The shape of Things To come

ISSUE 02 autumn/Winter 2012

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05 INTRODUCTION

Key highlights

06 SUSTAINABILITY

Introducing Chris Sherwin, Head of Sustainability

Sustainability: Your Next Big Innovation Opportunity?

10 PROJECTS

Seymourpowell Design Barclayard PayBand

Exploring ‘Everyday Adventure’ with Nokia

Seymourpowell’s Playful New Packaging for Durex

Nestlé’s Striking New Pet Food Design

Seymourpowell Get ‘Eneggmatic’ for Fabergé Big Egg Hunt

Seymourpowell and V&A Designlab: DesignForLife

Make it in Great Britain Exhibition

Milan in Perspective

Key Trends from CES

Opportunities for Innovation in the Airline Industry

32 SP ARTICLES

SP TV

Seymourpowell Design and Innovation Network

36 SP THOUGHT PIECES

Is the Customer Always Right?

Becoming Dai-Sensai

An Inconvenient Truth About Transformational Innovation

Contributors

48 OUR GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

Paris

Dubrovnik

Hong Kong

56 OUT AND ABOUT

Where we’ve been

maKing Things BeTTeR foR peopLe, BeTTeR foR BUsiness, anD BeTTeR foR The WoRLDMISSION STATEMENT Seymourpowell

If you have any questions or comments about anything in the newsletter please contact:

Nichola Rinks - New Business nichola.rinks@seymourpowell.com

Tim Duncan - PR tim.duncan@seymourpowell.com

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ALEX PEARCE Junior Designer

WILL MERRILL Junior Packaging Designer

SACHIN CHAUHAN Senior Designer

Since our last newsbook, Seymourpowell has been a hub of activity, continuing its work delivering the very best in design and innovation to our clients.

In this latest edition, we bring you a rich mix of news, updates and thought leadership from across the business.

One of the most significant updates for 2012 is the addition to the team of Chris Sherwin, Seymourpowell’s Head of Sustainability. Chris is developing and delivering specific sustainable innovation offerings to help clients explore the opportunities from this increasingly important area.

Our relationship with the V&A continues to grow ever stronger. The ongoing DesignLab learning program, run collaboratively by the V&A and Seymourpowell, was this year long-listed for the Clore Award for Museum Learning. In addition, another workshop, called ‘DesignForLife’, has been introduced, focusing specifically on the value and practice of ethnography in design.

At Easter time, Seymourpowell offered the public a special treat by participating in the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt. Then in July the famous ENV motorbike, as designed by Seymourpowell for Intelligent Energy, went on display at London’s Science Museum as part of a ‘Make it in Great Britain’ exhibition.

As well as launching a number of new products and design projects, the team at Seymourpowell continues to explore trends around the globe.

Over the last quarter we have welcomed some new faces including:

inTRoDUcTion

ADAM MOORE Client Manager

ERIN SMITH PR and New Business Executive

CHRIS SHERWIN Head of Sustainability

NATALIA ROMANOVA-RAY Junior Packaging Designer

ANNABELLE LAUGHTON Project Coordinator

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In January, Seymourpowell announced its ‘planet-friendly’ ambitions, with the appointment of Chris Sherwin as head of sustainability.

As a new member of the team, Sherwin is responsible for developing and delivering specific sustainable innovation offers to help clients explore the opportunities that arise from this increasingly important area.

Seymourpowell believes sustainable innovation is both an opportunity and an imperative, a critical part of creating great products and innovating in the 21st century. With issues like resource constraints, climate change, water shortages and global health concerns becoming a major focus for many industries, Seymourpowell can use Sherwin to help clients grow and differentiate their products. More and more brands are addressing sustainability, seeing it as a critical driver for innovation and new product development.

Our work is based on the strongly held belief that sustainability is not just about communication and PR, it’s about a company’s products - the way a company’s profitability meets its customers’ needs. Our offers are built around the strengths of our existing innovation, design and creative processes.

Commenting on the growing opportunities in the sustainability sector Chris Sherwin said, “I come from the traditional world of sustainability, which was for many years about strategies, policies, reporting and monitoring to manage a company’s environmental and social impacts. In the 21st century, however, it will be about innovation, opportunity, growth and entrepreneurship, as we face up to what I believe are the defining challenges of our time. I’m thrilled to have joined one of the world’s leading innovators, Seymourpowell, to help create a ‘better world by design’.”

The long-term goal for Sherwin and the Seymourpowell team is to get sustainability into all design and innovation activities (alongside usability, aesthetics and cost). In parallel, Seymourpowell expects to have a growing number of sustainability-driven projects in which clients come with sustainability problems or opportunities like waste, pollution, green technology and ethical consumer interests among others.

Seymourpowell co-founder and design director Dick Powell commented, “Many of our clients find themselves at a sustainability tipping point – moving from acknowledging the importance of sustainability and securing easy wins for the business, to driving the development of innovative products which go further than simply meeting greener regulations, because they reposition their brands and experiences to better meet consumers’ emerging needs. Chris is leading our sustainable innovation activities and works with all of Seymourpowell’s teams to help our clients better navigate their products and brands towards a more sustainable future.”

Sherwin specialises in sustainability innovation, design, brand marketing and strategy, with previous experience working on sustainability projects with Unilever, P&G, Philips Electronics, Electrolux, Mars, Akzo Nobel, eBay, BASF, PepsiCo, O2, Tata Beverage Group, Sony Ericsson, SCA, Design Council, Boots, Technology Strategy Board and many others.

To see Chris speak on the topic of how

innovation will change our approach to

design and innovation in the future, go to:

http://bit.ly/L2uUm6

inTRoDUcing chRis sheRWin – heaD of sUsTainaBiLiTy

design, sustainability offers a fantastic new set of creative levers - allowing us to think up entirely new ways of going about our lives, doing business, and of producing and consuming.

But how do you successfully innovate in this way, ensuring you win from sustainability? We think it will increasingly be about great design. We lay out below three ways Seymourpowell is going about sustainable innovation, plus explain what you can get from doing so.

1. SuStainability in exiSting product and pack deSign

In work with clients we regularly have to manage and balance complex factors as part of a brief. These can be cost, aesthetics, new technology, manufacturability, and now add to that sustainability issues. Long-term sustainability targets to reduce carbon emissions and material use mean

we literally have to add sustainability improvements to everything we design going forward.

Luckily this can make for better products or packaging design. Our Vaseline packaging redesign for Unilever delivered better functionality to consumers, clearer brand alignment across the range, plus a 3% material reduction and a move to a mono-material - saving carbon emissions, waste, costs, and making it easier to recycle. These kinds of good design interventions, if implemented across a whole EU ‘circular’ economy, could save an estimated $630bn in material costs by 2025 according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

2. build SuStainability through brandS

‘Sustainability builds brands’ is what companies feed back as the

main business benefit. BT famously calculated that 25% of customers’ purchasing drivers - plus the resultant brand value - were linked to its sustainability performance. It shows brands care, positioning them as modern, human, and in touch. This gives brands a higher purpose, which customers often relate to emotionally.

Brands can help sustainability too, with their ability to normalise new technology and behaviour. They can make sustainability ideas aspirational and meaningful, creating social movements. The M&S and Oxfam ‘Shwopping’ partnership to promote clothes recycling has saved an incredible 10 million garments from landfill since 2008. Coke recently launched ‘Ekocycle’, its sub-brand to promote recycling and increased take-up among young people. Put simply, brands can make new sustainable stuff cool, and the sustainability movement desperately needs a sprinkling of ‘brand stardust’ to move beyond doom-mongery and finger-wagging.

3. neW and breakthrough innovation through SuStainability

Toyota’s pioneering Prius hybrid recently became the third best selling car in the world. Drinks brand Innocent has captured 75% UK market share with a proposition based around health and sustainability. The Dyson Airblade, the low-impact alternative to paper towel drying, reported sales up 70% in its second year. There is strong evidence of the opportunities that completely new-to-the-world sustainable products and services present and this is one of the richest areas for innovators and designers.

Sales of ethical products in the UK have continued to grow at 8% over the past two years, even during the recession, and stand at a whopping £45bn. The Lifestyles Of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) segment in the US is estimated to feature over 40 million consumers. In Western Europe it makes up 15-25% of various countries’ population. Business spend on sustainable product development is growing at almost 20% annually while growth in clean and green technology investment is reported at 5% in a recessionary 2011.

SucceSSful and SuStainable

Need any more convincing? Sustainability makes money AND sense. Yet it does take a mindset change and a different set of skills to spot and act on this – and that’s about innovation and design. And even if the design community is not yet where sustainability leadership currently resides, it’s where it needs to be. It’s my own view that sustainability presents some of the biggest opportunities for innovation and great design the 21st century has to offer.

It falls to this generation of creative thinkers, innovators and designers to imagine a future world that we’d all like to live in – and then build it to last. Sustainability features what I believe are the defining questions of this generation, but a sustainable future won’t happen by itself, we must design it.

The good news is that businesses and brands are waking up to sustainability risks and opportunities, and increasingly starting to lead. Whereas such ‘sustainable business’ used to be driven by legal compliance, reducing risks, managing reputation or at best, cost reductions, sustainable business is now about innovation, entrepreneurship, growth and opportunity. And whereas companies previously used their quality or supply chain managers, legal, communications or PR departments, now they turn to their innovators.

