At room44 we have to maintain an agnostic view of every client’s business. To deliver landscaping strategies that present our customers with perspectives they couldn’t see for themselves, by themselves, and to be able to extrapolate an idea into a product concept that their competitors haven’t seen: that’s where we earn our bread and butter.

There are a few tenets we hold dear and we’ve developed a manifesto that we’d like to share with you. However, we’re also aware that, as world politics and environmental issues continue to dominate our news, and market responses to mega trends go on evolving, these tenets may change.  We recommend that every CEO is able to change her, or his, mind in the face of new information, so why wouldn’t we?

1. Question everything

The constant in all our lives is change. The question that we must all ask isn’t ‘what’s going to change?’ but ‘what won’t change?’

This is where room44 starts in all our work. The probability of change and disruption occurring correlates directly to the probability of your new idea being successful, so it’s an important first step.

2. The way you do anything is the way you do everything

To look for insight where you’ve always looked, or where you know your competitors look, isn’t going to provide you with any business insulation. The recent eruption of new business start-ups and the resultant increase in business failures makes the chance of existing business faltering higher than ever before.

Adjacent opportunities must be sought and grasped. Longer term scenarios must be mapped and reviewed. Persistent and tenacious interrogation of your market dynamics and consumer behaviours is imperative.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything. If you are taking care of business today with only an occasional look at immediate threats, the way you will react is ‘occasional’.

Regularly working in your future makes your opportunities appear regularly.

3. Choose yourself

Waiting for market approval is commercially limiting and puts you into a competed position before it’s necessary. Being first to market may not always be the best position, unless you can sink countless £/$/€ into support – but waiting isn’t the answer either.

When you ‘know’ you’re right, have a little faith in yourself and launch. The worst that can happen is that you don’t make the money you need. But even in this, there is an experience to sell and benefit from later on.  Choose yourself every time.

4. It’s never too big to ignore

Overwhelmingly huge issues are a challenge that individuals cannot ignore. Big issues require a big vision and baby steps.  As Greta Thunberg has written; “no-one is too small to make a difference”.

5. It’s never too small to launch

Everything starts at the beginning. A step starts a marathon, an acorn starts the oak tree, a flake starts a blizzard… When we have the germ of an idea, we start it and feed it and water it, and we see where it goes.

An ideas that you feel is right should be nurtured even if the data isn’t available to support it. In fact, if the data is there the idea has already been seen by somebody else.

As we say in number 3, choose yourself.

Our own room44 initiatives

At room44, we see the danger that exists if commerce, industry and consumers continue to crave growth in all things. We buy-in to the need for us all to make less individual impact on our local environments, and we’re trying to offer others options too. It’s all very well for a consultancy to preach a message, but we believe that we should make it easy for people to access better alternatives. In 2019 we have been working on new ’small’ ideas and invite you to take a look.

room44 does more than talk about change

In 2019, we have kicked off two new businesses. One is a sustainable start-up focusing on artisan clothing.

The other is a partnership with an established eBike retailer to become their first brand licensee. Micro-mobility is starting to affect how towns are designed and how residents view their travel options. We see eBikes as democratised personal transport for the 14 to 140 age group.  In time, we’ll introduce bike-sharing in our area but for now, we’ve started small and we’re thrilled to have found great partners who we can work with to promote a less polluting way to get around. 

More to follow on this one.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do, in theory and in practice.

Innovation, ‘new’ product development and creative strategy all have one thing in common; they are forward thinking concepts. Ideas that you have today will launch in the future, into a future market landscape and meet a need for a future consumer.

Nothing about the future has happened yet

Yes, straight line extrapolations of data will predict what might happen based on what went before but data isn’t able to anticipate anything new.

Example

I was brought up watching movies that my dad liked to watch and he loved Westerns. Stories of outlaws and Marshalls. Almost every story involved a bank robbery so my impression of America was that banks got robbed a lot.

The assumed accuracy of this information conflicts with the reality. When Westerns were set, in roughly the second half of the 19th century, banks rarely got robbed. It’s reported that between 1850 and 1900 there were less than 10 bank robberies across all fifteen states of the US.

