I am delighted to speak at the Futurist CMO Summit on August 25-26 in Gurgaon, India, organized by the tireless Jessie Paul, the former CMO of Wipro, who is now poised to foster the marketing ecosystem in India with her new venture Paul Writer. The Paul Writer team conducted a brief teaser interview with me for the conference site:
"1. What is design thinking according to you?
Design Thinking is a marketing buzzword which I prefer not to use, and we don’t really use at frog either. We pride ourselves on design thinking and doing, on innovation, which implies that we make ideas real rather than just coming up with blue-sky strategies. Today’s marketers need to be experts in what design thinkers may define as an open, creative process based around the ‘building-up’ of ideas. But the trend towards more participatory product development, consumer engagement, crowdsourcing, etc. goes far beyond just a trendy label – it marks a significant shift in consumer culture and in the way we do business. Good marketers know that and are by definition masters in holistic thinking. In this respect, marketing was design thinking long before Design Thinking was even thought of. Ultimately, it’s all about designing smart, meaningful interactions between brands and their constituents. If there is no creativity involved, and your marketing is all ‘science-y’ but there is no art in it, it will be hard to build your brand.
2. How is frog different from other design centric firms?
First of all, through our size and reach. With 15 locations and 1,600 employees, frog is one of the world’s largest design and innovation firms. And with our most recent expansion into India – with staff in Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Chennai – as well as our offices in Johannesburg and Shanghai, we are strengthening our footprint in emerging markets. But what really makes us different is our culture and expertise. We have more than 40 years’ experience in developing innovative products and services for blue-chip companies such as Apple, BMW, Disney, GE, HP, Intel, Lufthansa, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, or Sony, and have driven fundamental change in industries including consumer electronics, computing, retail, financial services, entertainment, transportation, healthcare, and energy. Founded as an industrial design firm in 1969, we have continuously expanded our capabilities and now offer a unique combination of product design, interaction design, customer and market insights, brand, strategy, and software engineering. All these capabilities are seamlessly integrated into what we call our “integrated delivery model” that deploys an interdisciplinary, concurrent process to accelerate and improve end-to-end innovations for our clients. This convergence of strategy and craftsmanship, radical creativity and business savvy, hardware and software design, is unparalleled in the marketplace. No other firm offers the same depth and breadth of innovation services. Most importantly, frog has a distinct culture: people who work here – we call them “frogs” – are idealists driven by their passion and the ambition to improve the lives of consumers through better products and services. At the same time they’re pragmatic subject-matter experts who really “get” our clients’ business so that they can challenge it. They’re rebels with a cause.
3. Why is a human centered approach to the design process important in a company's growth?
Well, design is for humans so it appears to be a good idea to put them into the center of the process – all the way from the initial observational research to participatory design to the final product development. This doesn’t mean, however, that design should just react to user needs. Rather, it means spotting patterns in human behavior in order to understand the hidden desires of consumers that are not articulated yet but may drive the next big disruptive innovation. Insights plus imagination is the magic formula. ZipCar, Facebook, Netflix, the iPhone, the Wii, and other success stories are all examples of that. As we are inundated by a deluge of data and grapple with complex technologies, shorter innovation cycles, hyper-connectivity, and myriad channels of social computing that are reshaping the way we live, it is the responsibility not just of designers but anyone in business to humanize technology and create “connected” products and experiences that are intuitive, responsible, and meaningful. Ultimately, this is a question of empathy and social intelligence. Smart brands retain the ability to “feel” even if they may obsess over analytics. Companies like Apple, Google, or IBM which are at their very core passionate about improving the world and compassionate about their employees, customers, and the world at large are there to last. Companies who don’t “feel” are not.
4. Doesn't the idea of a good design change from culture to culture?
Do you have a favorite insight about India /Indian ? Absolutely, and one has to be careful not to mix the local differences into a global mainstream style that is in fact the lowest common denominator. There are certain basic ingredients though that I believe make products and experiences successful across various cultures: ease of use, uniqueness, built-in social features that enhance viral distribution, a strong story, cultural sensitivity and the ability to create a culture of their own. With regard to India, the “Jugaad” phenomenon – reverse or frugal innovation – is definitely very interesting and a tremendous opportunity, and I’m sure we will see more design-driven innovations coming out of India that set trends worldwide.
5. How does a marketer progress from a "Chief Marketing Officer" to "Chief Meaning Officer"?
I came up with the concept of “Chief Meaning Officer” to express the need and the historic opportunity for marketers to spearhead a broader transformation of business – away from an economic model that has cost us so dearly in the recent financial crash and will continue to do so, to a more values-driven model that is based on strong ethics and long-term thinking. I strongly believe a “meaning surplus” will become imperative: Only businesses that give more than they take will be able to create sustained brand loyalty. For marketers, this means moving beyond simply connecting products and customers with the goal of facilitating transactions. Marketing must now create meaning through actions and interactions – marketing without marketing. Their task is to negotiate a New Deal, a new social contract between brands, their stakeholders, and society at large. There are two reasons marketers are uniquely positioned for this mission: First, they are disposed to transformation by the very nature of their role. They must constantly adapt to ever-changing customer behaviors, and because of this exposure to trends they can act as true business innovators, challenging the status quo inside their organizations. Second, since marketers serve as the public interface of their companies, orchestrating the relationships between the key market actors (customer, media, and public), they can also fulfill that role within their organizations, facilitating among R&D, operations, sales, finance, and HR.
6. Which are some of your favorite blogs and twitter handles?
I love reading John Hagel’s thoughtful posts (the author of “The Power of Pull”). I also regularly read Paul Writer’s Marketing Booster, which provides a helpful snapshot of key industry trends.
7. This is your second time at the Futurist CMO. What are you looking forward to? / What keeps bringing you back?
For starters, the majority of my team and the majority of our workforce are based in India, and I try to come here as often as I can. Besides that, India is the perfect place for marketers who want to gain insights into the future. It is such a vibrant market environment right now, both in terms of scale and pace, and I find it inspiring to learn from India’s marketing thought leaders and practitioners. The first Futurist CMO conference last year was fantastic, and I had a lot of interesting conversations. Jessie and her team are wonderful hosts, and an event with such focus and quality is rare in the marketing field. I am really looking forward to it."
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