Why ‘deSign’ for SuStainability

In the past, innovation and design have been part of the problem - generating more ‘stuff’ to fuel ‘use-and-chuck’ lifestyles. But today, innovators and designers are increasingly part of the solution. They see that far from constraining

sUsTainaBiLiTy: yoUR nexT Big innovaTion oppoRTUniTy?

With increasing pressure on the world’s resources - through a complex bundle of sustainability issues such as climate change, material scarcity, toxic pollution, population growth and increased consumption - the need for new thinking and creative approaches is clearer than ever, writes Seymourpowell’s head of sustainability Chris Sherwin.

Fully contactless payment system launched at Barclaycard Wireless Festival 2012.

For further information on Barclaycard PayBand, and Barclaycard Wireless Festival

2012 please visit: http://bit.ly/LAQ1qQ

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Seymourpowell is pleased to announce details of its design work for Barclaycard PayBand, a specially designed wristband from the leading global payment business that allows users to pay for goods quickly and easily using contactless technology. Barclaycard PayBand launched at this year’s Barclaycard Wireless Festival - the first music event in the country to be fully contactless enabled, giving music lovers the ability to enjoy the experience without having to carry cash.

As part of the Barclaycard PayBand brief, Seymourpowell was tasked with designing the device in a way that made it wearable, secure, and easy to use when users are out and about. Seymourpowell associate design director Ben Watson commented,

“Here at Seymourpowell, we’re continually working in the future so this project was a natural fit for us. Barclaycard is pioneering new forms of payments and is at the forefront of developing viable contactless and mobile payment schemes for today and cutting edge forms of payment for the future.”

As part of the branded experience at this year’s Wireless Festival, Seymourpowell also designed bespoke terminals to allow PayBand users the opportunity to check their credit balances throughout the festival.

Festival-goers were able to pay for goods and services at the event by simply placing their Barclaycard PayBand on a reader, without needing to enter a PIN or sign their name. This year’s attendees were among the

first to be able to make contactless payments at the new higher limit of £20, as the limit for contactless transactions increased in June from £15. Cards from other banks, as well as cash, were freely accepted at Barclaycard Wireless Festival 2012.

In addition to designing the PayBand and terminal, Seymourpowell defined a cohesive environments language for the Barclaycard brand. This language influenced the design and experience of the Perk Park and the Unwind VIP Lounge. The Unwind Lounge was a luxury area with earthy tones and a mixture of textures for people to relax away from the event. Perk Park provided a special user experience where festival-goers could use their PayBand to access a free photo booth and music station, and receive a variety of Barclaycard branded items.

seymoURpoWeLL Design BaRcLaycaRD payBanD

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expLoRing ‘eveRyDay aDvenTURe’ WiTh noKia

Every day in every city around the world, people are pursuing their own adventures, big or small.Seymourpowell teamed up with mobile communications leader Nokia and DesignStudio to create three short films exploring what ‘everyday adventure’ means to different people around the world, and how the city where they live shapes their lives.

The three new films, Adventures in Los Angeles, Dancing with Strangers (Istanbul) and Just Below the Surface (Shanghai), are the very latest in Nokia’s Connecting People film series, and are an extension to last year’s successful Teddy Bears & Talking Drums and InAustin films by Nokia which explored how mobility empowers people to live adventure everyday.

For both Dancing with Strangers and Just Below the Surface, we traveled with Nokia and DesignStudio to Istanbul and Shanghai, two of the most vibrant cities on earth, to talk to 20-something citizens about their approach to everyday life. Through this, we began to explore how ‘everyday adventure’ is coming to life in these cities.

For the LA film, Seymourpowell travelled to Los Angeles to talk to locals and find out how their everyday adventures were able to transform an afternoon, a week or a life.

Using its well known ethnographic research methodology, Seymourpowell’s team was responsible for creating and producing the content used in each film.

To watch the films and for all credit details, visit the Seymourpowell Vimeo page at: http://bit.ly/S7B32q

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seymoURpoWeLL’s pLayfUL neW pacKaging foR DURex...

Seymourpowell was faced with the challenge of reinvigorating the packaging in order to reflect the brand’s desire for fun and playfulness. Another element of the packaging was to assist the brand in normalising the products in store. Seymourpowell account director Jenny Butler explains, “The Durex Play range packaging design delivers enticingly naughty playfulness without being dark and intimidating - a deliberate move to ensure mainstream acceptability, reflective of the increased normalisation of these products on the high street.”

The range, which consists of Little Devil, Touch, Ultra and the newly launched Delight, retails in Boots, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Superdrug, as well as online at www.durex.com.

The packs were designed specifically to sit side by side on shelf as a set of four. Each pack has its own distinctive colour: Touch - a two-tone electric

blue on teal, Ultra - violet on indigo, Delight - rose on fuchsia, and Little Devil - red on hot pink. The graphics on all of the packs are printed on foil carton board that gives a jewel-like satin sheen, adding desirability and playfulness.

RB UK category marketing director, health and personal care, Refik Oner commented, “There are more vibrators in UK homes than washing machines, and yet sex is still seen as a bit of a ‘taboo’ subject to talk about. At Durex, we are working hard to ‘normalise’ sex for couples, as we strongly believe that when people enjoy each other more, they build even stronger emotional bonds. To that end, making products more accessible in high street stores, and ensuring that their packaging is both socially acceptable and eye-catching, are hugely important. We are delighted to see that the new pack designs from Seymourpowell meet these objectives,

and also excite our customers.”

The new packaging follows the launch of the 2D and 3D design by Seymourpowell for the new Little Devil, the playful vibrating ring, which was the first of the four products to hit the shelves with the newly designed packaging.

Seymourpowell also designed the packaging for two new sensual massagers for the Play range - Discover and Dream. The chamfered carton format used for Discover and Dream packaging features a dual-aspect selling face, with a magnetic closure on the front edge to enable customers to view the product before purchase. The front of pack design focuses on the product, with accompanying graphics developed to visually capture excitement and playfulness, without being brash or crude - again reflecting the brand’s desire for a more approachable in-store feel.

As part of Seymourpowell’s ongoing relationship with Reckitt Benckiser (RB), earlier this year we were pleased to unveil new packaging designs for RB’s Durex Play mini devices and sensual massage range. The new designs aim to reflect the brand’s playfulness, while attempting to ‘normalise’ the products in high-street stores.

BEFORE

AFTER

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nesTLé’s sTRiKing neW peT fooD Design

In March this year, Seymourpowell unveiled the rollout across Europe of a new look for Nestlé Purina PRO PLAN cat food, with standout, category-breaking packaging.

Purina’s PRO PLAN is a high quality medicinal product sold through specialist channels - vetinary practices and specialist pet shops with target consumers driven by health and prepared to pay a premium for high quality, vet-endorsed products.

The vet endorsement and Purina expertise icons reassure the consumer of the product’s credibility. Shopper experience is also enhanced through clear colour coding.

PRO PLAN’s European marketing manager Sarah Bell-Klauser said, “Seymourpowell clearly understood our objective to challenge the status quo, and translated this into a brilliant

Following a three-way competitive pitch, Seymourpowell’s concepts for PRO PLAN’s new look were successfully taken forward to research. This resulted in renewed and category-breaking packaging for the brand, along with the styling for all communication materials including the website.

The successful concept creates breakthrough emotional engagement with the consumer through the dramatic cat portrait, which commands outstanding shelf- presence, while the health credentials of the brand are underpinned with strong scientific communication of specific product benefits.

design strategy and break-through creative. Seymourpowell helped us break the rules and create something truly innovative. They delivered an iconic new look that will put PRO PLAN cat food firmly on the map.”

Seymourpowell also created a new communications plan that integrates the iconic cat image with the PRO PLAN brand mark to drive one single- minded visual presentation for the brand across advertising, web and point of purchase for all markets across Europe.

Seymourpowell design director Phil Houldershaw said, “Our approach to break the mould for the brand with

the creation of the big cat face design challenges specialist channel category norms and creates a great icon for the brand. We were looking to create a design that would stretch beyond packaging into all touch points, which we believe we have achieved. Key to this was the complete support of the Nestlé Purina PRO PLAN Cat brand team who let the idea translate through to all media without dilution or fragmentation.”

Seymourpowell continues to work closely with Nestlé Purina and the PRO PLAN team as brand guardians and is the sole European agency to drive the continued brand role out and future brand extensions.

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seymoURpoWeLL geT ‘eneggmaTic’ foR faBeRgé Big egg hUnT!

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt collaborated with top designers, architects, jewellers, artists and fashion designers to entertain the streets of London for forty days and forty nights from Shrove Tuesday 2012. The hunt saw 200 two-and-a-half foot uniquely crafted fibreglass eggs hidden in high profile venues across London, culminating in a charity auction. Big name designers included Vivienne Westwood, Sir Ridley Scott, Zandra Rhodes, Fabergé and Diane von Furstenburg among others.