Following that logic I may have straight line projected and come up with a number for the 2000’s but probably would have missed what has happened and what will happen. According to FBI published data there were 2,451 bank robberies in the US in 2016.

But, this figure is now thought to be reducing

A significant reduction in cash being held by clerks in banks means that holding one up is less lucrative than it once was. It’s also easier to illegally extract money from many, many individuals directly through their bank accounts, online, with the right skill-set.

Don’t just trust the data

To innovate successfully it is essential to apply creativity, intuition and to start believing the signals you see by reading market landscapes. As you make product design decisions it’s really important to see the world through the eyes of your consumers. Through a different lens, if you like.

Sometimes you need help.

Future thinking. Future proofing. It’s what we do.

If this kind of thinking can be helpful to you, let’s talk.

Here’s my diary. Book some time.

And by the way, Tumbleweed isn’t something an American cowboy or bank robber would have seen too often either. It came from the Ukraine. Go figure.

Malcom Gladwell, in his new book Talking to Strangers, discusses the misunderstandings that arise when what you say isn’t what you mean.

For an aspirational business leader, this can easily be resolved with some clarity of purpose (remember ‘purpose’? It’s that elusive thing brands must maintain to ensure they resonate with customers). Only last month, we were trying to decide what Emotional Quotient meant to us; now there’s a new kid on the block asking for definition.

With specific attention to innovation and product planning, your policy may say something like “Our purpose is to make a difference by giving people innovative solutions for ….” But how?

What strategic steps will you take and what strategic position will you arrive at?

Some definitions:

Policy (noun) – a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organisation or individual.

Strategy (noun) – a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.

See the difference? Policy is a general statement that no-one can really follow because it doesn’t tell them what to do – just what to believe. A bit like blind faith.

Strategy, on the other hand, is descriptive. It tells you that there is a target, an intent and a plan.

Lots of companies have a policy document or a mission statement.

Fewer have a product strategy that knows what its customers want to see it do – now and next. Why? Because a strategy must be specific and measurable, and it can be hard to know what to be, when everything around us is changing all the time. So, instead of making a decision and acting with intent, business leaders hedge their bets and do nothing, waiting for the next big idea to strike.

Anyway, back to Malcolm.

Don’t fall into the trap of being vague. Say what you want your teams to do. Company staff need to be told what is expected of them and the overarching purpose: why are we being asked to do something, where will it take us, and how can I make a difference?

Put this in place and all manner of intangible efficiencies start to open up: elephants vanish from rooms and black swans appear all over the place.

Telling your staff and customers what you plan to be in the future, and how they can help you achieve it, is a strategic action. It supports the policy and it means you have thought long and hard about it, removing the need for any lingering blind faith.

You can get really hung up on ‘purpose’, but in the interests of business survival it’s always better to have one than not. Working on an innovation or product strategy is a great way to start.

If we can be helpful to you, let’s talk. Here’s my diary.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Brand value

Car sales guys are pretty good at customer service. In my experience, service desks aren’t always. Problem: the last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Where have you come across this kind of customer service?

Social lens

Brands today clamour to be in the spotlight of social media and pay billions for click-throughs. But, as consumers become more attuned to issues they want to act on, brand behaviour will come under scrutiny. It’s no good telling the world what your brand plans to do about its environmental impact while consumers are kicking your plastic bottle/crisp packet/detergent tub/fertiliser sack/bread bag along the beach. They can see what your attitude has been so far.

Social media and connectivity have been the preserve of brands to exploit, but we are at a point in brand market evolution where this power is pivoting and is the lens through which emotional quotient (EQ) will be measured.

Calculable doesn’t always mean measurable

EQ is a hard metric to get right, but acknowledgement of it as a monitor of consumer sentiment is filtering through to market segments – some more than others. High end clothing? Yes, in some places. Plastic packaging? Not obviously. Not yet.

