration into your cycles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Leaders, start developing your fallback plan. If blocking these tags becomes a thing, then you won’t necessarily be able to track users as they surf the web anyway. What’s your plan B?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tags aren’t going anywhere for now. Advertising makes too much easy money, and it’s a harsh customer who would begrudge a company’s efforts to understand web traffic or deliver a better experience. And it’s ironic that the very act of improving an experience using tags actually has the potential to negatively impact the experience itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the fact remains. Developing a great customer experience is everyone’s concern. We fought so hard for it in the 2000s, and to me it feels as though tag management – and other issues – are coming in uninvited through the back door, circumventing the user experience design process. The average page size <a href="http://www.soasta.com/blog/page-bloat-average-web-page-2-mb/" target="_blank">has doubled since 2012</a>. It’s time to fight back!</span></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-3648627425146489322016-02-21T22:36:00.002+00:002016-02-21T22:42:12.740+00:00How to run a digital agency<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>This post originally appeared <a href="https://medium.com/@Casablanca/how-to-run-a-digital-agency-24a8f8a0eb18#.5rkt8rg8n" target="_blank">on Medium in April 2015</a>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Considering how many digital agencies there are in the world, there’s a surprising shortage of advice for how to run one successfully. Which is surprising when you think about it - for such a relatively young sector, undergoing such constant and dramatic change (especially in recent years), you’d think there’d be more words of wisdom out there in the digital space. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />I’ve just completed a three year tenure launching and running the Sydney office for DT, a terrific Australian digital agency. So I thought I’d jot down a few notes on things I’ve learned, things I wish I’d done differently, and things I wish I’d been warned about beforehand. You might think some are obvious, but for me their relevance and application became more apparent through experience - so they’re listed here. You be the judge.<br />
<br />Let’s get started.<br />
<br /><b>15/40/100</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ve heard this from a few people, that a business goes through a significant period of pain when it breaks through the 15 person threshold, then again at 40 and 100. I inherited a business of 20 people, so I never experienced the 15 person threshold, but the 40 person threshold hit us like a truck. I’ve tried to figure out why, and I believe there are a few factors at play. Not only do these numbers represent the thresholds at which the reporting structures tend to increase from 2 to 3 to 4 levels, but also the people involved change from doers, to managers, to leaders, under significant pressure. The leader has to change too. This happens in stages across different parts of the business, with some people stretched to breaking point by the increased volume of work and the change in their role. Tempers fray, people leave, and it can take months to get through.<br />
<br />Is it worth it? Maybe. We found economies of scale kicking in once we made it through, with people being better able to take holiday and training (and less late nights) because high quality deputies were in place to hold the fort. We didn’t quite make it to 100 people during my tenure, but experience elsewhere tells me that the business would become more sustainable as a result once we made it through that threshold too. That said, margins were affected by having a higher percentage of well paid leaders who weren’t 100% billable rather than highly recoverable doers. Getting the balance right is a challenge, to put it mildly.<br />
<br />What can you do to limit the impact? Part of the answer lies in recognising that, just because someone is a specialist in a particular area, it doesn’t necessarily make them a natural manager or leader of similar people. Our industry has grown so quickly that relatively inexperienced people have been pushed into positions of responsibility, with mixed results. The best thing a leader can do is recognise that this transition into manager and then leader can’t be taken for granted, and extra support is needed during this time.<br />
<br />Incidentally, I’ve now got a whole lot more respect for independent leaders who refuse to grow their agency above a certain size.<br />
<br /><b>Manage your energy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ll go on the record here and say I’m bad at this! I used to check my email all evening, send replies (setting a bad expectation with others), write proposals at the weekend, even answer calls while on holiday. It’s unsustainable and makes you worse at your job - it’s that simple. What’s worse, it damages your health and your family relationships. My advice? Stop checking email after 7pm and at weekends. Tell others that you’re doing this - it sets the tone for the business. Take holidays out of town and resist the urge to check in. And take up hobbies. Unplug! Spend time with your family! And come back to work well rested and ready to take on whatever comes next.<br />
<br /><b>What kind of leader are you?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I must’ve asked myself this question a hundred times over the past three years. It’s easy to recount the obvious areas of focus - setting a clear and well communicated strategy, making a plan and following through, building a great leadership team around you, work on the business, not in the business. etc., etc. - but other elements are more esoteric, less easy to grasp, define and achieve. The truth is that leadership means different things to different people, especially amongst the Generation Y talent populating digital agencies, and no one person can be great at all of them. Identifying your shortcomings and working on them - really working on them - is the hardest part of leadership. Having a style that can adapt to different circumstances and people is highly valuable. What got you here won’t get you there.<br />
<br /><b>Give me something to believe in</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The team I inherited three years ago had been beaten into submission. They were the passive recipients of decisions made elsewhere, with deadlines, scope and cost imposed upon them without consultation. Failure was rife and systemic. Simply introducing the DT values and brand into the equation made a big difference to some, but it was important for me to also declare my own values - if you have shared beliefs, people are more likely to have your back when the chips are down. My values revolve around quality, a drum I kept on banging. This resonated with some, others decided to leave, and that’s OK. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I kept coming back to <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en" target="_blank">Simon Sinek’s excellent TED talk</a>, but when I first watched this I didn’t appreciate that it applies to everything you want to do - not just company strategy, but project work, individual mentoring and direction, even personal relationships. Remember a good sign of strong leadership is how people behave when you’re not present. If they're aligned with a core strategy and set of values and beliefs, there’s a far greater chance of success. And if you can engineer things so all individuals in the business formally agree (say, through career development plans) how the business strategy aligns with their job and career goals, then you’re in a great place.<br />