Seymourpowell’s uniquely crafted egg was nicknamed the ‘eneggmatic’ egg – so called as it was coated in special thermochromic aubergine paint that, when heated up to 22°C, turns white to reveal handwritten messages underneath. Viewers were able to place their hands on the egg or even

Seymourpowell was honoured to have taken part in this year’s Fabergé Big Egg Hunt - a high profile charity project to raise funds for charities Action for Children and The Elephant Family.

throw a cup of warm water over the surface to reveal special concealed messages and a riddle. As soon as the egg drops below 22°C, it returns to its original aubergine colour.

The eggs were located in special zones across central London. Seymourpowell’s egg was displayed on the promenade in front of Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank – a wonderful location allowing for maximum interaction with members of the public.

At the concluding charity auction, Seymourpowell was thrilled to learn the egg sold for an impressive £2,701, with all proceeds going to Action for Children and The Elephant Family.

To watch a special film about Seymourpowell’s egg please visit: http://bit.ly/HkcXaX

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seymoURpoWeLL anD v&a DesignLaB: Design foR Life

Since 2010 when the relationship between Seymourpowell and the V&A first began, the two teams devised the DesignLab programme, which saw the birth of the DesignPro workshop, allowing primary and secondary school students to immerse themselves in the design process.

For 2011/12, the DesignLab programme was expanded to include a new workshop called DesignForLife. Sitting alongside the DesignPro workshop, the new DesignForLife session focused heavily on ethnographic research - our specialism of observing how people use products in their everyday life. Ethnographic research proved such a popular segment of the existing DesignPro workshop that there was a clear desire from students and teachers for an additional workshop dedicated solely to this area.

Seymourpowell and the V&A continue to work towards solidifying design as

an important avenue for the school curriculum to pursue at a time when its future is uncertain. Through these workshops, students can realise the accessibility of possible career paths in design, and ultimately the unequivocal power of design in supporting the UK economy.

According to Seymourpowell’s design & CMF researcher Chloe Amos-Edkins, “The DesignForLife workshop is an invaluable opportunity for young creatives to experience first-hand the approach that Seymourpowell takes to problem solving and idea generation. The programme shows that the techniques we use for research, idea generation and problem solving for big businesses can just as easily be applied to school project work and give an invaluable learning that students can take away and apply to their own creative problem solving.”

Amos-Edkins added, “The creative industries are growing, but the job

market for graduates is increasingly challenging. As a result we’ve seen a surge of entrepreneurial spirit in young people, who see taking matters into their own hands as a route to gainful employment. Any teaching that we provide that arms young people with applicable creative skills and techniques that can help them to get ahead in the creative industry is positive, not just for the individual but the economy as a whole.”

So successful were the 2011/12 workshops, that the DesignLab programme from Seymourpowell and the V&A School’s programme was long-listed this year for the prestigious Clore award for museum learning.

Seymourpowell is committed to its relationship with the learning programme at the V&A, and will continue to run workshops in the 2012/13 academic year. See the V&A’s website for further details.

Following the successful collaboration between Seymourpowell and the V&A Schools team to implement a workshop-led academic programme throughout 2010/11, Seymourpowell is pleased to have continued this partnership for another year. The collaboration built on the existing workshops, opening up the world of design to students and teachers.

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maKe iT in gReaT BRiTain exhiBiTion

Opened in July by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk, this new exhibition at the Science Museum was designed to show young people the rewarding career opportunities available in British manufacturing.

The exhibition was the culmination of the Government’s ‘Make it in Great Britain’ campaign and featured a mix of displays from 39 businesses of all sizes including iconic names like McLaren, Mars, BAE and Rolls Royce. The campaign was launched last year to change outdated perceptions of manufacturing, including dispelling the myth that the UK ‘doesn’t make anything anymore’.

The award-winning ENV motorbike, as designed by Seymourpowell for leading power technology company Intelligent Energy in 2005, was displayed in London’s Science Museum as part of The Make it in Great Britain exhibition.

The ENV, the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell motorbike, was identified and selected as an exhibit through the national Make it in Great Britain Challenge, and was on display alongside other examples of Intelligent Energy’s innovative and proprietary fuel cell technology.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said, “Generating £137bn each year and employing 2.5 million people, manufacturing is a vital part of the UK’s economy. Perceptions of the industry are outdated and need to change if we are going to attract the talent needed to support manufacturing in the long term. Both Government and industry have a role to play, which is why we

launched the Make it in Great Britain campaign and hosted this exhibition.”

Business Minister Mark Prisk MP, who attended the exhibition opening commented, ‘The future of manufacturing in the UK is bright. The Make it in Great Britain exhibition showcases a mix of forward-thinking businesses from a range of sectors including aerospace, automotive and food and drink, which will give the public a real flavour of what modern manufacturing is all about, and demonstrate first-hand the exciting and rewarding career opportunities available today.’

The Make it in Great Britain exhibition took place for six weeks during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

for designers and trend researchers alike, all roads lead to milan. a lighthouse which illuminates the future of design, milan is both geographically and aesthetically the centre of the emerging design universe; the cultural zeitgeist starts here first.Richard Seymour

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Following this year’s Milan Fair, Seymourpowell hosted its third annual ‘Milan in Perspective’ event, where Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz presented the key insights taken from this year’s show.

One of the key themes seen at Milan 2012 was the move toward simplicity through humble design, along with a ‘quiet revolution’ which is seeing designers taking power back and looking at incorporating design along with manufacturing.

According to Mariel, “Every year we go to Milan because we think it offers a seductive slice through ‘now’. It’s very important to understand these new products in relation to the context of the broader social issues which are driving them.”

Another key trend at this year’s fair was a focus on humble and

considered design, emotional connection, and a desire for products to have longevity.

On top of this, Mariel and Karen indicated that there seems to be an industrial revolution going on that is changing the role of the designer from being just the designer, to the designer AND the manufacturer.

So–called ‘hacking’ was another major theme this year, with Milan 2012 promoting the need for a platform for young designers whose work exists outside of conventional exhibition parameters. There was also an emphasis on imperfection, creating individual character and value for products.

On the fringe of this year’s event was the area of social innovation, which Seymourpowell interpreted as an area of potential growth.

miLan in peRspecTive

Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz from Seymourpowell’s Research, Trends and Strategy team offer a snapshot of the key trends on display at the 2012 Milan Fair.

01 Lustre lighting by Tom Dixon

02 Karimoku New Standard

03 Marble Lights by Studio Vit

04 Tones by Sylvain Wilenz, Karimoku New Standard

05 Deskbox by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay for Acro

06 Zanotta stand

07 Making money in Milan

08 Karimoku New Standard

09 Transcience by Lex Pott, Tuttobene

10 Station by Awaa

11 Toi by Salvatore Indriolo for Zanotta

12 Time shop by Livia Lima

13 Karimoku New Standard

14 Colour Porcelain by Scholten & Baijings,1616 Arita

15 The Royal Family by Ellen Heilmann, Fresh from the Mint

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Key TRenDs fRom The gReaTesT TechnoLogy shoW on eaRTh...

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas has become known as the global event to experience the cutting edge of technology.

Earlier this year, Seymourpowell’s head of trends, Mariel Brown, and associate design director, Ben Watson, elbowed their way through the record-breaking 153,000-strong crowds, and trawled every inch of the 35 football pitches worth of technology stands to uncover the key trends from this year’s show.

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3d invaSion

Since 2010, visitors to CES would be forgiven for thinking that the only way to see the technological zeitgeist is through a pair of 3D glasses. This year’s show was no different. LG led the charge with their slogan “How smart is your 3D TV?” Walking through their prime-position stand wearing a pair of 3D glasses, one could see all manner of things flying through the air; from swarms of butterflies to fencing swords – the obligatory 3D demo. All very eye-catching and dramatic, yet what excited us far more was the headway that is being made in passive 3D technology that allows you to view 3D TV without glasses. In previous years this has appeared extremely crude but it is now starting to feel like a viable option for the future.

Set top to rule

In recent years the TV has felt like the most under-developed opportunity in consumer electronics. As our mobile phones have evolved into mobile devices, our TVs seem to have only progressed by becoming thinner and larger versions of their former selves. However, TVs have now stepped out of the shadows; now smart and connected, they are once again set to become the hub of our home. With technology including gestural interfacing (such as LG’s smart remote) and touch

screen technology (such as Sharp’s new 80–inch touch screen) being heavily pushed at this year’s show, the TV is equipped to become the primary interface for our smart devices.

the dialect of deviceS

With TVs becoming more intelligent, the way in which they talk to our other devices is becoming a hot topic: ecosystems that can connect all your products together (so we can access our content from any of our devices wherever we may be) were a clear theme at this year’s show with all of the big players such as Samsung, Sony and LG launching new smart systems.