Of course, environmental considerations, as they relate to buying decisions, represent a decision for the privileged. There are many places where it’s simply not possible for people to be as ‘green’ as they want to be. Budget, choice, even basic availability of products isn’t guaranteed in large parts of the world. So, how consumers behave, where their choice is available, makes that behaviour even more powerful.

Design Thinking

Understanding how consumer EQ needs to be considered by brands is unlikely to  feature in your sales team’s remit, or your marketing team’s plan.

If you don’t know how EQ and Design Thinking are related, it’s time to talk. Personal purchases and the ways that consumers respond to brands are going to be more and more critically measured.

CSuite responsibility

This is a matter for CSuite. If your CSuite isn’t actively and urgently discussing these complex issues, get in touch. We can help.

Let’s talk. Click here to choose a time to suit you.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

David got a call from his CEO. Having been to an innovation forum, she wants to introduce a programme of innovation. Where to start?

The company’s not short of good ideas. They have people visiting trade shows all the time. David goes to networking meetings at least once a fortnight and has even been to trend presentations himself.

So, why does David have a problem?

It’s not that he doesn’t believe the company can innovate. But which idea should he recommend they invest in?

The Sales Director isn’t that interested in innovation, until it turns into something that can sit in a sales plan. The CFO is reluctant to discuss innovation: it’s a term that means different things to different people and, after all, the budget is assigned for this year. The Marketing team is buried in trade marketing and can’t get involved.

This could go badly for David

David doesn’t want to be the one to make a silly suggestion. Board meetings are already busy and future investment can’t take priority with the way things are: the exchange rate; Brexit; technology racing away; new competitors disrupting trading agreements; the CRM update; the pressure on costs. If they take their eye off the ball, anything could happen.

David looks around and begins to see who is out there that might help. He comes across a company called room44 that publishes blogs every week about all kinds of interesting aspects of innovation. There are hundreds of articles on their website, and they seem well-established. Their client list is impressive too.

David finds trusted support

David calls them up and, suddenly, he feels as if he’s found someone who understands, not only the need for innovation, but also how to choose the best option, now.

Be like David

Call room44 now or click here to speak to Tristan and get onside with an ally.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Is innovation part of your three year plan?

As long ago as 1962, Everett Rogers published the Diffusion of Innovation concept, coining the phrases ‘Early Adopters’ and the ‘Early Majority’ that are still popular today.

In 2016, McKinsey assessed the average lifecycle of a company in the current market at less than 18 years. Three years on, this is more likely to be 15 years.

In 2018, I suggested that all established market positions are under threat from new and disruptive start-ups, whether or not they’re technology-based – the theory of inevitable failure.

Ideas collide

There’s a confluence of ideas here that, seen separately, may not raise any eyebrows. But put them together and every CEO, in every sector, should be reaching for a legal pad and making notes.

Let’s start with Everett. His bell curve is shown below, and it’s easy to see why we love the idea of payback early in the adoption cycle. But if you overlay a fifteen-year cycle, suddenly there’s a problem: the three-year planning and strategic vision favoured by so many CEOs only makes it as far as the earliest point of break-even.

You may think it’s very convenient to overlay a rigid timeline onto a chart like this but bear with me. If the market you’ve launched into experiences unforeseen activity, even the three-year view is cut short. This scenario will never allow you to reach profitability, the product won’t mature, and customers will jump to the next thing.

It’s far easier and less messy (not to mention cheaper) to start up a new product from scratch than to work an idea into an established business structure. But let’s look at my theory of ‘inevitable failure’, otherwise known as ‘the need for innovation’.

Denying reality

It has been said that the only difference between humans and other animals is our ability to deny reality. As brands come and go, experienced watchers will recognise a clear and unavoidable fact: everything dies. Ignore this at your peril.

Sectors resisting change

If you’re working in a market today, that market will shut you down eventually. For example, every internal combustion engine component manufacturer is three to five years away from a major realignment of their market. Why? Because electric vehicles are mandated by governments and EVs don’t use carburettors, fuel tanks, engine blocks, fuel gauges…

Plastic packaging is another case in point. If you are invested in multi-material, complex laminations that use more than one compound type and you’re not working towards a new VP, move on. The people who work for you deserve better.

