Category: collaboration

Global risks for you and me

Posted on January 25, 2012

 

This WEF global risks grid compiled from survey respondent answers seems, at first, to be a pretty good stab at the issues on the table.  Now, try and take another look without slipping into a heavily comatose state.  These terms, familiar to us thanks to the daily grind of ‘very serious information,’ is the apex of mechanistic, non-sentient language, not far removed from what you might find in an IKEA shelving unit assembly manual. Impossible to decipher and skull-crushingly dull, both destined to go straight in the bin for most normal people.
Read More…

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Why Apple needs to do an El Bulli

Posted on October 4, 2011



When visionary über-chef Ferran Adrià pulled the shutters down on his restaurant nestling in the Catalan coastal town of Roses for the last time, he was saying goodbye to a 27-year-old restaurant that had become the world’s most fabled eating institution. A restaurant, only open for 6 months at a time, that 2 million people a year tried to get a table at (and that only served up 8, 000 covers). His mindblowing, unreal creations (tapioca Iberian ham anyone? Consommé tagliatelle carbonara?) were the types of things never before conceived of in the history of food. He is a genius. And his restaurant was rightly feted with godly praise, the phrases diners used to describe their trip to Roses were unlike anything ever used to describe a meal before. This guy had raised the bar in a once-thought impossible way.

So why on earth would you mess with this formula? Probably the most successful restaurant of all time. Head and shoulders above its peers. The reference point for a generation of chefs. It made serious cash. It was a place that had transcended conventional high expectations to reach an unscaled pinnacle. Perhaps this genius had suffered the same fate of other tormented greats that have left an indelible mark on this planet with their excellence and he had cracked. Maybe his cheese had slipped off his cracker?

A bit bonkers?

Well actually, no. Ferran Adrià has bigger fish to fry. His restaurant is to be transformed into an academy of learning and creativity. It is set to become a beacon of El Bulli inspired excellence that will nurture and cultivate future food pioneers. Carved out of the rock below the site of the former restaurant it will be an organic temple of deep culinary thought and fantasy flavours. A bit bonkers? Well, maybe. But also totally visionary. This is someone who at the top of his profession decided to say: ‘Sod it, i’m forgoing the glory of having the most stunning, over-subscribed to restaurant the planet has ever seen and I’m going to totally reinvent this and take it to another level. And then, I will really blow people’s minds.’ Read More…

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Time to reset retail

Posted on August 10, 2011

For too many reasons consumerism as we know it is over. The problem we have got (besides the fact that our economies still revolve around shopping for stuff from China) is that the consumer landscape has stood still, content to wheeze towards a slow death, unable to embrace the shoots of 21st Century prosperity. Well we think that’s not good enough. Say hello to retail reset. We want retail be the hub of a many-spoked plan to save our cities with creativity, experiences, collaboration and learning. With lots of deep research and inspiring thinking we want to show you that the future of retail is out there and it’s beautiful.

Here’s a small chunk from a longer article on what we think the future of retail is all about:

It’s not that hard to imagine Oxford Street as a hub of mass collaboration where people descend in droves not as 20th century shoppers but as 21st century citizens, ready to be inspired, exposed to new ideas, to learn and participate in something they are passionate about, and connect with others.
Being a responsible retailer in a new economic reality isn’t just about watertight sourcing, me-too environmental 
credentials, some taxes and a few jobs. Those are in fact bare minimum requirements for existence. It’s about aspiring to give your customers more and actually taking a a role in wider economic fortunes. If you want my money, you are going to have to prove to me that you are worth it. These days I can now spend my (even harder) earned pennies on something unique that also gives me a personal connection, is beautifully crafted or locally made, rather than see my cash pay for your chief executive’s hired help at his winter sun bolthole in in the Seychelles. I want you to use your considerable heft to bring together totally amazing experiences, possibilities and opportunities that inspire me and help me achieve my dreams. Please, try harder or you will never see me again. I have enough options to keep me busy for five lifetimes so make it memorable.
So with this in mind, where are the amphitheatres in Topshop with round the clock lectures from fashion industry players teaching me about how to get my foot in the door? Or the social enterprise upcycling concessions in Primark that show me how to transform last season’s jacket into this summer’s must-have item. Why can’t I take part in an Ikea hack workshop (turning my old Ikea purchase into something new) when I’m actually at Ikea?
When I pick up a shiny gadget why am I not suddenly be immersed in an augmented reality world that takes me on a journey across the globe to witness the raw materials being sourced in Bolivia, to the factory where it was put together in Shenzen, then on to the innovation lab in Bangalore and to the marketing gurus on Madison Avenue? Why can’t I take out my phone and find out where I can connect with people meeting up in real world makerspaces up and down the high street who are into the same things I am and forge new bonds, friendships and alliances. If I’m going to by my food an Iceland (shop not country) why can’t I find out how to make the most nutritional meal possible for my family dinner that night at a hands-on micro seminar in-store? Read More…

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Retail reset pt. III: When riding it out doesnt cut it

Posted on March 1, 2011

Panic over London as Primark announces a dip in performance (FT). Evidence of  consumer confidence drastically sliding and as Larry Elliot puts it: you know you are in trouble when people are thinking again about buying a £2 vest.