Having all of our devices connected to one another in a deeply integrated way offers some clear consumer benefits. For example, we can start watching a film in our living room and carry on from the same position on the bus to work. But these benefits are not without their compromises: in this instance these smart devices play dumb when you try to connect them to another brand’s products. These ecosystems are closed and demand absolute brand loyalty. This is obviously fantastic news for the manufacturer that wins your vote, but perhaps less good news for the savvy consumer that likes to shop around.

auto SmartS

The notion of connected appliances is now venturing out of the home and extending to our cars. A key driver for this trend is the predicted global increase of Megacities (a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people). As more and more of us globally migrate into the city, congestion is set to worsen at an alarming rate. Manufacturers believe that the key to keeping people commuting in their own car is to make the drive more enjoyable and connected. This sets a big design challenge – how can a greater number of software features be made available to the driver without distracting them? Ford’s response to this dilemma had many tech geeks’ pulses racing at the show. The Ford Evos is a concept car that aims to create a seamless lifestyle between the home, office and car by accessing the driver’s personal information and anticipating their needs. If CES 2012 is anything to go by it won’t be long until our cars will be monitoring our well-being, streaming our content, and steering us out of trouble.

the ultra competition

Since it was introduced in 2008, the MacBook Air has reigned supreme over the ultraportable notebook market. This domination looked set to change at this year’s CES as word got out that many

of the big players would finally be releasing some serious competition. Indeed many manufacturers such as Acer, Asus, Samsung, HP, Toshiba, Dell and Lenovo all launched ultrabooks at the show. For Mac devotees the hype may have been a little optimistic as some of the models still felt relatively heavy and bulky.

But, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for PC enthusiasts with definite signs of progress being made - Dell’s new 13” XPS uses an incredibly compact design, whilst Samsung’s Series 9 ultrabook combines a great technical package with good design and high quality manufacture. Many of these new PC contenders were hitting the mark with appealing form factors, combined with an excellent finish and striking use of materials. How these new releases will compete with the soon to be released next generation of MacBook Air remains to be seen - it may raise the bar yet again.

photo/film renaiSSance

This year’s camera releases at CES were extremely impressive. From affordable point-and-shoots all the way up to ‘re-mortgage your home’ DSLRs, CES 2012 reflected the exciting period we are moving through in film and photography. A period in which camera manufacturers must pull out all the f-stops to compete with the increasing ability of our smart phone cameras.

Key TRenDs...conT

At the heart of the fight back is the creation of ‘smart’ cameras, which (as with smart phones) allow users to connect to the Internet for instant photo sharing. Where camera manufacturers are aiming to differentiate themselves is the quality of the photos. A particular favourite was the nostalgic fun offered by Polaroid’s new Z340 - a fully-functioning digital camera with an integrated printer. The enthusiastic crowds gathered around Polaroid’s stand were all desperate to get their hands on this new release. This highlighted the fact that, in an increasingly digital world, people still crave the tactile and tangible.

manufactured by me

The notion of printing our products at home has felt like an exciting yet distant dream of the future for many years now. However, the dream has finally been brought into the present thanks to the launch of Cubify.

Cubify is a desktop sized 3D printer aimed at the consumer market. It allows people to download designs from the Cubify website, customise them, and then print them off at home in ABS plastic.

We’re looking forward to watching this technology develop. Should print-at- home technology reach a tipping point, the economic and environmental implications could be huge.

deSigned to evolve

The most exciting trend to emerge at this year’s show, and the one that felt the most relevant in these financially and environmentally unstable times, was the notion of designing products to evolve. Manufacturers are realising that consumers do not want to purchase expensive goods such as TVs only to have to update them a year later. So instead of creating products whose technologies quickly become obsolete, they are designing products that can have their software updated. A fantastic example of this was seen from Samsung who impressed by “future proofing” their Smart TVs by adding an upgrade slot. This could spell an end to hours of frustration finding the right TV model; instead we could be scratching our heads over which update we need.

MARIEL BROWN Head of Trends at Seymourpowell

BEN WATSON Associate Design Director

Earlier this year, Seymourpowell’s head of transport, Jeremy White, delivered a keynote presentation at the Cabin Innovation and Strategies for the Future Conference, part of the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. Jeremy’s speech addressed the future expectations and trends shaping the consumers of tomorrow.As well as the Aircraft Interiors Expo, Jeremy White and Seymourpowell design researcher Chloe Amos-Edkins have had a presence at several aviation conferences this year, including the Business Jet Interiors conference in Cannes.

“You can’t research the future, but you can research emergent behaviour. If you watch carefully you can begin to prepare for the consumers of tomorrow and predict their expectations.”Jeremy White

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oppoRTUniTies foR innovaTion in The aiRLine inDUsTRy

within the restraints of modern aviation certification. The ability to sell a viable creative vision is fundamentally important for the private jet industry, where an individual expects to buy his or her dream, rather than just a practical means of transport. The potential to disappoint is vast - but derogation allows room for a greater level of innovation. However, in an increasingly litigious and risk averse society, the regulations on commercial aircraft are only becoming more stringent. We noted a sense of resigned pessimism among delegates, frustrated by the lack of

Reporting back from these visits, Chloe reflects on the opportunities for innovation in the airline industry…

There is a sense of frustration brewing in the aircraft industry. The combined effect of strict certification processes, increasing passenger numbers, greater industry competition and a hard push towards standardisation is paralysing innovation within the industry.

Within the private business jet industry there is a tension between selling a creative dream and the reality of what can be delivered

even the most advanced aircraft will seem like a step back in time.

Development times for new aircraft play a huge part in this lag. The current Airbus A380 would have been conceived 10 years ago or more - and we‘ve all seen how far technology has come since then. The current industry direction for increasing aircraft production speed is through large scale manufacturing standardisation. This sort of standardisation would allow more planes to be delivered more quickly and reduce development times and costs, but the cries from the

potential development in the future.

As a blink test, aircraft interiors have not evolved since the 1960s, whilst the steps taken in the automotive industry during the same period have been massive. The problem is that passenger expectations are continuing to develop and their expectations have been shaped by their experiences in other areas of their life. When a passenger gets into an airplane, their last point of reference is their car – an air conditioned, keyless, GPS enabled, digitally connected, ergonomic oasis…by comparison

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delegates at Aircraft Interiors were, “But what about differentiation?”

As Sven Achilles of B/E Aero Space eloquently pointed out, “If your car is running low on petrol, you don’t care what brand of gas station you pull into”. In general, people don’t care what brand of airline they fly with; they just go with the cheapest option. Flights have become a commodity. This is most obvious when you compare the difference between the various airlines’ economy offerings. You get a seat, you get a fold out table and you get a meal. There is very little to tell them apart.

If the industry is to accept the need for standardisation, differentiation cannot be delivered solely through the aircraft interior – the ‘product’ itself. In this scenario differentiation must be achieved through service innovation and a tailored and consistent brand message.

Successful brands will offer services beyond just the flight itself - engaging the consumer from the moment they book a ticket right through to long after the plane has landed. The key to innovation in this instance is the ability to understand the customer and then develop effective and

relevant solutions to make their overall brand experience a memorable and positive one.

However, there is a sense that airlines don’t want to differentiate on service alone, they also want to offer a unique product. In this case, for airlines to truly innovate, they need to take a much longer-term approach to design to deliver real development within the industry.

At Seymourpowell we believe designers perform an important role. We can provide a vision for the future that companies can begin to work towards. Having a long-term objective means that the process can move from a reactive one to a proactive one. It means we can start to understand the smaller

steps needed to reach that goal and begin to prepare for the future.

As Jeremy White, our head of transport said in his speech, “If you don’t push the boundaries then you will always end up doing the same thing. If you don’t take risks, then there is a good chance you’ll be scrambling to keep up with the competitors who have. Sometimes you have to float an idea - say ‘why not?’ instead of ‘why?’ or ‘what if?’ instead of ‘how?’.”

Seymourpowell co-founder and design director Richard Seymour has a name for this – he calls it ‘Optimistic Futurism’ and points out, “Designers cannot be, by definition, pessimists. It just doesn’t go with the job. We’re supposed to be defining the future, aren’t we? If we can’t see the world as a better place to live in, then what chance does anyone else have?”

Reported by: Chloe Amos-Edkins and Jeremy White

sp Tv

02

07

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2012 saw the launch of ‘Seymourpowell TV’, a monthly video vox pop, fostering conversation across key areas of design and innovation.

Showcasing leaders and influencers across the design and creative industries, SP TV offers a diverse range of views and opinions stimulating debate and discussion around design and innovation.

SP TV runs across the entire network of Seymourpowell social media channels including the Seymourpowell YouTube channel, Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

To date, clips on SP TV have ranged from topics such as transport and

digital connectivity, the influence of gaming, design and the Olympics, Milan 2012, through to the inaugural episode which saw Seymourpowell’s Head of Sustainability, Chris Sherwin, explore the concepts of sustainability and innovation.

Seymourpowell’s social media tools work together to create a robust network of ideas and debate. SP TV has prompted a broader discussion on topics of interest through various other social media avenues

including the Seymourpowell Design and Innovation Network on LinkedIn.

Episodes of SP TV will continue to be presented on a monthly basis.

To view episodes of SP TV visit our blog and click on the link to Seymourpowell TV, or watch them directly on the Seymourpowell YouTube channel.

01 Karen Rosenkranz and Mariel Brown, Seymourpowell

02 Sam Crompton, Seymourpowell

03 Zena Moore, Dezeen

04 The Olympic Cauldron - Thomas Heatherwick

05 Chris Sherwin, Seymourpowell

06 Jeremy White, Seymourpowell

07 Milan in Perspective talk

08 Rob Kirby, Seymourpowell

01

03 04 05

06 08

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Known as the Seymourpowell Design and Innovation Network on LinkedIn, the group currently has nearly 500 members, and plays host to monthly discussions in which a number of significant people have contributed to date.