<br /><b>It’s all about relationships</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps another truism, but this really is a question of nuance. Before leading an agency, I understood how important client relationships were in the completion of work, or running of accounts, but this changes when you’re leading an agency. First it’s harder to establish relationships with clients because you’re not involved in the day to day (and nothing builds relationships like working together on a project), and inevitably you need to focus on finding new clients, but also the relationship needs to be built well in advance of problems occurring. You need trust in place before you can talk candidly about the problem and solve it together. Relationships need to be nurtured, constantly, internally as well as externally.<br />
<br /><b>Emotional connections</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At one point in my tenure I was informed that some of my direct reports found my style a bit too direct. They were right - I had to work on this. And the advice I received was to work on my emotional connection with them. Take the time to get to know them better. And importantly, show some vulnerability. What I learned though was that there was good and bad vulnerability. An example of good vulnerability is showing how your success is intrinsically linked with theirs - that you need them to do a good job or you’ll fail. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can describe what this means in terms of likely repercussions for you. But be careful, people still need a boss who stands strong and remains positive when things go bad - not one crying in the corner. That kind of vulnerability is incredibly destructive. I’ve spent a fair amount of time researching emotional intelligence (another area I’m working on), and have found it very helpful. It applies 360º across your whole reporting line (up, down, across), and worth encouraging in both directions AND through your direct reports to the next level down if you have one. Here’s a good place to start: <a href="https://hbr.org/2004/01/what-makes-a-leader">https://hbr.org/2004/01/what-makes-a-leader</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Shut the hell up</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, this is an obvious one - but so true. When you’re running an agency you haven’t got time to listen to people give long winded explanations and descriptions - it’s so tempting to jump in and give them the answer. But this is a false time economy. If people realise that they’ve been listened to, they’re far more likely to listen back. And learn. And draw the right conclusions themselves, reducing the prospect that they need you again. Plus, it’s just good manners. So if you’re struggling to get something done on a tight deadline, tuck yourself away and get it done - but make sure this is an exception to the rule. Your role as a leader is to be available.<br />
<br /><b>Ask the right questions</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was lucky enough to have a great leadership coach, and he imparted all sorts of useful knowledge. Perhaps one of the best soundbites was that “90% of leadership is asking the right questions”. This ties into the prior item in some respects - rather than solving people’s problems, your goal is to help them figure out solutions themselves. And if you can do this in a group setting, you’ll come up with exponentially better outcomes than if you figured it out on your own.<br />
<br /><b>Hope for the best, plan for the worst - always</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even when things seem to be going well, assume that something, somewhere is hiding the truth. No-one else will. In our case we were growing quickly and we seemed to be coping with extreme change pretty well, but later we found that things weren’t quite as rosy as they seemed. They rarely are.<br />
<br />And if you look and still can’t find the problem, you haven’t lost a damn thing. Go have a drink.<br />
<br /><b>Work that pipeline</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In good times and bad. Every agency I’ve worked at has had difficulty managing the peaks and troughs of business. And it seemed to me that, the faster we were growing, the more tumultuous the pendulum swings. The important message though is that, when times are good, you know what's coming next, and you might be the only person in the business with the time and courage to focus on it. You can’t afford to wait for the pendulum to swing back. And even though I knew this to the case, I still failed to do it. Success can be incredibly seductive, especially when it comes off the back of a sustained period of very hard work.<br />
<br /><b>Track commitments</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s fundamental for you to set the tone for how commitments are managed within the organisation. People have to make their own commitments, of course, but then you need a system for tracking them and holding people to account. If you want the business to be efficient, people need to depend on each other’s commitments. The standard you walk by will be the standard everyone accepts.<br />
<br /><b>The camera is always rolling</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lorks, I learned this the hard way. As a leader, your behaviour is amplified 100x across the business, whether it’s good or bad. One night after a couple of drinks I made an offhand remark teasing a colleague intended as a joke. I remain convinced that, if I hadn’t been a leader, it would’ve been laughed off. But it came back and bit me in my 360º review that I was insensitive. I learned my lesson - always best to work on the premise that people are extra sensitive to the words and behaviours of a leader.<br />
<br />Actually, that’s one of the principle reasons I haven’t been blogging much since arriving in Australia. It isn’t so much that I haven’t had much to say (hopefully you’ll see from this blog post that I’ve had a lot to think - and write - about). It’s more a case that the need to vet content to make sure it can’t be misconstrued is time consuming, tedious, and ultimately very frustrating. I now have a lot more sympathy for leaders who accidentally say what’s on their mind and get into trouble for it. Unless, y’know, they’re racist assholes or something. Keeping the mask perfect is a proper pain.<br />
<br /><b>Manage up</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even if you’re the leader of the agency, chances are you’ve got someone to report to. In previous roles I had gotten into the habit of doing everything possible to solve a problem before presenting the result as an unfortunate fait accompli. But I learned over time that it’s much better to present options because it forces you to find them. This also builds trust.<br />
<br /><b>Quality is everything</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I mentioned before, I believe that shipping a quality product that delivers against strategic goals is the ultimate test of a digital agency. Word will get around if you deliver a poor product, and rightly so. Plus demanding a high quality outcome is a great way to attract and retain the talent that can actually delivery it. The best people want to contribute to something they can be proud of, and this isn’t going to happen unless it’s a shared ambition for the team and the agency.<br />
<br />I like to describe this as focusing on <i>outcomes, not outputs</i>. The best people will want to know how their work will impact the client and their business. The worst people will deliver a set of wireframes or some code and consider the job done. Hire the former, change the latter - fast.<br />
