Make Me Pulse 2017

What businesses can learn from Willy Wonka

Interactive websites

The gift economy

Chase Buckley writes in his extremely insightful article, "The Future Draws Closer: 9 Design Prophecies for 2019":

The Kula Ring is clearly a prophetic view of our own future in the West — one in which consumers care far more about the relationships and experiences gained through transactions than of the actual items and services themselves.



Users flock to AirBnB and CouchSurfing not merely to fulfill the basic need of shelter, but to establish meaningful and enduring relationships along the way. The same can be said for RelayRides and Liquid and the host of borrowing apps that allow neighbors to share their goods with one another — not for profit but for interpersonal gain. And its especially evident in Peer to Peer marketplaces like Zaarly and Quirky and Etsy, where the items being purchased are obviously worthless, yet still maintain value by virtue of the relationships they help to create and maintain.

Designers of the future will be wise to acknowledge the implicit values of connection over utility, of interpersonal relationships over profit, and of enriching interactions over pragmatic exchanges. We’re on a trajectory towards the Kula Ring — where the ultimate goal of our transactions is not to come out on top, but to come out together, instead.

Principles of the gift economy

There will be a shift from a commodity-exchange based economy to a gift-exchange based economy.  In his book "Gifts and Commodities", Chris Gregory contrasts the two:




People will value meaning more than money. Interactions will become more than mere business transactions, but exchanges of goodwill.

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Independence and ingenuity

"Whenever someone tells me that they can't figure out how to raise the first $25,000 they need to get their company started, remember that the founders of Airbnb repackaged cereals as Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains and sold them for $40/box during the US presidential election campaign period to fund their startup."

Tips from The Startup Playbook

From the book by David Kidder

When there’s a disagreement about anything in the company, talk to your users.



Don’t let your company start doing the next thing until you’ve dominated the first thing.

Business Lessons from Nature

Symbiosis

Plants grow flowers to attract pollinating insects. Your business should do likewise to attract customers. Large, vibrant flowers that emit a sweet fragrance attracts bees and butterflies. Appealing aesthetics that engages the senses attracts customers. The relationship should be symbiotic: both sides interact with and mutually benefit from one another. The insects help pollinate the plants, and the plants offer nectar to them in return. Your business should not only take from your customers, but also offer incentives to reward them.

Adaptation

Make structural and/or behavioral adaptations to adjust to your environment. A rabbit that lives in a forest habitat is brown to camouflage with the ground, while a rabbit that lives in a snowy habitat is white. Similarly, different businesses should adapt accordingly in order to survive and thrive.

Evolution

Change for the better. Organisms evolve, businesses pivot. This is the process of natural selection, and the survival of the fittest.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

From the book by Carmine Gallo

1. What is the one big idea you want to leave with your audience? It should be short, memorable, and in subject-verb-object sequence.
2. Identify why you're excited about this company/product/feature, etc.
3. Write out the three messages you want the audience to receive, and develop metaphors and analogies in support.
4. Include a demonstration if your product topic lends itself to such. (Eg. pull the product out of your pocket if it is 'pocket-sized.'
5. Invite partners and customers to participate.
6. Include video clips if helpful, but limit to three minutes or less.
7. Answer the "Why should I care?" that's in the audience's mind. Have a passion for creating a better future.
8. Having an enemy (eg. IBM, Microsoft) helps visualize 'the problem' you're solving.
9. Simplify your presentation.
10. Use meaningful numbers - eg. "Stores 1,000 songs," not "5 GB memory."
11. Don't use bullet-points; instead, use short phrases that accompany your talk, or pictures.
12. Practice, practice, practice - and ask for feedback.

Learning Presentation Skills from Steve Jobs

(Inspired by Steve Jobs Presentation Skills)

1. Theme: have a theme and stick tightly to it
2. Hook: start with a short, simple and memorable headline
3. Story: sell with stories
4. Visual: a picture tells a thousand words
5. Simple: keep your message simple (e.g. there are far more accurate ways to do it = more accurate)
6. Smile: smile and have fun (tell jokes, share relevant funny anecdotes, e.g. Steve Jobs prank called a Starbucks during his 2007 iPhone presentation and ordered 4000 cups of lattes)
7. Don't narrate: don't read from notes or the slides
8. Enthusiasm: infect your audience with your enthusiastic and passionate (e.g. Steve Jobs used words like "fantastic", "amazing", "incredible")
9. Surprise: have a magic 
10. Sign-posting: before you share your points, tell your audience what you are going to share with them; after you share your points, recap and summarise them again (e.g. Before: "Now, I am going to tell you three things about the iPhone: 1...2...3..." and After: "The iPhone is 1...2...3...")
11. Inspire: end with something uplifting and inspiring (e.g. inspirational quote)

