Ana Andjelic

Web3 is set up as a “winners-share-all” model, where products, services, markets, and exchanges are built together, governed together, and benefit together. Brands are increasingly dipping their toes into this world to learn how to connect with customers and create value via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), distributed ownership platforms, and blockchain. This article presents three approaches for doing so — virtual products, hybrid products, and distributed ownership — and explores the benefits and… Show more

Web3 is set up as a “winners-share-all” model, where products, services, markets, and exchanges are built together, governed together, and benefit together. Brands are increasingly dipping their toes into this world to learn how to connect with customers and create value via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), distributed ownership platforms, and blockchain. This article presents three approaches for doing so — virtual products, hybrid products, and distributed ownership — and explores the benefits and pitfalls of each. Show less

A successful brand revival does not happen in a single moment. There are no shortcuts. There is only a continuum of strategic, creative, and operational decisions that, if executed consistently, put a brand on the path to cultural relevance, consumer love, and business success. This story is much less exciting to tell, but much more effective in the long run.

Self-promotion might not come naturally for some, but less outgoing people can use their natural strengths to create an authentic online presence.

Building a personal brand requires you to take risks—and to develop a thick skin.

The old brand narratives of overachievement can—and should—be dismantled.

With the recent flurry of hotel openings by retailers, hospitality and retail are more integrated than ever. Equinox, Shinola, West Elm, Muji and, improbably, Taco Bell all now have hotels to their name. (Even more surprisingly, this is not Taco Bell’s first foray into hospitality.) Related are the 24/7, concierge-like personal styling services, as well as the points systems and loyalty programs retailers are rapidly adopting.

Industries regularly borrow best practices from each other… Show more

With the recent flurry of hotel openings by retailers, hospitality and retail are more integrated than ever. Equinox, Shinola, West Elm, Muji and, improbably, Taco Bell all now have hotels to their name. (Even more surprisingly, this is not Taco Bell’s first foray into hospitality.) Related are the 24/7, concierge-like personal styling services, as well as the points systems and loyalty programs retailers are rapidly adopting.

Industries regularly borrow best practices from each other. But beyond the simple cross-industry pollination, there is something else at play here. In recent years, we have seen an exponential rise in experiential consumption. Experience-fueled markets reward business models that revolve around the most personally transformative interactions — the ones that make our lives better across Maslow’s entire hierarchy of needs.

The best brand experiences today are not about brands but about life. Life doesn’t distinguish between categories. Consumers increasingly expect experiences that are holistic and seamlessly integrate different aspects of their lives.

This emerging, strategic territory provides three lessons for hospitality brands. Show less

All people ever wanted is for sites to load quickly and to be able to actually buy things at stores

For luxury brands, content is hot. With the declining cultural and business impact of their traditional go-to communication tactics, luxury brands are turning their attention to always-on, multichannel content. The problem is that very few of them approach it with a plan and the attention needed to succeed. Too often, content is treated as a campaign or direct sales driver. Both approaches fail to take into account the role of content in establishing and maintaining relationships with a brand’s… Show more

For luxury brands, content is hot. With the declining cultural and business impact of their traditional go-to communication tactics, luxury brands are turning their attention to always-on, multichannel content. The problem is that very few of them approach it with a plan and the attention needed to succeed. Too often, content is treated as a campaign or direct sales driver. Both approaches fail to take into account the role of content in establishing and maintaining relationships with a brand’s audience, which is critical for customer retention, loyalty and long-term brand success. Show less

In fashion, transparency is hot. The problem is we are doing it wrong.

The current dominant modes of enforcing transparency in fashion — through green capsule collections, sustainability pledges and raw material traceability via blockchain — are all focused on cleaning up fashion production, but that’s not enough to create real change.

There’s little about fashion that has changed on the demand-generation side; fashion is still marketed in the same way it was 50 years ago. Real… Show more

In fashion, transparency is hot. The problem is we are doing it wrong.

The current dominant modes of enforcing transparency in fashion — through green capsule collections, sustainability pledges and raw material traceability via blockchain — are all focused on cleaning up fashion production, but that’s not enough to create real change.