If you’re a brand that persists in using more than a single packaging material to present your products, the same applies.

Innovation is an experience

This collision between theories suggests there are lots of great new products that may have become innovations; but won’t. Time is not on their side. The rate with which emerging technology is hitting your market sector and the rapidity with which companies start up, thrive and die, means even the best and most successful ideas aren’t guaranteed a long and happy life.

Future proofing

So, what’s the answer? Simple. Look further ahead and plan for a different market.

As a company or brand owner, it’s your responsibility to create a view of your future that is unique to you. Confirmation bias is a thing of the past; you cannot rely on doing what everyone else does to succeed. Creativity, speed of communication and technology are moving more quickly than products can be developed and distributed. The consumer experience is now to leap-frog a product generation because so much happens between purchase occasions. This means that brand loyalty is at an all-time low – the cost of switching brand allegiance is zero; the cost to you is survival.

A new training offer

room44 is soon to reveal a new way of delivering innovation insight and process training.

To get in early and help us shape our plan, hit this link and leave your phone number. I’ll call you back and, if you decide that being a beta-subject is a good idea, we’ll discount 30% for the first ten sign-ups.

#room44innovates

The last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Brand value

Car sales guys are pretty good at customer service. In my experience, service desks aren’t. Problem: the last impression your customer has of your brand is the thing they take to market when they buy again.

Kevin Keegan was a great footballer but is often remembered for a passionate rant as manager of Newcastle United, twenty years ago. His career in management never really recovered.

Gerald Ratner once headed the best-known and most successful jewellery retail chain in the UK. It was cheap and cheerful at a time of recession. Then he called his products “total crap.” The Ratners brand died instantly.

It’s possible that Philip Green did some good things at some point in his career. Does anyone remember? This week the ‘Rich List’ applies some pressure to his personal status and claims his Arcadia Group to be “worthless”. He may have kept his knighthood – so far…

Social lens

Brands today clamour to be in the spotlight of social media and pay millions for click-throughs. But, as consumers become more attuned to issues they want to act on, brand behaviour will come under scrutiny. It’s no good telling the world what your brand plans to do about its environmental impact while consumers are kicking your plastic bottle/crisp packet/detergent tub/fertiliser sack/bread bag along the beach. They can see what your attitude has been so far.

Social media and connectivity have been the preserve of brands to exploit, but we are at a point in brand market evolution where this power is pivoting and is the lens through which emotional quotient (EQ) will be measured.

EQ

EQ is a hard metric to get right, but acknowledgement of it as a monitor of consumer sentiment is beginning to filter through to market segments – some more than others. High end clothing? Yes, in some places. Plastic packaging? Not obviously.

Of course, environmental considerations, as they relate to buying decisions, represent a decision for the privileged. There are many places where it’s simply not possible for people to be as ‘green’ minded as they wish. Budget, choice, even basic availability of products isn’t guaranteed in large parts of the world. So, how consumers behave where the choice is available makes that behaviour even more powerful.

Design Thinking

If you think EQ and Design Thinking aren’t related, think again. Personal purchases and the ways that consumers respond to brands are going to be more and more critically measured.

CSuite responsibility

Understanding how consumer EQ needs to be considered by brands is unlikely to  feature in your sales team’s remit, or your marketing team’s plan. This is a matter for CSuite. If your CSuite isn’t actively and urgently discussing these complex issues, get in touch. We can help.

Let’s talk. Click here to choose a time to suit you.

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

To stay relevant to your customers over the next couple of years you’ll need to be aware of mega trends: the very biggest macro factors.

Mega trends are those irreversible, slow-to-grow changes that we tend not to recognise as quickly as we might. It’s a bit like seeing a child (puppy, kitten) after a period of time: you notice their growth much more than if you see them every day.

Who do mega trends affect?