The group’s stimulating and passionate discussion is supported by a number of significant people with influential voices in the industry, including the very first contributor – the executive director of AIGA, the oldest and largest professional membership organisation for design outside of the USA. Well- known design commentator Bruce Nussbaum also joined the group.

Other key influencers in the network include senior individuals from organisations such as the Colorado Independent Game Developers Association, Microsoft Game Studios/ Rare Ltd, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, HJ Heinz, Sony Online Entertainment and many more.

A wide variety of topics have been debated so far, including:

- Key trends in design and innovation for 2012

- Sustainability and how it will change our approach to design and innovation in the future

- How the global state of economic instability will influence product and interior design

- The role of digital connectivity in transport

- The possibilities that will likely unfold from the ‘internet of things’

- Design and the Olympic Games

We encourage you to join in the debate and voice your opinions, questions and thoughts to the network

seymoURpoWeLL Design anD innovaTion neTWoRK

Seymourpowell has established a dynamic community through LinkedIn, aiding conversations and facilitating connections between members of the design, innovation and creative industries.

“The trends for design are neither an annual pivot nor independent from the broader dynamics confronting us from every direction. The challenges for design are to assure relevance, leadership and opportunity in a world unfounded with complex problems at the level of nation-states…the independent sector is realising that designers can improve the human experience and have social impact.”

RIC GREFE Executive Director at AIGA

“The term ‘designer’ has long been a bit of a curse as ‘Joe Public’ tends to refer to flouncy, ornate, superfluous and expensive items as ‘designer’ - as if it is some form of excuse for its quality. Design should make everything work, feel and integrate better but we shouldn’t see it as ‘exceptional’.

RUSSELL BEARD Founder, Square Banana Ltd

“It’s about the value of the offer. For journeys over 200km, air travel is quicker and often cheaper. To convince people to make the sustainable choice [between airline and rail travel], then rail needs to up the value of its offer. But how can rail up its offer and still net out? What improvements (new or lost) would swing the deal in its favour?”

JEREMY WHITE Head of Transport, Seymourpowell

“Currently the financial incentives for the public to travel by rail may be small, but business, with increased reporting requirements, can have an incentive to reduce [green house gas] GHG emissions. We recently completed a smart phone app that automatically registers travel mode and provides metrics including GHG. The information can then be used to encourage behavioural change to reduce personal or business travel.”

CASPER GRAY Owner, Wax RDC

...anD some of The DiscUssion poinTs

ED HEBBLETHWAITE AND FISH Director at Seymourpowell

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iS the cuStomer alWayS right?

Well it depends on the question you ask them, and when, as well as how you ask it. If you ask them to imagine what they might like or need in the future, their answer may be interesting and creative but it will generally be ill-informed.

Consumers won’t have studied what is technically possible in your industry. They don’t know what is commercially viable and where the world is moving in legislation, economics or demographics. So their answers are often interesting, occasionally brilliant…but often irrelevant.

However, if you ask the customer (or even better show a new product or let them try a new service) you will be able to learn how they perceive it, use it and even value it. In that sense the customer is ultimately always right, because if they don’t see a real need or benefit from the product they simply won’t be prepared to pay for it. That means the customer can be both an initial irrelevance and the sole arbiter of truth in the innovation process.

The key to this conundrum of consumer sovereignty is when and how to raise the question. Recently, Seymourpowell was asked to pitch on some innovation work for an international brewery company. The pitch process took a familiar routine: a nice phone call out of the blue, an invitation to pitch, passing the credentials test, a subsequent brief and our response to it, then a presentation.

What became obvious at the presentation phase was a fundamental and irreconcilable difference in our approach to innovation compared to theirs. And this, we have noted in recent months, is not an isolated incident. It is becoming standard practice in many FMCG brand innovation projects. Our brewery friends looked at us aghast and said, “You can’t innovate without a consumer insight!” Well actually you can…and really you should.

Innovation isn’t a clean, linear process from consumer insight through technical feasibility to prototype, business model and launch. It would be a lot easier if it was that logical, but it isn’t! Ultimately we need to find the consumer benefit; the insight into why

In a word – no. But ultimately, yes. That might sound like confusing political hedging, so let me explain our point of view.

is The cUsTomeR aLWays RighT?

they find something logical, lovely, irresistible or just plain better. But ordinarily we can’t just look or ask for the consumer insight. Instead we need to tease it out from many different angles. Why? Because consumers don’t necessarily know what is possible and what will be lovely until they see it, touch it, experience it for themselves. As the classic Steve Jobs quote goes, “It isn’t the consumer’s job to know what they want.”

Sometimes you need to show people what the future might look, smell, feel, taste and sound like so they can give a more natural and realistic response. The ‘Holy Grail of the Consumer Insight’ seems to have overshadowed all other paths to innovation. It has become a panacea for all innovation ills and we believe it’s time for a different, more flexible and informed approach to be taken.

The standard methodology these days appears to be to do some consumer observation, co-creation, some trends and a workshop to develop some ‘innovation platforms’. These platforms are then distilled down into two-line concept territories and screened (on- line quant test) for potential appeal. We try to prove a concept by asking

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advantage of these? What is the design language that will stay true to your brand, and move it forward relevantly?

3. competitor activity

Analyse what the competitive landscape looks like; what are the different games the competition are playing and why? How does this affect you strategically? Have you got some clear space for credible, profitable differentiation? Do you want to be a fast-follower?

4. Stakeholder perSpectiveS

Who is funding this project, and what does success look like? What has worked and what hasn’t worked in the past - and why? Customers and suppliers are stakeholders too: what do they want, what can they contribute?

5. SuStainability

We all know we need to get more from less, but what does sustainability

a lot of rational questions to human beings (who are fundamentally irrational) and then, unsurprisingly, a lot of these ideas fail.

Subsequently a lot of people on the client side change roles internally and their senior directors question why they never seem to get any break-through innovations: “Where’s my iPod, my Nespresso, my Actimel?” The answer is those kinds of innovations often don’t come from customer insights. Consumers might not even have known they wanted them until the products were gleaming on shelf.

Don’t get me wrong, we love consumer insight and we believe in it totally. We have a fantastic, world-class ethnography team who are dedicated to observing real consumer behaviour and providing us with insights as to how to improve product and service experience. But it isn’t the only path to innovation. And if all you base your innovation strategy on is consumer insights or responses to logical questions, your pipeline is not going to be as robust as it should be. To quote an old adage, ‘If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail’.

So What’S the anSWer - hoW Should you innovate?

Brands need to explore various paths before finding key routes to a differentiated, better and commercially viable solution. It’s not just about opportunities, it’s also about restrictions – perversely, these too can be fundamental to innovation. Another old adage, ‘War is the mother of

invention’ is also quite apt. Invention or innovation can often be spawned from adversity or restriction. Just look at the proliferation of Japanese low- malt beers like Suntory Pilsner. These were not born of a consumer insight, ‘I would really like less malt in my beer’ or ‘my current beer doesn’t satisfy me anymore’ or even the economic insight that ‘people want to pay less for beer’. Instead the real trigger was quite a mundane financial fact: Japan has a tax on malt and malt content. Companies trying to find a loophole to pay less tax decided to try producing a cheaper beer (that delivers more profit) which was a commercial success, resulting in a whole new beer category.

If you’re going to start an innovation project you should be considering all of these paths:

1. conSumer inSightS

Do some ethnographic research into what people actually do, not just what they say they do. How are people really using your product or service? Where are there points of pain and pleasure in the purchase experience, opening and closing the product, right through to disposing of empty packaging? Base this on observed behaviour, not memory of a rationalised behaviour. (Don’t do groups yet, they won’t help you see a future, just understand the present or past).

2. trendS

What are the key social, lifestyle, technological and demographic trends that are relevant to your brand? How should or could your brand take

...conT

really mean in your sector and region? Look at adjacencies, who is doing it well? Sustainability can be a positive point of difference, not just corporate governance compliance. But it definitely makes most impact when woven in at the start of the innovation process, rather than tagged on at the end as an after-thought!

6. legiSlative

What can or can’t you do? What opportunities does a shifting regulatory environment provide? Look laterally; work from the predicted direction back, where do we need to be moving? What is your plan B?

7. technical audit

What new formats, innovations and manufacturing techniques can your R&D and production teams deliver today? What’s on the horizon? What are the technical constraints and payback profile? What is in scope and what will require a slightly different business model?

8. brand

What does your brand mean currently? Where does it need to move to maintain or improve saliency, and what can we do to ensure that our brand reality or experience is true to our brand promise?

What’s more, you need to look down all these paths at the same time and bring home all the nuggets of truth and opportunity that you can find. The spark of brilliance that eventually leads to your Next Big Thing™ might come from any one of them. You then need to share

these with other people from inside and outside your business who can also look at your brand and the opportunities from different angles.

You need to share the opportunities and restrictions and build some hypothetical solutions that buyers can respond to. You need to get real: quickly build prototypes, wire frames, service scenarios and interfaces so potential buyers can experience what you’re offering as realistically as possible when you test it. You need consumers to respond in as natural a way as possible to give you the confidence

to proceed and the directions to improve. And yes, this takes time, effort and budget…and no this probably isn’t achievable in a two-line summary on an internet-based quant screener.