There’s little about fashion that has changed on the demand-generation side; fashion is still marketed in the same way it was 50 years ago. Real change must happen in the domain of a business, in the shift from supply built around consumption to demand built around social influence. Without social influence creating a mood of susceptibility and allowing new ideas, practices and habits to spread, there is no lasting change. Show less

In the beauty market, success is then a matter of cumulative advantage. Something becomes popular mostly because a lot of people like it. And because a lot of people like what they think others like, beauty markets do not only reveal our preferences; they actively shape them.

Across industries, success is arguably more unpredictable than ever. Much of it is driven by social influence, or the effect people have on one another's decisions. Thanks to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest we are more than ever exposed to one another's decisions when it comes to what to buy, wear, and like.

The quest for the next Glossier will remain elusive as long we fail to look beyond algorithms and toward social activity as the source of an online business'… Show more

Across industries, success is arguably more unpredictable than ever. Much of it is driven by social influence, or the effect people have on one another's decisions. Thanks to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest we are more than ever exposed to one another's decisions when it comes to what to buy, wear, and like.

The quest for the next Glossier will remain elusive as long we fail to look beyond algorithms and toward social activity as the source of an online business' value.

This social activity revolves around one or more of these four c's: community, content, curation and collaborations. These elements impact how a company launches and markets its products and creates, captures and delivers value for its customers. Show less

Modern beauty brands figured out that, as long as they have a Good Enough product, distribution is the most important part of their brand-building strategy. They win by offering a killer end-to-end experience that customers repeatedly want and that they keep telling others about.

Brands are products of their media. Jingles and slogans were all the rage at the time of radio. Print prioritized photography and logos. TV launched the 30-second spot. Mass media separated brand identity from its execution, which in a time of templated channels and messages, didn't matter so much. A company could give its brand identity guideline to someone in advertising, and expect that the typeface, logo, format or image was going to be applied correctly.

Fashion is missing a viable, desirable sustainability strategy. The way clothes are made and marketed is nearly the same as it was 50 years ago. Sure, there are green capsule collections and charitable foundations, and there are Kering’s massively ambitious annual sustainability targets (which it repeatedly fails to reach). Aside from the pledges to make raw materials traceable and to produce zero emissions, there’s little about the fashion business that has changed.

Going green has become luxury fashion’s mantra of late. It has become hard to keep track of all sustainability targets, pledges, awards, charitable foundations and green capsule collections. These are all important initiatives that push for sustainability conversation in a business where more than half of the companies have yet to take any action, according to Global Fashion Agenda and the Boston Consulting Group’s “Pulse of the Fashion Industry" report. Regardless, surprisingly little has been… Show more

Going green has become luxury fashion’s mantra of late. It has become hard to keep track of all sustainability targets, pledges, awards, charitable foundations and green capsule collections. These are all important initiatives that push for sustainability conversation in a business where more than half of the companies have yet to take any action, according to Global Fashion Agenda and the Boston Consulting Group’s “Pulse of the Fashion Industry" report. Regardless, surprisingly little has been done when it comes to transforming the way luxury fashion items are made and marketed. Show less

Symbolic and visceral, smell is a powerful brand language that convincingly conveys identity and differentiation. It creates a direct, tangible connection between a brand and its consumers. It creates an emotional space around a brand’s audience, and builds and nurtures a brand community around shared feelings and powerful bonds.

Brand identities have often been tied to a founder (Disney), a provenance (General Mills) or an experience (Coca-Cola, Nike). They are built by a handful of advertising agencies, consultancies and design firms. The resulting vertically integrated brand-media complex is decidedly anti-network. The pitfall of this model is consumer indifference, cultural isolation and lack of influence. At the same time, there are newcomer brands that are convincingly modern because they communicate through… Show more

Brand identities have often been tied to a founder (Disney), a provenance (General Mills) or an experience (Coca-Cola, Nike). They are built by a handful of advertising agencies, consultancies and design firms. The resulting vertically integrated brand-media complex is decidedly anti-network. The pitfall of this model is consumer indifference, cultural isolation and lack of influence. At the same time, there are newcomer brands that are convincingly modern because they communicate through cultural exchange. My latest article for the issue of form. Design Magazine that explored how identities are made today. Show less