Mega trends affect us all. They offer opportunity and threat to business in equal measure. The opportunities presented by mega trends are visible to companies who actively look for ideas to grow. The threats that mega trends present are also clear to companies looking for ideas to grow. The message is this – if you’re not looking at trends, you aren’t seeing either growth opportunity or risk of disruption.

Here in the UK many brands, especially SMEs, are wrapped up in Brexit, and it’s become really easy not to look too far into the future. While Brexit is definitely a macro factor, it’s also been difficult to plan for.

True mega trends are usually easier to read than Brexit, and definitely more likely to open up an opportunity. These are some mega trends you might like to take a look at…

The sharing economy – this may be a hard one to get to grips with if you sell consumer products. As things are developing, your newest customers are making fewer capital purchases – but there are two sides to this.

If you sell sofas, you can rent out sofas. If you sell bikes, hire out bikes. The transition to a subscription model is not hard unless you just don’t see the need.

Personal Mobility – while governments around the world are pumping billions into the electrification of cars, there is an undercurrent of radical change that still has a long way to go.

Not only are cars and other vehicles subject to changes in fuel systems, with all the knock-on impact that will have on the automotive supply chain, but even this emerging market is under pressure from the sharing economy. This trend is going to run and run, and electricity won’t be the only fuel solution explored. This blog talks about this more:

Emotional intelligence – Human Resource departments are great at building systems to recruit team members who ‘fit’ with each other.

They have known for decades that IQ isn’t the only measure of probable effectiveness. Emotional Quotient (EQ) is now better understood and it’s being managed and exploited. EQ describes the way you monitor your emotions and the emotions of your colleagues, as well as how customers react in response to your brand messages. EQ extends through your recruitment, staff management and how you are able to manage consumer loyalty.

To build a sustainable brand position, your launch planning must be part of the innovation process and persona development at the earliest possible time.

The room44 Innovation Process takes EQ into account. Let’s talk about this complex part of your plan. You can book some time here to talk.

Ages of population – here’s how the ages of the various generations are described.

Your customer personas need to anticipate how the ages of your shoppers are shifting. It’s thought that 75% of the workforce in 2025 could be Millennials.

People who sit in Gen Z and Alpha will live well beyond 100 and have plenty of time for several discrete careers. What does this mean? Well, one theory is that Gen Zs are already approaching an age when their first business sectors are changing enough that they need to retrain.

Law – the legal systems we abide by have been developed over hundreds of years. Prevailing laws are the compound product of ideas and reactions to societal developments that have taken place over time.

History tells us that legislators are slow to evolve laws to meet a new situation, and yet the forecasted rate of change in many areas of our lives means that the legal system must accelerate to keep up. Laws rely on precedent to direct us, but technology is applying pressure here. Financial management, online business, digital fraud, autonomous vehicles, geographic and geo-fenced boundaries, artificial and human intelligence are a few examples of the areas where the law is evolving, but may need to anticipate what’s coming rather than react to what has happened.

These mega trends are just some of those that sit on the horizon. They’re already in play and will cascade to affect your customers’ choices, your brand positioning and your relationship with your buyers.

room44 watches trends, builds systems for our clients to watch for themselves and trains teams to innovate by being aware and informed about the way their markets are changing – before the change arrives.

 We can help with that. Call us to find out more: +44 208 144 9800 or click through to see how our outside insight service works. Don’t worry, there isn’t another form to fill in.

outside insight

Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

There’s a feeling among company managers that external perspectives can’t add much to business strategy. It’s an opinion we hear fairly often and yet, McKinsey seems to be doing OK. Is this because buyers of management consultancy just want to buy in resource to get a job done, or because an external perspective adds value?

Let’s look at a case study.

In the UK, Europe and the USA, the car market is changing. Not so much that existing suppliers to car brands can’t survive, but enough to suggest that, in many cases, their days are numbered.

This diagram paints the picture.

The bottom triangle shows where established business is today. The top one shows how insurgent and disruptive business sees its opportunity.

With legislation telling us that the only cars available in twenty years will be full electric, where do you think your business sits in the diagram above?

Let’s look a bit closer at this market.