Some of these innovation paths will be more fruitful and important to you than others so no two companies or projects are the same. So if an innovation company comes to you and says, “It’s all about consumer insight or consumer centric design or business modelling or technology” at least you know they’ve got part of the answer. But equally you know

you’ll need to look elsewhere for the rest of the questions, the answers and even ultimately, the real blessed consumer insight.

The route to successful brand innovation has many paths and consumer insights certainly play their part. Consumers and their insights may or may not be the most crucial trigger to launching a new service or product. But let’s not limit ourselves into thinking a positive brand shift and a healthy profit increase always has to start from the same place.

Report by Ed Hebblethwaite

‘Times are tough in business, and many

unsuccessfully attempt to navigate through the maelstrom by mirroring

the competition.But, in a world where credibility

is king, becoming ‘dai-sensei’ could be the answer’ argues Mariel Brown,

Head of trends, Seymourpowell.

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vs. Samsung lawsuit, which finally reached court this summer. Here, Apple accused Samsung of infringing on many of their copyrights including

Our respondents frequently expressed disappointment in the lack of imagination and individuality of many branded events. So similar were some marketing strategies that one group who had attended a sponsored event a few weeks prior to our meeting couldn’t even remember who their corporate host was. This is the inherent danger that comes with being a brand doppelgänger.

It appears that as brands attempt to play it safe, they are blurring the choices available in the market place. The trouble is that playing it safe isn’t helping anyone; instead it creates an indistinct mulch of options. It’s sucking the life out of brands, and more critically it’s turning the consumer off. Ultimately this is bad news for business.

Perhaps the most notable example of this is the much-publicised Apple

Becoming Dai-sensai

“How can we get consumers to choose us over the competition?” This is a question businesses have been asking themselves since commerce began. But in times of economic instability this question takes on an even greater significance. It becomes more than a question of increasing profit margins, it is a question of survival. It is life or death.

As the dark clouds of economic hardship refuse to clear, the corporate world’s answer to this conundrum increasingly puts emphasis on the ‘competition’ element of the question rather than the ‘consumer’ part. Of course, brands have always looked to one another for, shall we say, inspiration.

But in recent times it would seem brands are monitoring their competitors more closely than ever. They are living in fear, terrified of being left behind, or - worse still - being the first to break cover. As a result, for every step that is taken by one brand, a counter step is taken by their competitors to match it. They are turning themselves into ‘brand doppelgängers’ – ghostly doubles or lookalikes. We can see these brand doppelgängers across many categories from food, retail and beauty, through to consumer

electronics and the automotive industry. Even the glamorous vacuum cleaning market has its fair share of them.

More worryingly is how deeply engrained this copycat behaviour is across a number of consumer touch-points, from marketing and advertising through to products and packaging. My colleagues and I recently conducted a round of research for an alcohol brand in Eastern Europe. We were lucky enough to spend time with a number of bright young things aged between 22 – 30 who regularly attended all the major clubs and bars of their city.

One recurring theme we found through our research was the indistinguishable nature of most of the big brands in their on-trade marketing.

user interfaces, product and packaging designs. What is particularly interesting with this case isn’t the drawn-out game of chess being played by two consumer electronics giants, but rather how connected the consumers are in the argument. The geek community (unlike the courts) were quick to pass their judgment. They sided with Apple. Barely hours after the story hit the headlines amateur photos of Apple’s iPhone 3GS placed next to Samsung’s Galaxy S i900 flooded the web as perturbed individuals enthusiastically waded in with their own photographic evidence.

This reaction is a reminder of one dramatic change we have witnessed in recent years: thanks to hyper-connectivity there is nowhere for brands to hide. Consumers are empowered like never before, they are talking to one another like never before, and – perhaps more importantly – thanks to the global recession and a loss of faith in governments, they are listening to one another even more intently. Brand integrity has taken on a critical new significance.

McDonald’s recently learned of this significance at their own cost: After witnessing the success many brands were having with forays into

“...playing it safe isn’t helping anyone. It’s sucking the life out of brands, and more critically it’s turning the consumer off.”

MARIEL BROWN Head of Trends at Seymourpowell

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say they want innovation but often what they end up with is something that is new for the sake of being new without taking any real steps forward. Richard Seymour, one of the founders of design and innovation company Seymourpowell (and my boss), describes this as the confusion between the ‘new’ and the ‘better’. He says, “This semantic separation of ‘better’ from ‘new’ is critically important in any form of new product development. The former is a path to self-sustaining excellence and brand reputation. The latter is a method of occasionally refreshing your product line-up without necessarily establishing strong brand equities and longevity. One has a mid to long-term direction; one hasn’t, necessarily.”

What further muddies the water are the giant leaps being made in technology. Social media and viral marketing are proving to be a distracting siren’s call that has sent many brands’ heads spinning (as we saw with McDonald’s and their Twitter campaign). Add to this the perpetual sideways glancing at the competition, and it is no surprise that many businesses are experiencing a rather painful crick in their neck.

So how can brands break free of this unhealthy downward spiral?

How can they plot a course to successfully navigate through these tumultuous times and direct them towards a brighter and better future?

The Japanese notion of ‘dai-sensei’ could offer some answers.

social media, McDonald’s launched the hashtag #McDStories where customers could share their positive Maccy D’s experiences. But, instead of offering gleaming stories of marketing gold, it quickly spiralled into a PR disaster. Before it was hastily pulled, their Twitter campaign was inundated with sarcastic tweets, the most infamous of which involved diabetes and upset stomachs – obviously far from what McDonald’s were hoping for. So focused were they on getting on the social media bandwagon, they underestimated the power of the modern-day beast they were dealing with. Worse still, this campaign was an uncomfortable fit for their brand. Consumers took this as insincere and hit back.

It’s little wonder consumers are frustrated and angered by brand doppelgängers especially when initiatives are more like ‘me-too’ campaigns. It’s akin to turning up to an AC/DC gig to find they’ve instead been replaced with AC/DShe, their all-female tribute act. There is a reason AC/DC sell out stadiums and their tribute act struggle to fill pubs. People crave originality.

Strangely, if you speak to brands they often say their aim is to stand out, but their focus is generally on small incremental changes. They

Becoming Dai-sensai...conT

“If we apply the notion of becoming a dai-sensei to brands it would have less to do with mirroring the competition and more to do with leading it.”

a dai-sensei to brands it would have less to do with mirroring the competition and more to do with leading it. It’s ambitious. It demands a fundamental shift towards the exceptional.

The inherent honour of dai-sensei may seem from another world and another time, yet it has a powerful resonance today: as we move through this time of great flux people are craving stability, things they can put their trust in. As we’ve seen above, there is a strong desire for credibility and integrity. These times of austerity have forced people to recalibrate their value systems; people are investing more in experiences and less in material objects. Average products and services will no longer cut the mustard. Instead we need to offer the unique and outstanding.

Promising examples of dai-sensei thinking can be seen in Nokia’s new iPhone rivals, the Lumia 800 and 900. With its release Nokia have made a bold move that shows the world its intentions: they are setting their own course for the future rather than this being dictated by the rest of the mobile phone gang The Nokia Lumia has been described as ‘breathing new life’ into the mobile device market thanks to its distinctive design and high level of manufacturing finish.

Let’s begin by breaking down its meaning. Sen, meaning ‘before’, and Sei, meaning to be ‘born’, directly combines to make ‘Sensei’ which means ‘one who is born before another’. The term has many nuances but generally it is used to imply a master or a teacher, and shows respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or skill. When this is prefixed by the word ‘Dai’, which means ‘great’ or ‘large’, it can be literally translated as ‘grand master’. The term is often used to describe the top sensei, someone who is held in great esteem…a guiding light for others.

If we apply the notion of becoming

The release is helping Nokia regain territory it has struggled to hold onto in recent years - it even recently topped a Swiss online poll for the most beautifully designed handset. Voters cited the model’s stunning looks, smart ergonomics and commended it in particular for bringing something new to the market. Incidentally, the smartphone to take second prize in this poll was Samsung’s attractive Galaxy S3 (which, by the way, looks nothing like an iPhone). The Lumia’s warm reception shows us that brands will do well if they can develop a deep understanding of who they themselves are, and release crafted and well considered products that represent this unique character.

This brings us onto perhaps the key element of the dai-sensei concept – that of wisdom. We are in a period of accelerated change and so making a wise choice is vital. Never before in human history have we had access to so much information. To individuals this is exciting, but to brands it can be seriously distracting and paralysing. It becomes a giant magnetic field messing with many of their internal compasses.

Instead of watching the competition and obsessing over social media, brands should have their eyes firmly

fixed on real human needs and desires. They need to get to the truth of who they are and rediscover what they can offer people that will make their lives better. Instead of asking, ‘How can we get consumers to choose us over the competition?’, they should think more like the Japanese dai-sensei and ask, ‘What can we do that will be of value to people and the world?’

It is only by striving for the sublime that they can become the grand masters of their categories.

I get a torrent of success stories to show me how wrong I am - the results of ‘nice’ innovation processes - I’m not talking about incremental stuff; I’m talking about the sort of big, bold, necessary innovations that issues around globalisation and sustainability are demanding from us now. I struggle to think of any examples that were engendered by fairness, politeness and generally getting along with everybody.