<br /><b>Don't stop believin'</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Running a digital agency is easily the hardest, most nuanced job I’ve ever done. At first I thought there were too many problems too far beyond my control, and it took time to understand that the methods I’d learned in previous roles weren’t enough for this one. Giving out orders wasn’t going to cut it. Fixing problems myself was unsustainable. I had no idea what I didn’t know when I started. But whenever things weren’t going as planned, I leaned hard on the advice of <a href="http://chrisjohnsavage.com/tag/persistence/" target="_blank">Chris Savage</a> (COO for DT’s holding company, STW). He channeled Walt Disney, who said “The only difference been winning and losing is most often not quitting”. Back yourself. You wouldn’t have got the job if you weren’t qualified. And like <i>every business leader on the frickin’ planet</i>, you’re figuring it out as you go along - and that’s OK. Keep your chin up, and keep going! “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same…you’ll be running a damn fine digital agency, my Son!" </span><br />
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-36170235006713259062016-02-21T22:29:00.002+00:002016-02-21T22:29:34.612+00:00Take Courage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This article first appeared in <span style="background-color: #fbfbfb; line-height: 26.9997px;"><a href="http://www.marketingmag.com.au/blogs/take-courage-in-the-face-of-disruption-and-rapid-changes-to-marketing-57362/#.VDxaoOe3CyU" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Marketing</a> magazine in October 2014, and then on the <a href="http://dt.com.au/our-thinking/post/take-courage-541" target="_blank">DT Blog</a>.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a building near where I used to work in London, by the old warehouses near Borough Market, which had the words ‘take courage’ emblazoned on the walls. Every time I walked by, it always made me smile – even though I knew the sign was actually <a href="http://pubology.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/the-pub-chain-courage/" style="cursor: pointer; transition: 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">an old advert for a brewery</a>, it still put a spring in my step.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sitting as it does in an area with several marketing agencies, it feels prescient for our time. The complexity and opportunity facing the modern marketeer demands a strong backbone, putting it mildly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a recent vendor conference, one of the speakers announced the results of a survey; respondents had been asked whether they agreed with the following statement: “Marketing has changed more in the last 2 years than in the last 50” – and amazingly, the results were that <a href="http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/solutions/digital-marketing/pdfs/adobe-digital-distress-survey.pdf" style="cursor: pointer; transition: 500ms ease-in;">76% agreed</a> (PDF) with this statement!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even knowing how complex things have become, this is still a staggering response. This result suggests that the popularisation of the internet itself in the 90’s and 00’s had less impact on marketing departments than the events of the past 24 months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What’s underpinning this dramatic shift?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a few factors. One big shift has been the emergence of new tools that not only dramatically improve conversion, but have a bigger impact on the marketing team than ever before, from junior staff right up to the CMO. These new tools help you manage, and respond to, the deluge of data being generated. And this marketing stack demands integration not just at the technical level, but at the cost and organisational level as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This doesn’t just mean replacing one CMS with another one. The potential toolset is more complex than ever before – and it needs to be to deliver a seamless <a href="http://dt.com.au/our-thinking/post/customer-experience-is-the-new-brand-461" style="cursor: pointer; transition: 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">customer experience</a> across every touchpoint. Often this involves introducing brand new platforms, adding an even greater burden of change to the marketing team. Not to mention attempts to move a lot of this infrastructure into the cloud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As CMOs grow their understanding of these platforms and what they enable, complex new skills and processes have become essential. There’s a massive shortage of people capable of performing well in this new environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re entering a brand new era – one where the entire experience can be produced and managed in real time. Check out the fine work done by Google for the World Cup, from a content perspective (<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3032002/most-innovative-companies/inside-googles-world-cup-newsroom" style="cursor: pointer; transition: 500ms ease-in;" target="_blank">case study</a>). Once again, it impacts people, process and product. And even this can be pushed further – as yet, no-one is overlapping this real time content generation with laser sharp targeting to ensure that everyone gets content that’s not only relevant to current events, but also relevant to their individual profile, context and device.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what can we do about it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will vary depending on where you’re starting from, and it would be foolhardy to try and cover all the permutations here. But from a high level, a lot of the tools that have served us well over the years will support us here too – albeit with a bit more patience. We still start with the development of a solid strategy, typically incorporating a commercial model that takes the financial benefits of the customer experience into account. There’s often a significant cost and risk attached to all this change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you’re through this gate, however, you can develop your roadmap in more detail. This is the point where customer needs will directly impact internal skills and process. You’ll need help from people who have been through it before, to help drive restructure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will be tough. People don’t like change, especially when careers are involved. But take courage – you’re not alone! Pretty much every marketing department will go through significant disruption in the next few years, if they haven’t already. And the ones who get it right quickly will reap the greatest dividends.</span><br />
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<em style="color: #231f20; line-height: 26.9997px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fsimiant%2F44806824%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGvIDwHkIKorwKH2t1KZOzka39WCw" style="color: #231f20; cursor: pointer;">Image</a> shared by Nathan Williams under a Creative Commons licence. Thanks, Nathan! </span></em></div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-61632078643708803712016-02-21T22:22:00.004+00:002016-02-21T22:40:33.064+00:00It's been too long<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've always enjoyed writing, and haven't done enough for the past few years. I've been contributing to a couple of other blogs, and writing on medium, but on reflection I think I'd like this spot to be where I store my ramblings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm going to migrate over a few legacy posts and then write here from now on. Fun!</span></div>
Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-50226973443348191212013-03-14T00:00:00.004+00:002013-03-14T00:11:00.673+00:00Interactive, Inbetween<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When my boss agreed to subsidise my trip to <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive" target="_blank">SXSW Interactive</a>, it came with strings attached - we had to find a way to share what we'd learned with colleagues and clients. Fair enough! But what was the best format for this? Loads of other visitors were delivering on the spot video reports and blogs, and we took a swing at something in this vein by running our dedicated tumblr page (which is <a href="http://dtsxsw.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">pretty funky</a>). </div>
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But still, with so much diverse content, it's practically impossible to get a sense of the bigger picture in real time. Or even condense it into a short video. Perspective takes time to form. So I'm falling back on a good ol' fashioned blog post, y'all!</div>
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The sheer number (1,486 of 'em!) and variety of sessions makes it a tricky event to plan - you've got to narrow your focus. Turned out that the best sessions explored areas where specialisms overlap - for example, where open source overlaps with gaming (<a href="http://www.ouya.tv/" target="_blank">Ouya gaming platform</a>). Where Astronomy overlaps with data visualisation (<a href="http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">JWST telescope</a>). Where digital devices overlap with real life (<a href="http://www.rushkoff.com/present-shock/" target="_blank">Social conventions in the network age</a>). Where robotics overlap with interface design (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/8555045979/in/photostream" target="_blank">Leap Motion</a>). In many of these cases, this emerging intersection is growing faster than the individual specialisms - witness the growth of genetic testing (<a href="https://www.23andme.com/" target="_blank">23 and me</a>), in the space between high powered computing and ancestry.</div>
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In fact, some of these developments are moving so quickly, and are so profound, that social conventions won't be able to keep up. Devices like <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/" target="_blank">Google Glass</a> will hit the market this year, and many say it'll be unpleasant talking to someone who's wearing them - you won't be able to tell if they're looking at you. There's a bar in Seattle which has famously <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/03/seattle-bar-bans-google-glass-months-before-release.html" target="_blank">already banned them</a>. I'm keeping an open mind, but one thing beyond debate is that wearable technology is developing at a remarkable clip, and while I don't think the worst will happen (for more on that, watch the excellent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror_(TV_series)" target="_blank">Black Mirror TV show</a> from the UK), we're going to encounter big social challenges along the way. </div>
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I heard one talk given where the speaker claimed that we, as a generation, aren't solving the big problems like we used to. To which I say: bullshit. We might not be putting a man on the moon, but we're doing things that are just as remarkable. We saw a rocket take off and land successfully - <i>vertically</i> (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ivr6JF1K-8&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">watch the video</a>, it's incredible). We saw an <a href="http://store.makerbot.com/digitizer.html" target="_blank">affordable 3D scanner</a> designed to sit next to a 3D printer. We learned about the processes behind the development of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car" target="_blank">driverless cars</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_X_Lab" target="_blank">Google X</a>. The zany speaker asked a great question by the way; "What would you work on tomorrow, if you knew you couldn't fail?". Have you got an answer?</div>
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Emerging interfaces were a recurring theme. Big vendors such as 3M and AT&T were touting their wares, while new entrants such as Leap Motion and Suitable Tech had impressive live demos. One thing seems certain; while touch devices are currently all the rage, many other forms of interface are emerging - from speech and gestures through to augmented reality and curved displays. This stuff is cheap, for the large part, and I can see 2013 being a big year for this area. It's no longer just the domain of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote" target="_blank">big</a> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/" target="_blank">boys</a>.</div>
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Of course, all this is set against the wonderful backdrop of Austin TX. It's truly one of America's great cities, with it's incredible food (Mmm, brisket), fantastic craft beers, live music and college town atmosphere. SXSW feels like a conference within a festival, and there's always something interesting going on. I give it 5 stars.</div>
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So, what's the big take-away? As I sit on this plane coming back to Sydney, I feel energised by everything I've seen. It's pretty easy for agencies and their clients to keep falling back on tried and tested deliverables - websites, social campaigns, mobile apps, and the like - but <a href="http://www.dtdigital.com.au/" target="_blank">DT</a> prides itself on being a Future Guide for her clients. I'm looking forward to finding ways to exploit this amazing technology…we're truly lucky to be working in such an exciting sector, and all the fun is on the leading edge. Bring it on!<br />
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PS If you're interested in seeing more photos from SXSW, the full album can be seen <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157632986964643/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-58067131582319070272012-10-15T02:26:00.000+00:002012-10-15T02:26:02.851+00:00Writing to a deadline<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After <a href="http://nextness.com.au/stw-group/the-nextness-prize-results-are-in/" target="_blank">winning the Nextness competition</a> a few months ago, I'd been a bit nervous about collecting my prize. Obviously it was going to be fun jet-setting around Indonesia, but this was a 'trend-hunting trip', and part of the deal was writing three articles for the <a href="http://nextness.com.au/" target="_blank">STW blog</a> based around the trip. It's one thing writing drivel for your own blog; quite another trying to hit someone else's editorial quality standards and expectations against a deadline. Still, I'm moderately satisfied with what I came up - you can read all three posts <a href="http://nextness.com.au/insights/did-you-catch/" target="_blank">here</a>.<div>
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Jakarta was pretty mental - experiencing rapid growth and development, with infrastructure struggling to keep up. And as you might expect, Bali was more relaxed - although busier than I expected. I've uploaded a few photos to Flickr; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157631641779132/" target="_blank">Jakarta album</a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157631642420053/" target="_blank">Bali album</a>.</div>