In response to lives that are too fast, too busy, too connected and too global, slow-making, wabi sabi and hygge are giving rise to simple pleasures focused on connecting with the world and people around you. LUSITANO1143 is a Brooklyn-based direct-to-consumer shop for modern home accessories, gifts, textiles and ceramics created by independent Portuguese makers; since its launch, the brand has been profiled in Remodelista, Luxury Daily, Glossy, Design Sponge, Apartment Therapy, Sight Unseen… Show more

In response to lives that are too fast, too busy, too connected and too global, slow-making, wabi sabi and hygge are giving rise to simple pleasures focused on connecting with the world and people around you. LUSITANO1143 is a Brooklyn-based direct-to-consumer shop for modern home accessories, gifts, textiles and ceramics created by independent Portuguese makers; since its launch, the brand has been profiled in Remodelista, Luxury Daily, Glossy, Design Sponge, Apartment Therapy, Sight Unseen and Rue Daily. This summer, founder Carlos João Parreira completed his second collaboration with GOOP and spoke at LE’s Ministry of Ideas. Here, he talks to Ana Andjelic about craftsmanship, curation, authenticity in product design and customer communication, and global creativity. Show less

The reality is that buying something from Stone & Strand is a comparatively risky endeavor. Buy an engagement ring there, and it’s very possible that your marriage will end up lasting longer than the ring. Ask for the ring to be fixed and you’ll be told that the problem is yours and that there’s nothing they can do.

Netflix has 76,897 unique ways to describe types of movies. By breaking down every single attribute describing film and television content – narrative elements, moral aspect of characters, romance quality, scariness – it came up with custom genres that are specific to the point of ludicrous. By mixing all those micro-genres with millions of users’ viewing habits, Netflix successfully created popular television shows.
Fashion and beauty industries took cue, and in recent years we have seen a… Show more

Netflix has 76,897 unique ways to describe types of movies. By breaking down every single attribute describing film and television content – narrative elements, moral aspect of characters, romance quality, scariness – it came up with custom genres that are specific to the point of ludicrous. By mixing all those micro-genres with millions of users’ viewing habits, Netflix successfully created popular television shows.
Fashion and beauty industries took cue, and in recent years we have seen a surge of customised, data-led services like Stitch Fix, Kid Box, Birchbox or Function of Beauty. They promote micro- and human-centred approaches to product manufacturing, design, merchandising and customer care.
Netflix succeeded because it put its custom genres at the centre of its content universe. Fashion and beauty brands will succeed when they put their customers at the centre of their designs. Show less

Approximately $2 trillion per year of luxury goods are counterfeit. Fine wines, jewelry, antiques, furniture, art and luxury fashion are all targets of forgery, making their sales process costly and lengthy and the connoisseurs wary. Blockchain will change this. While the technology has so far most notably been used in fashion as part of the efforts to make this industry’s supply chain more transparent and sustainable, it’s more viable uses are most likely yet to come.

We may think that slow making, hygge and wabi-sabi are our resistance to digitalization of our lives to the point that it doesn't make sense to use the term "digital" anymore. They may indeed be reflections of our emotional repertoire developed as a reaction to the speed, vastness and hyper-connectivity of zeros and ones of the internet. But they are also aspirations to be acquired.

Millennials are the future of luxury, and boomers are its past. Gen X is its present, and this demographic group is the easy, if not obvious, answer to the luxury brands’ challenge of closing the gap between their maturing luxury demographic to the young one.

The flattening out of a niche culture for commercial purposes is not new — think back to Carven’s appropriation of katakana or, more recently, Gosha Rubchinskiy’s use of cyrillic. Cultural niches offer an easy source of inspiration because of their social mythology, which is often culturally deep and visually specific. Streetwear is a fertile territory for luxury fashion, which has recently become culturally isolated despite its rich history, vast repository of narratives and important social… Show more

The flattening out of a niche culture for commercial purposes is not new — think back to Carven’s appropriation of katakana or, more recently, Gosha Rubchinskiy’s use of cyrillic. Cultural niches offer an easy source of inspiration because of their social mythology, which is often culturally deep and visually specific. Streetwear is a fertile territory for luxury fashion, which has recently become culturally isolated despite its rich history, vast repository of narratives and important social commentary. After many years, luxury fashion has found itself lacking influence. Show less

The trend of nightwear-as-daywear may not be new, but its steady momentum turned it into an athleisure-like phenomenon.