A phrase in this video of Martin Sorrell struck me as the classic mindset trap that we are in. The idea of ‘riding out’ seems to be the go-to mantra of last resort for business leaders. What a complete waste of time. If that is all the person/company/brand that wants my money has got in their locker then I’m not handing over a penny.

Nowhere is this mantra more exposed than on the high street. Of course overleveraged consumers aren’t going to be buying anything. This time there isn’t going to be a rescue from cheaper lending, more plastic or property bubbles. Everything is maxed out, including UKplc (as Danny Alexander and the tiresome government have a habit of reminding us).

‘Where’s the growth strategy?’ Richard Lambert, former CEO of the CBI asked the government by way of a parting shot.  He might want to ask his members for whom ‘riding it out’ seems to be  all they’ve got. Both sides are waiting for the other to come up with a plan –  meanwhile descending into anaphylactic shock when the Primark barometer dips.

The high street, ground down by big retail, has become a painful part of life. How tragic for the centers of our cities, the last places where we come out in large numbers and physically take part in life (and the economy).

Ever smaller margins, £2 vests, angry disoriented shopppers. The high street, ground down by big retail, has become a painful part of life. How tragic for the centers of our cities, the last places where we come out in large numbers and physically take part in life (and the economy).  As things stand, it’s clear that for a county like the UK that the high street as we know it will never be the same again. Riding it out isn’t an option. Retail needs a big reset.

What’s needed

We need high streets to compete on experiences not pitiful margins. Oxford street needs to become a mass collaboration hub. Managers need to take an away day out to a Games Workshop to play Warhammer. Property developers need to think about making spaces that aren’t just eco efficient hangars but that are made to encourage interaction, engagement and learning.

Big retail needs to understand that me-too environmental creds, watertight sourcing and a few jobs + tax doesn’t make them a good corporate citizen – that is (not even) the minimum requirement for existence!

If big retail wants to become an active participant in the future (and survive) it needs to shift away from the ‘ride it out’ mindset (proven to be bust) and think about making a difference to peoples lives. Engaging with customers needs to be built around learning and experience. Rented space needs to become a destination in its own right where people visit to find the tools they need to live a more rewarding life. Transforming assets of brand, floorspace and marketing budgets away from a £2 vest transaction into helping people live well is the only way out of this.

You can find out more about some of these ideas in these posts below. Resetting retail: Saving our cities is a project that we are doing this year mapping out what this change could come to look like. Get in touch if you want to get involved or find out more.

Retail Reset pt.I: Saving our cities
Retail Reset pt.2: Warhammer away day

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Tools for taking on the prosperity blocking beast

Posted on February 24, 2011

No thanks, I’ll pass on my health and the planet. Our physiological and environmental wellbeing have been constantly traded by our pursuit of progress, prosperity and affluence. Ramped up in the embers of the last century and still wheezing despite the ever growing warning signs that things cant go on like this, the trade off  seems beyond repair. We have created a prosperity blocking beast that is ugly, bloated and hungry. And is now being exported all over the world to billions more people.

We have created a prosperity blocking beast that is ugly, bloated and hungry. And is now being exported all over the world to billions more people.

Behaviour change and doing something differently is just not on the cards at the required scale. Convenience has become the ultimate aphrodisiac. This may give me cancer, diabetes, pollute rivers, the air, my child or me but I still want it as it’s readily available and gives me a short shot of satisfaction. The prosperity blocking beast lives on deploying its arsenal of tricks – despite being on life support (thanks pointless politicians).

One of our projects this year is exploring location services, RPGS and behaviour change (you can read more about it here). We have looked at how role playing games like Epic Win could be white labelled and adapted to help take things off the sh1tlist and making doing something differently less of a chore. We have also looked at how social currencies (like the Brixton pound) and location services (like foursquare) can boost local economies and incentivize new types of trade and exchange.

Enabling tools

Greengoose adds another layer to this. Their sensors can be attached to everyday objects (like toothbrushes or bicycles) and ring up scores for people when they are used. Activity can easily tracked and simply displayed with a super simple interface. Their API is out there for developers to get to grips with (+ their units are v well priced and on sale in a few days) and create tailored experiences.
User can win points, see how much energy (and therefore cash) they have saved  through their actions and more. I imagine the points being converted not just for gaming, (ie ‘congrats: next level unlocked’) or ‘well done you have saved money’ credits, but into alternative units to be swapped and bartered with in online or physical marketplaces.

Solving the consumption conundrum at the edge

The world’s new middle classes consumption boom, currently being serviced by wheezing big businesses, will be the last big global party. After that, the prosperity blocking beast will have become too big to fail ( uh oh, wev’e seen that before). This initiative from Greengoose forms part of a growing network of ideas and tools that are all about flipping our version of prosperity so that it fits the actual reality of 21st century living (and is actually so much better anyway). As is v clear, all theses ideas for changing things up are happening at the edge where people are taking on prosperity blocking challenges to create value.