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In the meantime, I've hardly had enough time to devote to my own blog, and it's withered on the vine a little bit. Sorry 'bout that. I blame agency life - it's been a mental year so far, and although it's going really well I haven't had much time to pontificate. Hopefully as DT Sydney enters it's 'Second Act' I'll have a bit more time for this kind of stuff...</div>
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Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-776543384924752042012-07-31T02:03:00.001+00:002012-07-31T02:34:47.222+00:00What's next?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, I'm pleased as punch. That <a href="http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/customer-experience-is-new-brand.html" target="_blank">competition I mentioned last week</a>? I've only gone and <a href="http://nextness.com.au/stw-group/the-nextness-prize-results-are-in/" target="_blank">won the thing</a>!<br />
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My thanks to everyone who clicked through!</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-70304528905309474642012-07-23T23:03:00.001+00:002012-07-23T23:04:39.419+00:00DT Sydney<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My blog hasn't been receiving much love of late, and I'll happily blame the pressures of work and play. Working for DTDigital has been just as challenging and fun as I'd hoped it would be. The transition from campaign-oriented agency to fully fledged digital agency is well underway, and <a href="http://www.campaignbrief.com/2012/05/ttdtdigital-boos-sydney-powerhou.html" target="_blank">recent hires</a> have made a massive impact.<br />
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One interesting challenge is the promotional aspect. <a href="http://www.dtdigital.com.au/" target="_blank">DTDigital</a> is very well known down in Melbourne, where it's been leading the industry for 16 years. But when I mention the name up here in Sydney, I get a wide range of responses - many haven't even heard of it. Fortunately we've made a splash already, and it certainly helps working so closely with Ogilvy, who have introduced us to their long list of amazing clients. </div>
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Anyway, when chances to promote the agency come along, we take them! One such opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago, where our parent company, STW, announced a <a href="http://nextness.com.au/stw-group/the-nextness-prize/" target="_blank">writing competition on the subject of 'What's next'</a>. I submitted an entry and, much to my surprise, <a href="http://nextness.com.au/stw-group/nextness-prize-finalists-announced/" target="_blank">made the cut for the final seven</a>. </div>
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So here's the article; <a href="http://nextness.com.au/insights/customer-experience-is-the-new-brand/" target="_blank">Customer Experience is the new Brand</a>. It hints at the broader changes at play within the marketing arena, and like I've said in my <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Casablanca" target="_blank">bare-faced link bait</a>, the advertising / marketing industries need to change quickly. It's probably not my best writing (like I said, pressure of work), but if I win it'll give DTDigital Sydney some much appreciated publicity. Plus I get a trip to South East Asia into the bargin. You know the drill - like, link, love please! Here's a handy small URL for your copying and pasting pleasure: http://j.mp/PWnext<br />
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Shortly after arriving at DTDigital, I was asked to prepare a presentation for the WPP Global Retail Forum taking place here in Sydney. Generally speaking I'm more accustomed to giving presentations to people in jeans than suits, and never before in Australia, so I was a bit nervous to say the least - but they were a lovely crowd and gave warm feedback. Phew!<br />
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Anyway, I was pretty impressed with the breadth of presentations on the day. A few takeaways:</div>
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<li>Retailers need to be much more transparent with their pricing then they are at present. Customers are in your shop armed with information which is accurate, portable, real-time and free.</li>
<li>A free eBook from Google called <a href="http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/" target="_blank">Zero Moment of Truth</a> came up a few times - haven't read it yet but apparently it's pretty good </li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2012/01/26/why-jcpenney-will-be-the-most-interesting-retailer-of-2012/" target="_blank">JCPenney case study</a> (3 year experiment) is worth keeping an eye on - they've completely revamped their brand and have ditched the mark-downs previously littered throughout the year. Very interesting from a marketers point of view, although early signs are mixed.</li>
<li>75% of everything sold in America is sold at a 50% discount!</li>
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Some refreshingly useful social media stuff too, from <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/angel1a" target="_blank">Angela Morris at JWT</a> - good to see this industry is finally growing up:</div>
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<li>0.5% of people who 'like' a brand have created any content around it</li>
<li>Only 6% of people want brand interaction in a social space (the rest want to be left alone, thank you)</li>
<li>Only 8% of people who interacted with a brand in a social space (so that's 8% of 6% who bothered in the first place, for those keeping score) said that the experience was 'really good'</li>
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Seems to reinforce my point of view - the primary role of brands in the social space is as a service mechanism. If someone complains, offer to help and then follow through.</div>
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So...my talk was called 'Sweat the small stuff' - a diatribe about paying attention to detail across five key areas of your online offering. I only had 20 minutes and so kept it quite light. Here are <a href="http://speakerdeck.com/u/casablanca/p/sweat-the-small-stuff" target="_blank">the slides</a>. Pictures of sweaty men were added by one of our Creative Directors - if you like them, let me know and I'll make sure the credit gets to him!</div>
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</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-11560542346769778422012-03-19T01:01:00.000+00:002012-03-19T01:25:33.959+00:00Agency hack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://twitter.com/damjanov" target="_blank">Damian</a> pointed me at an excellent article on <a href="http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2012/03/13/hacking_is_important.html" target="_blank">the hacking culture at Facebook</a>.<br />
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It's well worth a read, and I've been mulling over what it means in the context of an agency likes ours. Obviously we have developers, and we look for them to spend time exploring new products and tools and ways of working. But for the rest of us, I think there's an important message here as well.<br />
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We should be hacking our tools and processes as much as Facebook hacks its code.<br />