Don't get seduced by the modern culture's rebellion narrative: it's a mechanism to mask political impassivity.

Discounts and promotions are lazy retail marketing, aimed at achieving short-term gains within the old-fashioned retail model. A consumer-centric, data-driven, iterative retail approach is much harder to adopt and implement, but it is infinitely more rewarding.

Brands are slow to rebel against the discount-driven retail culture. Many continue to make short-term efforts to salvage the old-fashioned retail model, but they don’t have to: Today, competitive advantage can be achieved less by having the best promotions and more by devising smart ways to avoid them.

In networks, new things spread and get adopted more quickly and organically than in vertically integrated industries. Hood by Air emerged out of the street and to the street it turns for inspiration, models and promotion of its looks. J.W. Anderson turns to Instagram to see how his designs are doing and which ones perform best. Alessandro Michele of Gucci draws on his vast and massively diverse network of inspiration and creative resources to come up with his designs.

The intersection between fashion and technology is hot. But beyond high-end fashion brands becoming more comfortable with ecommerce and cautiously developing their social media, content and mobile strategies, technology is still used as something of a gimmick.

This will very likely go down as the year of the Great Fashion Week transformation. It will also go down as the year of tentative experimentation and cautious creativity, both in the formats of runway shows, business models and marketing actions. At an uncertain time where everyone in fashion keeps a watchful eye on what others doing, here are the three things that stand out.

Copenhagen was, in 2014, voted the happiest city on the planet. Mention this to any Copenhagen resident and you’d be met with an eye roll. With good reason, too: After all, Denmark gave us Lars Von Trier and dark television thrillers like Brön/Broen, Forbydelsen and Borgen. Danish fashion is a little bit like the Copenhagen residents: unique, individualistic, practical, no-nonsense and thoroughly street.

The marketing puzzle has become more complicated and chief marketing officers are no longer just focused on communication.

Marketing at fashion brands has never been considered exactly en vogue. The industry has long marginalized marketing at the expense of creative directors and designers, in turn attracting poor marketing talent.

By 2018, global digital sales for women’s luxury fashion are projected to grow from 3 percent of the market to 17 percent in the United States, 12 percent in Germany and 70 percent in China. Together, they are expected to reach a $12 billion market size. All of this means that there is a market being carved up for advertising agencies’ services. The opportunity to partner up with fashion companies is there, so why are there so few takers?

In a personalized age, brands will only succeed if they put their customers at the center of their media.

Supreme decidedly puts products and those who covet them in the center of the modern fashion universe. Cool is not what critics tell you it is; it’s what the street demonstrates. “I didn’t create a pair of shoes because I wanted some editorials. Never. I think of a guy in the club, outside in the street or a friend of mine,” said Demna Gvasalia, the Georgian creator of fashion collective Vetements. The result is small number, limited quantity, season-resistant and built-to-last individual… Show more

Supreme decidedly puts products and those who covet them in the center of the modern fashion universe. Cool is not what critics tell you it is; it’s what the street demonstrates. “I didn’t create a pair of shoes because I wanted some editorials. Never. I think of a guy in the club, outside in the street or a friend of mine,” said Demna Gvasalia, the Georgian creator of fashion collective Vetements. The result is small number, limited quantity, season-resistant and built-to-last individual items. Clothes, not fashion. Show less

Transformation of businesses from physical items and properties to experiences is best explained through the concept of the core value unit. The core value unit refers to the element (product, service, information, content, social currency, etc.) that is being created or consumed. Traditionally, the core value unit of retailers has been their product. Everything they do to transfer this core value unit to their customers -- supply, production, distribution and marketing -- consists of… Show more

Transformation of businesses from physical items and properties to experiences is best explained through the concept of the core value unit. The core value unit refers to the element (product, service, information, content, social currency, etc.) that is being created or consumed. Traditionally, the core value unit of retailers has been their product. Everything they do to transfer this core value unit to their customers -- supply, production, distribution and marketing -- consists of value-adding actions revolving around the product. Show less

If modern brands are built around service and experiences -- and not products -- then media buying and planning needs to mimic this. For brands, focusing on the volume of impressions and transactions is not enough. Consumers don't make their decisions based on a siloed communication; they turn to brands in their moment of need and expect brands to fulfill it.