Advertising exercises from The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry

Hard Sell vs Soft Sell

Take a basic hard sell ad (eg a basic price-led ad) and "soften" it. Keep the offer in the ad, but create an idea that works as an integral part of the offer, not something that looks stuck onto it.

Single Minded Proposition

Turn on the TV, or grab a magazine or paper. Look at each ad and try to work out what each one is trying to say about the product. Is there one benefit being communicated? Are they saying too many things? In other words, identify the proposition.

Target Audience

Watch TV ads, or look in a magazine or paper and try to work out whom each ad is directed at, or talking to. Try to be as specific as possible. In other words, identify the target.

Opposites

Think of something, anything, and do the opposite. Start with visuals, eg an egg. It's usually round, so make it square instead. Then turn it into an ad. Maybe a line for this example could be: Have genetically modified foods gone too far? (Not great. Think of some better examples...)

Print Campaign

Pick the product/service that you love the most. Create a print campaign for it. Then do the same for the product you hate the most.

Exaggeration

Apply each stage of the exaggeration tool to a brand of really sharp kitchen knives. Start with ten working taglines that begin with "So sharp that..." Pick your favourite line/idea (the one that you can write lots of ads to). Then write a reduced, separate final tagline. Test the idea without a tag.

Ambient Marketing

Pick any five products/services and create as many original ambient ideas as you can. Try both types of ambient ideas (using traditional media in an innovative and interesting way eg colour-changing billboards, or creating a new medium eg using a bench as a poster), but try to avoid obvious charity organisations, or condom ads in toilets, etc.

Interactive Marketing

Choose an everyday object (eg a type of drink or article of clothing) and think of all the ways you can interact with it. Go through the five senses. Now apply this to a digital interactive experience (eg website or app) and see if any of the first ideas can work for a particular brand.

Games

Pick a brand (or start with a market, if it's easier) that has yet to produce a gaming experience, and create ideas for one. Maybe produce it too. (Either way, it could become a stand-out piece in your portfolio.)

App

Create an app for a brand that's never been done before. Really.

QR Code

Create an original, compelling QR code concept for a brand of your choice. (Creatively, think beyond the design-focused, "executional" use of QR codes like unusual positioning/placement, or photographic mosaic montages, unless it's relevant to the brand or concept like the My Toys campaign that used QR codes made from Lego bricks.)

Augmented Reality (AR)

Create a mobile (phone/tablet) AR concept for any brand.

Call-To-Actions (CTAs)

Instructional copy should be good copy too. Go online or browse an interactive manual. Pick out CTAs, eg banners and websites are the best bet. (Most use the standard 'Learn more.') Now try rewriting each CTA in a way that's more interesting and/or relates to the idea.

Social Co-Creation

Choose a brand and then think of an engaging co-creation idea that the brand "starts" and the consumer(s) has to "finish". For the same product, think of a new idea that the consumer "starts" and the brand has to "finish". Compare each approach to see which is the most original, creative and compelling.

Snapchat Campaign

Create an idea (for three different brands) to appear on Snapchat that utilises its content-lifespan (1-10s for a Snap; up to 24 hours for a Story) in a unique way.

Typography

Famous people are like brands. We get a feeling as soon as we hear a name: a definite, unique picture. Think of ten famous people (dead or alive), and pick a typeface that expresses each persona. Restrictions: black, roman (upright) type only; UPPERCASE, lower case, or upper and lower.

Redesigning Old Ads

Give an ageing ad a face lift. Find a headline and visual print that has a great concept, but looks dated. (Hint: go through some 1980s awards annuals.) Now re-direct the ad, changing the layout, hierarchy, type, colour palette etc, as necessary. (If the visual is from a specific photo shoot, either Photoshop/Illustrate a new visual, or insert a similar stock image.)

Be creative with the medium

Tabasco

Imagine a room of imagination

Volkswagen has the best ads

The power of words