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This applies as much to our pre-existing tools and processes as the new ones coming in. Everyone in every discipline - from the most junior to the most senior - needs to think about the way we do business (whether this is at an industry, project, account or individual level) and think about how it can be improved. What do we take for granted that can be done better?<br />
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Then think about how we go about implementing the improvements. It might not call for wholesale change, maybe it's just a case of coming up with a modest pilot to see if it works. We need to develop a culture where we fail quickly, celebrate the attempt and move on. We don't want to get bogged down in detail – get it 90% right quickly and fix the rest on the way.<br />
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And while we should listen to the voice of experience, we have to realise this isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all. Just because something didn't work in the past, doesn't mean it can't work now. The reverse is also true.<br />
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Be wary of the fact that management tends to slow things down. Management's role in all this is to be available for advice and political support, rather than implementing the changes themselves - otherwise it doesn't scale. It's helpful for managers to know what's going on so they can anticipate issues - but as much as possible, the person at the coal face should implement the change. And let's all learn from our failures as well as our successes. You get kudos for trying and failing.</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-75450566678056697902012-02-01T06:43:00.000+00:002012-02-01T12:04:34.281+00:00Promises made, promises kept<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been fascinating learning about the Sydney agency landscape since arriving here in December. There aren't too many large digital agencies here compared with back in London, and advertising agencies tend to dominate the scene, both in terms of revenue and client contact. However, as elsewhere, advertising revenue is falling, and marketers are united in seeing digital as an important part of the solution.<br />
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There's agreement on the 'what', but mixed consensus on the 'how'.<br />
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Some advertising agencies see digital simply as another way to advertise, albeit with a few interactive features. They treat digital disciplines as subservient to the advertising process, led by creatives and planners who don't necessarily have a digital heritage. Digital may even be treated simply as a production activity, where those who truly understand digital may be isolated from the planning process altogether.<br />
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Fortunately, others recognise that this is an unsustainable approach, which misses the huge potential that customers now expect from their vendors, and that vendors, in turn, look for from their agencies. For a while now we've been living in a world where the customer calls the shots. If you don't deliver what customers expect, they'll tell everyone they know on Twitter or Facebook right there and then. Providing an exemplar service to customers is not only more complicated than it used to be, but more important as well - and that's where the focus and budgets are switching.<br />
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The role of advertising has to evolve in this changing marketing landscape. To stay effective, it requires<b> meaningful integration between promises made and promises kept</b>. Digital solutions fit in both camps (sometimes, as with social media, at the same time). Thinking has to be integrated across the full spectrum of communications through the line and across the board, from advertising to social media activity, from websites to interactive displays, from open data to call centres, from mobile to content strategy, and more. An integrated strategic approach has never been more important.<br />
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For some companies and agencies, this will be difficult or maybe even impossible. But for those vendors who <a href="http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/2012-year-of-humility.html" target="_blank">recognise the relationship with their customer has already changed</a>, and have the nerve to restructure and prioritise accordingly, the future is theirs to own.</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-68595353803677115502012-02-01T06:30:00.001+00:002012-02-01T06:30:53.016+00:00Joining DTDigital<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm pleased to announce that I've joined <a href="http://www.dtdigital.com.au/" target="_blank">DTDigital</a> as General Manager of their Sydney office!<br />
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DTDigital has become established as the premier digital agency in Melbourne, combining several of my passions including user experience design, creative services, technology and strategy. They're partnered with Badjar Ogilvy in Melbourne, and the plan is to do the same with Ogilvy & Mather in Sydney.<br />
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Looking forward to it!</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-59480215813865914672012-01-16T03:58:00.000+00:002012-01-16T03:58:36.634+00:002012 - The year of humility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I've been away from work for a little while (hopefully not much longer!), which is always a good way to get some perspective on things. As our industry continues to evolve and emerge, I thought I'd make a (non-Mayan) prediction on one of the main ways the digital world will change in 2012.<br />
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The web offers bountiful opportunities for companies when seen as a service medium. And it's staggering how many companies out there still don't understand this - or at least, don't reflect this in their service levels. And this is at a time when the near ubiquitous presence of social media amplifies and accelerates the pace at which customers' expectations rise, and their inclination to share experiences - good and bad, in real time - has become second nature.<br />
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Providing an excellent service over the web is both hard and expensive. Even still, I believe that 2012 will mark the inflection point where a majority of those companies who haven't got their act together finally accept that they have to improve their service levels anyway, just to remain competitive. Customers are increasingly better informed to make a commitment with those who do.<br />
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While movements such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_relationship_management">VRM</a> signal the direction of travel, I doubt most large companies are anything like ready enough to implement the wide scale change in organisation and culture required to serve customers in this way in 2012. This will come later, piecemeal. The improved service I'm talking about today is more within reach; a recognition that customers have more control over the fiscal relationship than ever before, the humility which comes from this recognition, and the activity which springs from this realisation. I'm expecting internal disruption within organisations, which will manifest itself as improved service levels outside.<br />
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Here's hoping, anyway!<br />