As new technologies become more accessible and consumer demands for quick, personalised experiences grow, the retail industry is changing. While bricks-and-mortar continues to adapt to the rise of these technologies, what might the future look like for the industry? In the video highlights above, from the Guardian’s Changing Media Summit, watch as Ana Andjelic of Havas Media Lux Hub debates these issues with our panel.

The luxury media landscape used to be simple. It involved television, cinema, outdoor, print and radio. But then luxury consumers went ahead and started finding inspiration and shopping opportunities in places and at times that brands found puzzling.

Using the Kardashians and Rihannas of this world can bring reach and exposure, but they don’t build a marketplace.

From op-eds to an internet of things search engine, the team selects their highlights of 2015.

Uber’s focus on user experience to scale growth and build a brand isn’t new. But it is this convergence of brand building and scaling growth that traditional marketers and startups struggle to figure out.

Luxury has a rich heritage to draw on – why aren’t brands telling stories better? There are lessons to be learned from new players.

How Smart Marketers Can Define, Create And Distribute Value.

Personal info is fueling new levels of service, but backlash could be swift.

Exclusive brands have shied away from scaling their businesses by exploiting digital networks, but shrinking marketing budgets could change their minds.

Most Legacy Luxury Brands Are Failing at Delivering Service, Especially Online

Retailers cannot solve the economic slowdown in China by opening more stores. Instead, they should focus on services and experiences.

What Brands Can Learn from Airbnb, Twitter, Dropbox and Other Growth-Hackers

Just like Primates of Park Avenue, TriBeCa moms represent a category unto themselves. A passer-by walking up Greenwich avenue in mid-morning on any workday can see them strolling about in their $400 leggings, technical cashmere tops and latest Y3 sneakers. Their natural habitat is Juice Press or Kaffe 1668, favorite spots post-Tracy Anderson workout or an Aire Baths massage.

Originally conceived as a way to fix market inefficiencies between supply and demand, the sharing economy became a $15 billion market in 2014. It turns out that very successful and very affluent people are also very rational: they understand the costs and benefits of owning an asset versus simply using it.

“I don’t believe in this idea of luxury anymore,” famously said J.W. Anderson, the latest It Boy of luxury fashion. “That weird notion of luxury for me is like shopping in an airport.” Mr. Anderson just vocalized what many in the industry are thinking, wondering about their role and place in the world of affluents in 2015 and beyond.

The forces behind the recent explosive growth in luxury kidswear can be pinned down to the business savvy of designer brands aiming to easily expand their reach, deepen relationship with their customers, remain relevant and start building their brand loyalty early.

Originally conceived as a way to fix market inefficiencies between supply and demand, the sharing economy became a $15 billion market in 2014. In luxury, the sharing economy existed even before the digital bandwagon. NetJets, the pioneer in the space with its fractional ownership model, was founded back in 1986. Private Residence Clubs emerged in the Rocky Mountains in the early '90s. Destination Clubs followed. It turns out that very successful and very affluent people are also very rational:… Show more

Originally conceived as a way to fix market inefficiencies between supply and demand, the sharing economy became a $15 billion market in 2014. In luxury, the sharing economy existed even before the digital bandwagon. NetJets, the pioneer in the space with its fractional ownership model, was founded back in 1986. Private Residence Clubs emerged in the Rocky Mountains in the early '90s. Destination Clubs followed. It turns out that very successful and very affluent people are also very rational: They understand the costs and benefits of owning an asset vs. simply using it. Show less

Media business classes taught me to think of interfaces as a business plan and digital design as a business revenue stream. This was in 2004 and 2005—way before this approach became common. My hybrid background lends me a wider perspective in everyday problem solving that has repeatedly proven to be a competitive advantage. It also makes me a thinker-doer: someone who is able to not only think, write and publish, but also do the client work.

Instead of trying to predict the future, disrupters must focus on “jobs to be done” in the present. This framework, coined by Clay Christiansen, focuses on consumers’ social, emotional or functional problem, and turns business into its solution.

Businesses fail because they often solve the wrong problem.