All theses ideas for changing things up are happening at the edge where people are taking on prosperity blocking challenges to create value.
Those at the centre (surprise, surprise) don’t really want to know. Despite their small incremental improvements on sustainability (or life!) issues they can’t see a way the turn the supertanker around – the punchbowl is still there and they are getting trashed. Looking forward to merrily skipping past their hungover bodies and bidding them a wonderful decline.

I’m hopefully get my hands on some sensors, get a developer to get cracking on the api and setting up a little demo. Get in touch if you are interested in being involved.

Sources: venturebeat, readwriteweb engadget

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Visual valium: shaking up aspirations

Posted on February 17, 2011


This review of an piece by Matthew Darbyshire at the Hayward Gallery exploring the ‘fug’ /’visual puke’ of consumerism.
In Adrian Searle’s review he talks about the optimism of consumerism that is forward looking and its actual emptiness.

As living standards rise across the world can we imagine billions more people all after this type of fulfilment? I don’t think its going to happen as the wheels came off some time ago. Hopefully as companies respond to peoples demand for enabling tools (to live well) we can move out of the old prosperity generating paradigm of stressed out consumerism into one of participatory creativity (something ive looked at a bit in this post).

The biggest challenge is with the world’s new consumers. How to pull them into a different way of doing things when the only reference point is the post war era where they looked on a a small minority raced to accumulate all the trappings associated with modern, happy, healthy, living.

Need a new shaping strategy

The coming demand spike has implications for everyone’s wellbeing. Turning round the accumulation supertanker of this size will take time (too long?). Perhaps an answer lies in this idea of the future? Redefining what people are striving for and creating a shaping strategy for the future of prosperity and wellbeing that looks far better than the alternative.

The inquest for meaning , exploring what the went wrong with the old model needs to carry on, meanwhile companies and governments ( i.e. politicians on election cycles) need to get wise to the limits of what came before. This is about transparency and equity – a problem in the emerging centres of demand. It is also about real innovation where products and services are created in a new deal with new customers that aims to help them prosper for the next 100 years.

As it stands, acknowledging that the old model has failed wont deliver anything but a shortlived boost seems to be the one thing companies and governments cant talk about even as the world disintegrates around them. Against this people are organising like never before, bypassing traditional structures and making things happen in a  peer-to-peer world that isn’t about illusory, incremental gains favoured by the old guard. Read More…

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Retail reset pt. II: Warhammer away day

Posted on February 13, 2011

Shrouded by the responsibility fog of their ethical sourcing, ‘me too’ environmental credentials, job creation and taxes pledges (or not…), retailers have somehow convinced us and their shareholders that they are doing their bit to help us live well.

Ensconced in this warm cloud the reality down below is somewhat different. Ever smaller margins, shorter product cycles, cheaper stuff, consumed faster, kept for shorter lengths of time. Big retail faces a battle for survival that has made the race to the bottom – based on cost and volume – the only game in town. We are being served up the dregs of our supposed accumulation fixation that lives on in terminal decline to (almost) everyone’s detriment.

Happiness (for big retail) is staring at a Geiger counter

Cloned high streets and and crappy products have left us gasping for more, hunting experience and engagement elsewhere. More often than not what we buy will disintegrate, be usurped by a better model moments after unboxing and end up in landfill or the charity shop. An unrewarding experience for all, including the materials these items are made of. Big retail uses all the tricks of the trade to dupe us into momentary lapses of concentration to fork out at the till and then send us on our way, arrogantly presuming that we will come back soon (for the reasons detailed above). And so the tawdry business rolls on. We are locked into a weak system that is totally gamed in big retail’s favour that gives us less and less. And who are these retailers? Pension fund controlled public groups whose idea of gains (as recently explained by the head of Aviva) is somewhat different to yours or mine. Disoriented by the responsibility fog, they are content with the current setup. Oblivious (or complicit?) to the pitiful returns of this gamed system, they are happy for the half-life counter to continue its never ending death spiral towards zero. Read More…

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Location-based loyalty: Beyond an extra shot for the mayor

Posted on November 8, 2010

Companies like Groupon can use twitter and the like to pump out masses of offers to huge groups, taking advantage of ridiculously fast scaling to become HUGE. Location-based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla and the rest have created a bridge between peoples movement, their custom and the chance to personalise services, deals and offers based on their habits and a GPS signal. Real-time, customised retailing is not that far away (shudder).

This is all great if a) you have a smartphone, b) you feel it’s worth it letting people know where you are 24/7 and c), all you do is shop. Read More…

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Your data is no longer just for analysts

Posted on August 29, 2010

Speeding up understanding of social and environmental issues is going to be pretty hard if all the good info is imprisoned in tables. The three trends of data being more open, everything being more visual and life being on-demand/always-on should mean that numbers are no longer just for the analysts and ratings agencies. Read More…

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Reaching out with sustainability and EpicWin

Posted on August 23, 2010

How to realign  behaviour to tackle big challenges in a world that is on the edge of a nervous breakdown?

In an age of fluid information flows and ridiculous interconnectivity, I’m on the look out for neat, smart things that can have a big impact, fast, taking the sustainability message out into the wild and engaging with the seemingly unreachable. Read More…

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