SIMON RUCKER Head of Strategy at Seymourpowell

Reading Walter Issacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, I was struck by many things. But having finished the book, what lingered was the realisation that if you want to innovate something really transformational you’d better be in an organisation that’s designed to support, not merely tolerate, someone as challenging as Jobs, otherwise forget it.

I know that many of you reading that last sentence will have automatically reached for your mental lexicon of modern innovation thinking. “No Simon…”, you’ll be saying, “that’s not how it works these days: it’s all about flat structures; empathy; co-creation…” - you know the stuff.

But are you sure? It may make the process more pleasant, more fun, but I also think it’s a recipe for being an innovation also-ran. And before

an inconvenienT TRUTh aBoUT TRansfoRmaTionaL innovaTion

I can’t help thinking that Steve Jobs, had he not sadly passed away last year, could have turned his hand to many other things beyond the production of beguiling consumer electronics and digital content. He might have applied his considerable talents to household appliances, or FMCG, or cars – in fact any category that exists in the intersection of technology and human needs.

Ironically anybody in charge of innovation in these areas always seems to kick-off an initiative with a variation on: ‘We want to be the Apple/iPod/ iPhone of xxx’. But whenever I hear people invoking the spirit of Apple, it always brings to mind the Irish joke, ‘Well, if that’s where you want to go, I wouldn’t start from here…’

The reality is that neither Jobs’ uncompromising management style, nor the sort of unconventional processes he used at Apple to re-define the music, personal computer and phone industries would survive long in most organisations today, let alone receive the sort of support that would allow them to thrive.

but Why?

I think the reason can be found in the cultures that predominate in big organisations. The last 30 years have been pretty good to them. The recipe for success during that period consisted in most cases of maintaining a status quo in the face of manageable and

predictable change. Not surprisingly those organisations have been structured, staffed and run with stability, efficiency and (gradual) optimisation in mind, though the latter has always been shot through with a large amount of risk aversion.

The resulting processes, perspectives and values (all articulated and reinforced by generous helpings of management theory) have become deeply embedded in our understanding of how work should be. Innovation practice (and theory), being a subset of that, has been similarly influenced. But whilst this modern work culture supports the gentle evolution of the status quo and makes organisations nicer, more efficient places to work, it stifles the necessary disruption of transformational innovation.

The fact is that even with the challenges of accelerating and increasingly unpredictable change, many organisations still have too much to lose to let the necessary flux, dissent and dangerous ideas of the transformational innovation process loose. And for those organisations whose core businesses are unwell - think Sony, or indeed any of Japan’s major electronics groups; think the music industry; think Motorola - even they can’t seem to take their medicine.

I think the pervasiveness of the nicely-nicely work culture has a lot to do with it. And similarly, it acts to slow and obfuscate the transformational innovation process

because it thinks work should be fun, inclusive and nice. It recoils at the difficult situations, demands and emotions that it throws up.

“...if you want to innovate something really transformational you’d better be in an organisation that’s designed to support, not merely tolerate, someone as challenging as Steve Jobs, otherwise forget it.”

We have a saying in my team (a paraphrase of a slogan most recently used by the Conservative party in the UK), “Yes it hurts. Yes it works!” It means that we realise that the process of getting to the best answer, decision or solution is painful. It requires a robust constitution and thick skin; a belief in something bigger than simply a desire to climb the greasy pole / make a quick buck / just be seen to do something; and dogged persistence (Edison always said that it was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration).

In fact there is a lot of similarity between Messrs Jobs and Edison (one of the most prolific innovators ever). Some of the latter’s less well -known characteristics included insisting on having the final say, ruthlessly taking credit for and ownership of other people’s work and regularly driving his Menlo Park

employees to breaking point. In other words, he was also a ‘challenging personality’, albeit an extremely charismatic one. It probably helped that he was the boss. Sound familiar?

I’ve been advising organisations on transformational innovation for a decade now and in my opinion, the lack of a singular, visionary and frankly autocratic person in charge is one of the biggest reasons why transformational initiatives lose focus, become lowest, rather than highest, common denominator and ultimately founder. But the fact is, today’s nicely-nicely work culture reacts to people like Mr Jobs the same way a healthy body’s immune system does with foreign bodies or pathogens. It neutralises or drives them out.

Steve Jobs clearly wasn’t the easiest of people to work with. But he was the sort of brilliant, visionary, entrepreneurial individual organisations need, now more than ever.

The real challenge for organisations trying to innovate transformationally is not about having better insights, or IP; it’s providing the type of structure, resources, governance and culture that actually enable the Jobses of the world to do what they’re great at. And that is a transformation that most modern organisations are seemingly unable to make.

Report written by Simon Rucker

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ed hebblethWaite Design Director, Seymourpowell

Ed is a highly experienced planner, having worked in the industry for over 20 years, including stints as planning director at Interbrand, Fitch, Identica and VCCP. His projects range across a broad spectrum of disciplines - advertising, direct marketing, graphic design, retail, corporate and product design - and his drive is to use new ideas and stimuli to unlock the potential of brands. Think... the agency he founded in 2003, was sold to Seymourpowell’s (then) parent company Loewy in 2006. He is a board director at Seymourpowell, heading up Seymourpowell Strategy, the consultancy’s trends, ethnography and strategy unit.

conTRiBUToRs

mariel broWn Head of Trends, Seymourpowell

Mariel Brown is part of the Research, Trends and Strategy team at Seymourpowell. Mariel gained a first-class honours degree in Design Futures at Napier University and a Masters degree in Design Products from the Royal College of Art, London. Whilst studying she won a D&AD Award for Product Design and a D&AD Award for Environmental Design. Since Mariel joined Seymourpowell over six years ago she has worked on a diverse range of projects including user research, product strategy and global trend studies. Currently Head of Trends, Mariel translates trend, market and user insights into tangible future directions for numerous clients including Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Dell, Ford, Unilever and ASICS.

Simon rucker Head of Strategy, Seymourpowell

Simon has been with Seymourpowell since 2001, prior to which he designed footwear ranges for Paul Smith, Caterpillar and Dr. Martens. He graduated with a first-class honours degree in Industrial Design from the University of Northumbria.

Simon has worked on many of Seymourpowell’s largest strategic research and innovation projects to date, including: the creation of ‘Brand DNAs’ – Seymourpowell’s proprietary strategic brand/design tool – for Guinness and Rexona; a brand packaging training model for Unilever; and strategic innovation projects for Samsung, Ford Europe and Pepsi North America.

Over the last 4 years he has co-developed and run Seymourpowell’s Strategic Business Unit, which focuses on helping large corporate clients with their strategic innovation challenges.

karen roSenkranZ Head of Social & Lifestyle Foresight, Seymourpowell

Karen Rosenkranz is part of the Research, Trends and Strategy team at Seymourpowell. She joined the company in 2007 after having worked in design consultancies in Amsterdam and New York. Karen’s experience covers many facets of the design process - from uncovering user insights to translating them into brand relevant propositions, from spotting emerging trends to defining a brand’s visual language. Currently Head of Social & Lifestyle Foresight she is responsible for global user insight and trend studies for clients such as Unilever, LG and Nokia.

chriS SherWin Head of Sustainability, Seymourpowell

Chris has 15 years of experience in the sustainability field, specialising in linking environmental and social responsibility with innovation, product and packaging design, and marketing. Chris has previously held roles at Dragon Rouge, Forum for the Future, Philips and Electrolux.

Chris’ consulting experience includes sustainability strategy work with companies like The Tetley Group and Cadbury. Other work includes Innovation and product development for PepsiCo and Samsung, sustainable branding, and advice on training on sustainability. He has also helped develop and launch sustainable ‘products’ to the market with Dulux, and Sony Ericsson. He is a recognised thought leader on sustainable design and innovation.

Jeremy White Head of Transport, Seymourpowell

Jez’s design career began at Atlantic Design where he was involved in the design of the first Desiro programme for Siemens Transportation.

Since joining Seymourpowell in 1999, Jez has played a key role in developing Seymourpowell’s presence in the transportation arena, most notably the interior and exterior development of Midland Mainline / Bombardier’s Meridian class 222 trains, the ENV motorbike and Interior of Bell’s 427 and 429 corporate helicopters.

He has undertaken numerous design and consumer insight projects, seeking to define the transport that will feature in the world of tomorrow, or as we like to call it, ‘The Shape of Things to Come’.

chloe amoS-edkinS Design and CMF Researcher, Seymourpowell

Chloe gained a first-class honours degree in Design For Industry from Northumbria University.

Whilst studying, Chloe won an RSA Student Design Award for a public toilet concept, which eventually lead to an interesting discussion about toilets with The Queen!

With a multidisciplinary background combining design and CMF research, Chloe has eight years experience with innovation projects for both creative agencies and clients ranging from transport, FMCG and consumer electronics brands. Her skills combine design research and consumer, lifestyle and design trends analysis. These are used to inform future focused design strategy, visual language and CMF direction.

Some of Chloe’s clients include Ford, Eurostar and LG.

ben WatSon Associate Design Director, Seymourpowell

Through his 11 years at Seymourpowell, Ben has been involved in many of our exciting product and transport projects. Ben joined Seymourpowell in 2000 following a BA in Industrial Design at Teeside University, the same year he also won a Yellow Pencil for Product Design at the D&AD Student Design Awards. His wide ranging design skills have been invaluable in bringing to market products for Sharp, LG and Samsung and he was part of the award winning team who created the ENV hydrogen motorcycle. Ben has worked across the full spectrum of design at Seymourpowell, balancing brand and aesthetics with good business and manufacturing sense. In 2011 Ben became Associate Director of Product Design. When he’s not working on his love of design, he’s working on his passion for Fly Fishing!