Forty percent of Samsung’s new smartphone, Galaxy 5S, never left the warehouse. Its all-in-one, Swiss Army Knife approach missed the consumer mark. Motorola’s Moto X, "the only smartphone assembled in the U.S.A," proved to be similarly unexciting. Arguably, these costly ventures failed because they did not identify the essential challenge their consumers grappled with.

In 2015, it is not American designers that capture the zeitgeist. The role of outsiders belongs to Hedi Slimane, J.W. Anderson and Olivier Rousteing. All of them come from the fringes of luxury fashion, either establishing their name via the urban, androgynous look in the case of Mr. Anderson, or being a virtual fashion unknown in case of Mr. Rousteing.

To win in the new luxury landscape -- where Apple is as much a force as Chanel -- established luxury brands need to think like disrupters by placing human behavior firmly at the center of their strategies.

New York Times is in the direct-pay, subscription business. To be successful, it needs a vast network of paying customers, and it needs their credit card information and their recurring payments. To jeopardize its subscription network would be nothing short of irresponsible.
But to grow a network, one needs to think like a network.

For companies with nothing else going on for them but process and people, the competition is endless. Advertising agencies know this well.

How can design consultancies and agencies defend themselves against the competition? Creating a strong brand is one way to be recognized for a particular kind of work. CP+B used to have it. It could get away with much more than other agencies could at the time. People were lining up to go to Boulder.

No one can deny that menswear is having a bit of an extended moment. The menswear sector is a giant outperforming all other mass industry sectors and gaining impressive cultural capital. What is behind this phenomenal growth?

“There is a growing realisation that agencies are facing a culture problem that makes them inhospitable for women to make long-term careers,” wrote Ana Andjelic, group strategy director at Spring Studios, in an article for the Guardian Media Network last year. “It’s a multi-layered problem that defies easy solutions. There are exceptions to the rule, but agencies are at risk of losing touch.”

The Store of the Future Must Take an Experience-First Approach.

The secret to the luxury dollar is what consumers do, not what they own

Apple Watch is a sign of how the tech and luxury worlds can (and must) collaborate.

Lavish status symbols are giving way to the fusion of form and function.

Earlier this month, Tiffany & Co. created waves with its first-ever same-sex marriage ad, featuring a real-life male couple. While many lauded it for being daring, even powerful, the move by a stalwart luxury brand to court same-sex couples was actually an overdue recognition of changing currents in the wedding industry and beyond.

Decision-makers need to overcome inertial dysfunction and male managers have a mission to stop hiring more men

What does the industry need to do today (not tomorrow) to stay valuable and relevant? Is digital collaboration the death of idea ownership? How can copying make you more original? I feel connected, but do I feel more human? How are the porn industry, illegal black market and bitcoins changing online culture today? How do we 'do' innovation'?

If you want to get a point of view on these and a whole host of other questions, just pick up this book which features a collection of essays from… Show more

What does the industry need to do today (not tomorrow) to stay valuable and relevant? Is digital collaboration the death of idea ownership? How can copying make you more original? I feel connected, but do I feel more human? How are the porn industry, illegal black market and bitcoins changing online culture today? How do we 'do' innovation'?

If you want to get a point of view on these and a whole host of other questions, just pick up this book which features a collection of essays from 35 leading creative directors and business owners. Creative Social celebrates hackers, makers, teachers and thieves - advertising's next generation. Show less

It's not just fashionable startups that can benefit from collaborative consumption, but established brands too.

Digital strategist Ana Andjelic argues that brands need not be left out of the collaborative economy boom; they simply have to reorient their marketing approach around creating value, and the complete consumer experience.

What does the Walkman have to do with the 21st century? The long-awaited second edition of this classic textbook takes students on a journey to the past and back again, giving them to skills do to cultural analysis along the way. Through the 'circuit of culture', this book teaches students to critically examine what culture means, and how and why it is enmeshed with the media texts and objects in their lives.