In 2018, the EU car market grew by 0.5% – good news. Nothing to worry about there. Plug this number into your financial plan and it’s going to be a good year. Launch a new car every five years, let the supply chain develop components to meet the need. Everybody wins.

Oh, but wait, Uber has signalled that consumers don’t need to own a car to navigate a city. In London alone, that’s over 10 million people who rarely need to buy into this sector.

How about driving autonomy? Not going to happen?

Tesla disagrees. Toyota has invested $500 million in Uber self-driving technology projects. Google has invested over $1billion already. Since 2015, Dyson has been pumping $2.5billion a year into electric vehicles with some self-driving ability, and its recently announced move to Singapore puts the company close to the fastest-growing electric vehicle (EV) market – China. Coincidence?

One of the issues that EVs must resolve is range. Range correlates to weight, so EVs are built to be light. Cars designed for short trips come in under 450KGs, compared to over a metric tonne for cars made of metal. Where the language of car makers used to be of smelting, tensile strengths, rolling, beating, pressing and casting, now we hear of moulding, laminating, bonding, extruding and injecting.

There are other factors to consider in the car market. Hydrogen could utilise the infrastructure of filling stations the world over, if safe movement of the fuel can be assured. Environmentally, hydrogen has its fans and does present a viable alternative to electricity, avoiding the need for the creation of a charging system for EVs.

Supply chains change.

If you are part of the supply chain to the automotive market, or active in the maintenance of cars as they exist today, you can be certain that your world is changing. You just may not have seen it yet.

So, does an external perspective look like it could be valuable? Whether you make toothpaste (plastic packaging), potato crisps (metallised lamination and gas flushing), processed meat (veganism), or fashion (slow fashion, circular economy), things are changing for you.

Buying in an objective view of your market opens the door to fresh ideas. There is value in re-examining data that you’ve discounted, and in bringing your consumer’s perspective into your reckoning.

This link will download our free guide, ‘Seeing it differently.’ room44 specialises in delivering value from Design Thinking – the act of building a strategy from your customer’s perspective. A strategy that meets a need today and anticipates what you must do to stay relevant as your market changes around you.

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Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.

Innovation consultants aren’t obvious in every coffee shop. We can’t be picked out by our black uniform (architects), or that slightly dishevelled and wired look (junior doctors), or even the button-down shirted, penny loafer and blue suit-wearing business type (McKinsey). We are a relatively rare breed that sits on a stool with a quizzical look. We’re what Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Graylock fame calls ‘the infinite learner’.

Question everything

In room44’s case, we have an internal mantra that sits at the heart of our brand essence –  question everything. How did you get to where you are? Why do you still do what you do? Have you seen that trend yet? How about the macro trend sitting out in the future that promises to knock your growth plan off-course, or that looks like an opportunity to latch onto?

One of the reasons our clients work with room44 is our enquiring minds – the most central tenet of which is: who is it for?

Consumer-centricity sits at the core of our being. We don’t work to deliver ‘innovation’. We work to create a strategy that delivers products and services to let your customers experience innovation: a better experience, or a more satisfying solution to their problem.

The father of disruptive innovation, Clayton Christensen, defined it as being what creates new markets by discovering new categories of customers. In our opinion, the best place to start to disrupt is from an established market position. From this position, you have everything you need to succeed and all the tools a start-up would kill for: customers, brand presence, market penetration, shelf space, relationships, track record, trust and revenue.

In the coffee shop

When we’re in the coffee shop, we watch. When we’re at the bus stop, we watch. When we’re at the checkout, we watch, and when we aren’t watching, we’re reading or listening. There’s a good reason for this. There’s as much merit in observing people going about normal business as there is in dive into the internet. In fact, they’re interrelated. Seeing the world in action and following a line of enquiry with ‘why?’ at the heart of the matter is essential to the development of new ways to meet consumer need.

This is how we learn and how we apply an objective consumer perspective to any market segment.

To learn how an innovation consultant can help your business, you can read our guide to strategic innovation. We call it the Programme for Changemakers.

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Future thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do.