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seymoURpoWeLL’s gLoBaL fooTpRinT

Our trends team regularly conduct cross-cultural city visits to help our clients understand regional preferences and diversity, and to identify common global preferences.

Thoughts and insights from all trips are regularly posted on our blog: https://blog.seymourpowell.com and shared on twitter: @seymourpowell

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04 centre culturel SuiSSe

A short stroll onto one of the busiest streets in Le Marais is the Centre Culturel Suisse library. Opened nine months ago, this library covers a selection of Swiss and French design. Designed by the architects Jakob + MacFarlane, it offers a selection of literature, a cafe, and also publishes various pieces of work in its own newspaper, The Lighthouse.

http://www.ccsparis.com

01 centre commercial

One of the latest concept stores to open on Rue de Marseille, Centre Commercial is run by Sebastien Kopp and Ghislain Morillion, the duo behind the socially and environmentally conscious shoe brand Veja. The store’s express aim is to extend the conscious concerns of the Veja brand across an entire store. Housing pared down clothing brands, vintage furniture and bikes, an emphasis is placed on natural material beauty from the soft organic denims in the clothes sold to revealed aged plasterwork on the shop walls. It’s great to see ethics and aesthetics working well together.

http://www.veja.fr/

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03 le petit atelier de pariS

Exploring the narrow streets of Le Marais a little further, we stumble across Le Petit Atelier. Created and run by a husband and wife team, the space doubles up as their workshop, where they create limited editions of porcelain designs, mainly tableware. Everything they design and use has a handmade charm even down to the wrapping paper, which is made from recycled horse manure!

http://www.lepetitatelierdeparis.com/welcome.html

paRis...

02 mama Shelter

By stark contrast (every pun intended), our Parisian ‘home’ for the duration of the stay was at Mama Shelter, one of Phillipe Starck’s newest Parisian hotel offerings. Expecting the unexpected, we were greeted by rooms illuminated with Superman and Batman masks, a ground floor encompassing a vast and popular bar and restaurant, with chalkboard ceilings and strip lights laden with pool inflatables. A place where cool Parisians drink and hip young families eat in the up-and-coming 20th Arrondissement – it’s a friendly and fun stay for a few nights.

http://www.mamashelter.com

05 merci

On a similar theme to Centre Commercial, Merci houses three floors of clothing and homeware focusing on classic quality items with the added philanthropic attitude of donating some of their profits to charity. The products in the store’s atrium are curated around a rotating theme which is currently “Stack It”. From the French classic Duralex glasses to a unique chest of drawers assembled from reclaimed vintage office furniture, there’s an honest and modest approach to materiality at Merci. We hope to see their good cause donations continue to stack up.

http://www.merci-merci.com

06 kevin lyonS at colette

To sign off, this artwork, Been There Done That by Kevin Lyons currently showing at lifestyle store Colette seemed somehow appropriate. Au revoir Paris (for now).

http://www.naturalborn.com

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Whilst walking down the main street during my time there, I was approached by a girl who handed me a small, square, thick cardboard leaflet, with a red foil logo on the front and red stitching down one side, reveals Seymourpowell’s design researcher, Chloe Amos-Edkins.

The girl smilingly told me, “It’s a treasure hunt. This is your stone. If you find our shop and place your stone you will get a prize.” While this didn’t make much sense, I was intrigued, and duly went hunting.

On finding and entering the shop, I was immediately relieved to find this wasn’t another tourist momento shop.

The owner welcomed me. She tore the back page from the leaflet and told me that this was my stone before explaining that Dubrovnik was built up from limestone and marble and the city had once ran out of stone to build. Therefore, every person entering the city was only allowed in if they were carrying a stone. The woman said, “It was those people’s stories who made this city, and we want to create a modern record of Dubrovnik’s

visitors. Leave your message on the stone and then place it on the wall.” I walked over and there was a cardboard wall of messages, each left by a visitor.

Once I’d left my own message I was given a free poster reading ‘Computers cannot help you. They only give you answers.’ I then took in the other items in the store – more graphic posters referencing the city’s history, a wall of colourful journals, postcards and badges. But the thing that dominated the shop was a wall of graphic t-shirts and next to it a large fridge. Inside the fridge were the innovatively packed t-shirts, each inside their own milk carton.

The owner informed me they design all of the items on sale and the packaging really is very different and designed nicely. It has attracted lots

of attention and their ‘Fresh Pack’ packaging won a silver medal in the 2011 International Design Awards.

I duly took my poster, and bought a small notepad. As I left a gaggle of American students engulfed the shop, each of them taking a t-shirt from the fridge, one exclaimed, ‘These are so cool! I’m getting one to give to Josh!’ At that moment I realised the genius of the shops owner and designer. This was in fact another tourist momento shop, but done so imaginatively that a) blink and you’ll miss it and b) even if you do realise, you have such a nice time you really don’t mind.

I was left with the thought that many holiday resorts (and high streets in general) could be saved from a tacky death if only they had the same imagination applied to their overall experience.

DUBRovniK...

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hong Kong...

03 INITIAL

Continuing the fashion/café theme, take the Star Ferry for a nostalgic trip across the harbor to Kwun Tong (167-169 Hoi Bun Road) to find this fashion and apparel store. Standing out from the endless sea of shops, this boutique store explores ‘cutting-edge designs to enrich the intellectual life’ of the customer.

01 VICTORIA PARK

Start your day at sunrise and head bleary-eyed to one of Hong Kong’s most popular parks to witness a hive of activity. Although slightly out of the way (located between Causeway Bay and Tin Hau MTR stations), the trip is definitely worth it to see how many share a relaxing start to the day. Or, if you’re feeling more energetic, get involved by using their jogging track or even join in a spot of Tai Chi!

02 EDIT FASHION CAFé

After all that exercise (or watching it), head down to Hollywood Road (Sheung Wan) for a refreshing frozen yoghurt. The upstairs in this shop hides a twist – a small edgy fashion boutique stocking women’s clothing, accessories and homeware. Dubbed HK’s secret ‘fashion-and-froyo café’, this place has been designed to escape the relentless sales pressure in other city stores. This is a perfect place to relax, eat delicious homemade food, and browse at your leisure.

05 GOD (GOODS OF DESIRE)

Finally, after struggling to get outside of The Peak Galleria shopping centre for a sunset view of Victoria Harbour, we stumbled across this design institution featuring a giant wallpaper artwork of the city, this brand aims to ‘give [Hong Kong] some pride and respect’. This results in an array of elegant ccessories, furniture and fashion that each celebrates the national identity.

04 TIAN TAN BUDDHA & PO LIN MONASTERY

Back on Hong Kong Island and nestled in the hills of Lantau Island is this giant bronze Buddha and monastery. One of our more touristy sights, you’ll need a good head for heights as the only alternative to the three hour walk is a 25 minute cable car journey rising 460 metres. Once there head through the rejuvenated Ngong Ping village and walk up the 268 steps up to the foot of the Tian Tan Buddha. Our tip - don’t eat beforehand as your ticket to the Buddha includes a tasty 100% vegetarian meal in the nearby Po Lin Monastery.

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WheRe We’ve Been

FESITVAL OF GLOBAL MEDIARichard Seymour delivered a talk to a distinguished international audience at the annual Festival of Global Media Design on the 15th April, which took place in Montreux, Switzerland. Richard discussed the radical change taking place in the way consumers interact and engage with products and services.

PACE MIAMIRichard Seymour and Chris Sherwin took part in this leading packaging event held in Miami, together hosting a series of special sustainability ‘surgeries’. As well as this, Richard also delivered a keynote address titled: ‘More For Less: Applying Industrial Judo’.

PRODUCT DESIGN AND INNOVATION CONFERENCEDick Powell delivered a talk on the subject ‘Designing Innovation’ at the Product & Design Innovation Conference at London’s ExCel Centre on 29th and 30th May.

AIRCRAFT INTERIOR EXPOJeremy White presented the opening keynote at the annual ‘Cabin Innovations and Strategies for the Future’ conference on the 26th March in Hamburg. Jeremy’s speech explored how trends and future changes will impact on consumer expectations.

F-SECURE SPECIES 2012Richard Seymour and Dick Powell presented together at the Species 2012 conference, organised by software company F-Secure, tackling the topic ‘Customer Centric Design’.

PRESIDENT’S DESIGN AWARD 2012Dick Powell sat as the Jury Co-Chair of the Product and Industrial Design jury panel back in July for the President’s Design Award 2012, jointly administered by the DesignSingapore Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore.

For more information or a more detailed break down of what we have been up to, please contact:

Tim Duncan tim.duncan@seymourpowell.com

Seymourpowell Ltd 327 Lillie Road, London, SW6 7NR United Kingdom

T +44 (0) 20 7381 6433 F +44 (0) 20 7381 9081

www.seymourpowell.com nichola.rinks@seymourpowell.com

http://blog.seymourpowell.com/

http://twitter.com/seymourpowell

www.facebook.com/seymourpowell