</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-87844119921741541082011-12-02T02:30:00.001+00:002011-12-02T04:16:43.583+00:00The Open Road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's now four weeks since we left the UK, and it's been every bit as brilliant as we'd hoped. It's been quite interesting comparing our trip to <a href="http://www.bootsboatsandbikes.co.uk/">Ivanka's</a>, which in turn is a bit like the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/collections/72157603189229392/">trip we took in 2003-04</a>. While those trips allow(ed) plenty of room for serendipity and adventure, ours is a bit more regimented. Such is life when travelling with small children, especially one with a few minor health issues - knowing well in advance where we'll be staying each night allows us to find things the kids'll like to do, and ensure they get a good night's sleep, making it a more fun and relaxing trip for everyone. And I'd like to think I've learned a lesson or two from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon's_Vacation">The Griswald Family</a>.<br />
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That said, we've still had some lovely surprises while we've been en route. Broadly speaking, our trip has had three legs (links are to maps, names for kids in brackets):<br />
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<li><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=floridays+resort+orlando,+orlando,+12562+international+drive+south,+fl+32821,+united+states&daddr=Wingate's+Lodge,+139+Wingate+Road,+Bainbridge,+GA+39819-6323+to:Pensacola+Beach,+FL+to:Biloxi,+MS+to:Henderson,+LA+to:New+Orleans,+LA&hl=en&ll=34.016242,-92.460937&spn=21.565994,43.286133&sll=29.573457,-86.638184&sspn=5.674138,10.821533&geocode=FXcksQEdtrAk-yGHfMYNK1FNkA%3BFcZ21QEdSAfz-iHr_cEOblXZYw%3BFV3azgEdRGPO-int-KCVjOiQiDHlzfQM0nBdLw%3BFYDOzwEdxLez-inXQrcgXA6ciDFCaG8TUWB6xA%3BFSWLzgEdyGOH-ikvh692JH0khjEGC4YYwkY7rg%3BFVoEyQEdFJ6h-illghGyVKQghjG00yJe6FsG2w&vpsrc=6&mra=ls&t=m&z=5">Orlando to New Orleans</a> ("Southern Swing")</li>
<li><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Denver+International+Airport,+8500+Pe%C3%B1a+Boulevard,+Denver,+Colorado&daddr=Glenwood+Springs,+CO+to:38.86719,-109.29534+to:Moab,+UT+(red+cliffs+lodge)+to:Capitol+Reef+National+Park,+Hanksville,+Utah+to:Bryce+Canyon,+UT+to:Zion+National+Park,+Hurricane,+Utah+to:Monument+Valley+Navajo+Tribal+Park,+Indn+Route+42,+Oljato-Monument+Valley,+AZ+84536+to:Grand+Canyon+Village,+AZ+to:35.55347,-113.33393+to:2000+Las+Vegas+Boulevard+South,+Las+Vegas,+NV+89104+(Stratosphere+Las+Vegas)+to:Los+Angeles+International+Airport,+1+World+Way++Los+Angeles,+California+90045&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.879621,-111.533203&spn=21.665824,43.286133&sll=37.125286,-109.874268&sspn=5.412568,10.821533&geocode=FXANYAId383C-SG1iQByZdQOPg%3BFUp-WwIdmFqa-Sn5eh80lwlBhzElEWFME1l-jA%3BFfYQUQIdFEl8-Slh0Vvj5s5HhzG26KQLP2Ch3w%3BFQSVTAId8WZ4-SmNLbia5eFHhzEtxNXxerEyCw%3BFReMRgIdApNf-SFh_Dr8RtHdAg%3BFZwpPgId8XRQ-SkPGqBET2g1hzFi_Ul6bDecdQ%3BFf3BNwIdkwdE-SH1VjaqFToufA%3BFdtBNAIdzvlv-SEBzffnX3QrCw%3BFawlJgIdseBQ-Skl4_-VTxczhzGhniKadMLMuA%3BFb6AHgIdVqk--SmR1uqo0gbNgDE6ychoxe9RYg%3BFauQJwIdW94i-SHo5fLOzGFdnw%3BFcTvBQId9jjx-CHxrYtpV3uodw&vpsrc=6&mra=ls&via=2,9&t=m&z=5">Denver to Los Angeles</a> ("Western Deserts")</li>
<li>Oahu and The Big Island, Hawaii ("Lava Lands" - where you'll find us now)</li>
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The highlight from the first leg was definitely New Orleans. The rest of the Deep South was lovely - the people were friendly and the food was *amazing*, especially in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157627962099865/">The Brick Pit</a> - but New Orleans itself is something special. We love the music and the mood, so nicely epitomised in David Simon's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treme_(TV_series)">Treme</a>, and it's something that can't really be captured in photos. The closest we got was when we discovered and joined a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_line_(parades)">Second Line</a> en route from the French Quarter to Frenchmen Street. It was to celebrate a Jewish wedding - hopefully this snap will give you an idea of how vibrant and exciting this can be:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6342332628/" title="Second Line by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Second Line" height="375" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6093/6342332628_2a0ce3c5aa.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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The other highlight of Louisiana was the food. Oh my God, the food! We had plenty of good nosh in New Orleans, but the best meal of all was in a town called <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Breaux+Bridge&hl=en&ll=30.278044,-91.900635&spn=5.861693,10.821533&sll=34.016242,-92.460937&sspn=21.565994,43.286133&vpsrc=6&hnear=Breaux+Bridge,+St+Martin,+Louisiana&t=m&z=7">Breaux Bridge</a>, a few hours West of New Orleans in Cajun Country. There, we discovered the delights of Crawfish Étouffée, which is making me drool just thinking about it...<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6336073576/" title="Crawfish Etoufee by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Crawfish Etoufee" height="375" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6218/6336073576_dfbe60eb05.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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Add New Orleans to your bucket list now, if you haven't already!<br />
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As for the second leg, it was all about National Parks. We managed to hit six of these in the space of 11 days (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon), plus not-National-Parks Monument Valley and Antelope Canyon for good measure.<br />
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They were all incredible, but we were surprised to find that Grand Canyon was probably the least engaging of the six - once you've got over the initial wow factor of <i>that</i> view (and to fair, it is a blockbuster view), you find that it's very similar from all the viewpoints, as are the viewpoints from the trails along and inside the rim, and there are way more people there than at the other parks.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6409632773/" title="Lookout by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Lookout" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6409632773_f1fa311c07.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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Definitely still worth a visit, though.<br />