Everyone’s talking about responsive design, but what about responsive strategy? The world’s become a different place since first planners made their debut some 30 years back. Most importantly, it’s more open, connected and interactive. To fit in, strategy needs to become like that too. Strategy isn’t an isolated discipline or a tucked-away department that makes a cameo in the agency process by putting together a beautiful Keynote or a smart chart. Strategy is a problem-solving approach and a… Show more

Everyone’s talking about responsive design, but what about responsive strategy? The world’s become a different place since first planners made their debut some 30 years back. Most importantly, it’s more open, connected and interactive. To fit in, strategy needs to become like that too. Strategy isn’t an isolated discipline or a tucked-away department that makes a cameo in the agency process by putting together a beautiful Keynote or a smart chart. Strategy is a problem-solving approach and a methodology that can become a critical part of agencies’ growth curve. It can turn agencies into growth hackers for brands by pointing the way for their business in the emerging digital markets. For a strategist, that’s an indefinitely more more interesting and fun thing to do Show less

As we start 2013 armed with new marketing budgets and campaign plans, it may be a good idea to stop and assess brands’ digital efforts in the past year from the business growth perspective. What do Evian Smart Drop, Tesla cars and Hellman’s mayonnaise have in common? They all moved away from digital media as a communication channel and towards them providing a new business opportunity for their brands.

Digital disruption gives existing business a roadmap for how to use the Amazons of the world to rethink their own businesses and adapt to become stronger than ever. To do so, big companies need to think like disrupters, rather than simply play defense and prove out The Innovator's Dilemma.

Loyalty programs are great proof that we find it hard to deal with human irrationality when it occurs outside the domain of emotions. Too often, we are eager to rush toward the emotional core for making things “more human,” as if our own behavior isn’t human enough. Not only is behavior very human, it is the key to forming long-lasting bonds.

There's an inevitable moment in most ad industry disagreements in which a creative demands, "Let's see your portfolio." The translation is often: What have you actually done? I mean, what have you ever made? The divide is between the people who make stuff (aka creatives) and the people who talk about stuff (aka strategists). The former hold sway while the latter have no standing when it comes to creative matters.

The problem is, we are today dealing with a completely different sort of culture in digital. Yes, the World Cup is a big and awesome event, but how it's going to play out in the lives of soccer fans next month is part of the emerging digital culture, and not some symbolic inspirational culture that Nike -- and other brands -- are so desperate to penetrate.

There's a struggle with defining "branding" in digital. Some people claim that brands should be about utility, others that we need to build brand platforms and yet others think that brands should entertain us and give us something to talk about. Yet overall, surprisingly little has changed in the actual branding strategies in the industry.

Digital agencies are having a ton of fun experimenting with ideas, technologies and strategies to find new alternatives superior to obsolete ways of doing marketing. That's what they do best. The problem is, this is the only thing they are doing.

Bob Garfield's "The Chaos Scenario" book certainly feels like talking about the future while looking at the rear mirror, and Jeff Goodby himself does not seem terribly far from it, too.

This comprehensive book covers relevant issues on how media companies are currently embracing innovation, the levels at which they are doing so, and how innovation can help media companies to meet their development needs in the future. The primary focus of this study is the relationship between management and innovation in the media industry. The book evaluates the importance and the role of innovation within the media industry and helps identify and evaluate the drivers of innovation. The… Show more

This comprehensive book covers relevant issues on how media companies are currently embracing innovation, the levels at which they are doing so, and how innovation can help media companies to meet their development needs in the future. The primary focus of this study is the relationship between management and innovation in the media industry. The book evaluates the importance and the role of innovation within the media industry and helps identify and evaluate the drivers of innovation. The contributors demonstrate and build upon an understanding of the issues and strategies that bind media firms to new processes and technologies and offer clear guidelines on how media companies can accelerate growth through effective internal and external collaboration. Show less

Brand identities have often been tied to a founder (Disney), a provenance (General Mills) or an experience (Coca-Cola, Nike). They are built by a handful of advertising agencies, consultancies and design firms. The resulting vertically integrated brand-media complex is decidedly anti-network. The pitfall of this model is consumer indifference, cultural isolation and lack of influence. At the same time, there are newcomer brands that are convincingly modern because they communicate through… Show more

Brand identities have often been tied to a founder (Disney), a provenance (General Mills) or an experience (Coca-Cola, Nike). They are built by a handful of advertising agencies, consultancies and design firms. The resulting vertically integrated brand-media complex is decidedly anti-network. The pitfall of this model is consumer indifference, cultural isolation and lack of influence. At the same time, there are newcomer brands that are convincingly modern because they communicate through cultural exchange. My latest article for the issue of form. Design Magazine that explored how identities are made today.
Show less