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In contrast, the other parks have a huge amount of variety, both within each park and compared to each other. Zion Canyon is stunning, Bryce Canyon simply bizarre, Canyonlands epic and Arches novel. The National Park Service does a terrific job looking after these treasures, and the Junior Park Ranger programmes they run <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6369798585/in/photostream/">helped us look after ours</a>. Here's a snap of Zion:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6381397249/" title="Zion Valley by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Zion Valley" height="375" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6054/6381397249_41dc545330.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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And Mesa Arch in Canyonlands was another highlight:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6356551765/" title="Mesa Arch by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Mesa Arch" height="375" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6034/6356551765_62ec2d665a.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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Anyway, where was I? I was talking about surprises, wasn't I? Well, Route 66 (at least, the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=AZ-66+Scenic+W&daddr=35.30144,-112.76312+to:35.32521,-112.86783+to:35.53048,-113.23199+to:E+Andy+Devine+Ave&hl=en&ll=35.46067,-113.48877&spn=2.76496,5.410767&sll=35.212527,-113.89698&sspn=0.17335,0.338173&geocode=FZ6TGQIdIA1K-Q%3BFUCoGgIdEF9H-SnTAZUN_E7NgDH6IMpjRxhQBw%3BFRoFGwIdCsZF-SmLeERzj0bNgDGrAeh1I5AYxg%3BFfAmHgIdijdA-SlneuJvAgXNgDGdCFDDbCZd0A%3BFSxeGQId6FM0-Q&vpsrc=6&mra=dme&mrsp=4&sz=12&via=1,2,3&t=m&z=8">100 mile section we rode on</a>) served up an interesting treat or two. A few stops along the way were <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157628179401191/">littered with Americana</a> (and I'm a fan of Americana), but what made it special was listening to <a href="http://www.kgmn.net/KZKE.htm">KZKE</a> en route - brilliant!<br />
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And now here we are in Hawaii. I knew it was famous for Turtles, but I honestly didn't expect them to pose for me...!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/6434899041/" title="Basking by Phillie Casablanca, on Flickr"><img alt="Basking" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6434899041_cd93ccf3fe.jpg" width="375" /></a>
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And as for the sunsets...<br />
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Anyway, the end of our trip is in sight (arriving in Sydney on 10th December), so our thoughts are turning to the long list of administration awaiting our arrival - not least of which is finding a job. And go on a diet. Maybe after Christmas?<br />
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I'm glad to say we've found somewhere to live in Sydney for the first six months (in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Cammeray&hl=en&ll=-33.844471,151.201401&spn=0.176221,0.338173&sll=35.46067,-113.48877&sspn=2.76496,5.410767&vpsrc=6&hnear=Cammeray+New+South+Wales,+Australia&t=m&z=12">Cammeray</a>), but we don't move in there until 19th December - we'll bridge the gap in a campervan, first staying at a campsite in the city, and then in one an hour North of the city. It'll be nice to finally empty our bags...! :-)<br />
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In the meantime, a full set of photos and few little videos can be found in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/collections/72157627961737517/">this Flickr collection</a>.</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0Haleiwa, HI, USA21.59 -158.113888921.560471 -158.1533709 21.619529 -158.0744069tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-70377145772880825372011-10-06T14:31:00.002+00:002011-12-02T03:45:14.166+00:00A lasting legacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCs3VLaKPplYyvkFKEn7aKSUGSUXOdAVziyKjc0QA6rY5wZVfImo_r-h8Av2YU99h5uhcZTbHYIRWMOyhTWCcBkD3erlTJI9O-5ps03ZrRmDs5olRmU6zRQWdgA32n3br-niSg9Akd2v8/s1600/tribute-apple-logo-to-steve-jobs-27927-1317884731-19.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCs3VLaKPplYyvkFKEn7aKSUGSUXOdAVziyKjc0QA6rY5wZVfImo_r-h8Av2YU99h5uhcZTbHYIRWMOyhTWCcBkD3erlTJI9O-5ps03ZrRmDs5olRmU6zRQWdgA32n3br-niSg9Akd2v8/s200/tribute-apple-logo-to-steve-jobs-27927-1317884731-19.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
A few days ago, there was <a href="http://www.american.com/archive/2011/september/why-jobs-is-no-edison">an interesting article in The American</a> comparing Steve Jobs to Thomas Edison. The gist is that Jobs' legacy doesn't measure up to Edison's - mainly because people are generally unaware of how much Edison achieved in his lifetime (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edison_patents">it was a lot</a>).<br />
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Putting to one side the fact we're not comparing apples with apples, if you'll pardon the pun, I think we're still a long way from realising the extent of Jobs' impact. You can see it far, far beyond Apple's product line. By setting the bar so high, he's forced the entire technology market to change the way they design their products over the past 10 years. I see Jobs' legacy in every phone, every computer, every tablet - anything technological which has an interface. Products formally seen as 'good' are now <a href="http://www.theonion.com/video/sony-releases-new-stupid-piece-of-shit-that-doesnt,14309/">mercilessly mocked</a>, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/technology/01phone.html">don't last long</a>.<br />
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Our expectations have gone up. <i>Through the roof.</i><br />
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But the true legacy reaches much further than the technology market. It can be seen in the way we design <i>everything</i> - from physical products, to services, to transport systems, to web sites. We want <i>everything</i> to work better, no exceptions, no excuses.<br />
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Of course there have always been companies with a strong customer service record. But given how technology in general, and the web in particular, weaves its way through every aspect of our lives, having such a fantastic cheerleader in the technology world for putting the user experience first - and actually showing how it should be done - has benefitted everyone and everything.<br />
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Our ambition for every project, both here at <a href="http://theteam.co.uk/">The Team</a> and at previous employers too, reflects this march of progress. We're always thinking about the end user, whether it's a company employee, citizen, customer or student. Whether we're designing services, products, websites, posters, or anything else. All good companies and agencies do this now. And I think Steve Jobs and his colleagues can take some of the credit for this.<br />
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Thanks Steve!<br />
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(Thanks also to <a href="http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056">Jonathan Mak</a> for the Apple / Jobs logo)</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667198366772137516.post-32530227312680149912011-08-26T15:08:00.003+00:002011-08-26T15:25:37.205+00:00Leaving on a jet planeWhen my wife and I were doing a round-the-world trip in 2003/04, we lived in Sydney for 10 months - and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/sets/72157627399032995/">fell in love with the place</a>. So much so that we've decided to move back and spend some more time there; we've spent the last two years trying to get a visa, and I'm happy to say they're letting us in!<div>
<br /></div><div>We'll be leaving on 15th October all being well, doing some travelling en route, and we'll arrive down under mid-December. We'll start off living in a borough called Cammeray, nicely located between the main harbour and middle harbour (<a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=cammeray&hl=en&ll=-33.822227,151.21067&spn=0.178264,0.260582&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=16.261859,33.354492&vpsrc=6&z=12">map</a>). No jobs lined up yet, but the intention is to start asking around in September.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Hope to see some of you there!</div>Phil Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707058659116319394noreply@blogger.com3