New discoveries only take one step into the unknown

Yesterday Casey Neistat announced he is stopping his immense popular vlog channel on Youtube. Well, actually he announced he was not going to continue with the daily vlogging experiment that resulted in a 5.8 million subscribers following and worldwide stardom. 

He spent years working on video productions and even posted some to Youtube. But only the last, roughly year and a half, when he started posting daily vlogs, it really took off. He is not quitting because he did not like making the vlogs or what opportunities it created for him (nor the income it gave him I presume).

Casey Neistat quits because he does not feel challenged anymore. The art of vlogging has less secrets to him. His style is refined, the storytelling abilities come natural and content is probably easier to find with his grown reach. The stardom brought international invites for paid presentations, flights, budgets and gadgets. But, it did not challenge him as much as he would like, at least not anymore. And when something becomes tedious, many people shrug their shoulders and accept, not Casey. And I applaud him for it! If only it would not leave me with a hangover feeling… I’ll explain a bit more about that later..  

The act made me (and many other such as Marc van der Chijs) think out loud. Many questions came to my mind. What does this, on the surface fairy simple act, mean?  Why are people like myself so into the daily content productions? Why do more and more people spend less time looking at actual linear TV broadcasting? What has PVR brought us? What is the evolution of video consumption going to be and what changes has it already established?

To give you an idea where I think of when I think about video you’ll find a few notes beneath. I am sure many people don’t think about what it takes to produce video. Nor do they care what it costs, who makes it. Just as long as it’s there when needed. Right?  Now, these are no science inspired notes and they are purely my view and opinion on things. Brought together following my career experiences and fascination for storytelling. So, please take it all with a pinch of salt and let me know when i really screw up ;-)  

Change in video content consumption Decades ago we consumed TV in a linear way over just a handful of channels. With satellite TV and videorecorders in our homes, TV became always accessible. The time we spend on watching video content has not declined. But the way we take it in has. What mainly was linear TV 20 yrs ago. Is now a mixture of many different forms and channels, even devices. 

Source = recode

We are no longer bound to our couch for video content consumption. It is anywhere, always on, and in any length needed. When we want to, we can start a Game of Thrones episode on our TV, walk over to the bathtub and continue watching on our iPad and finish the last killing scenes on our mobile phone. Any device, location and time. 

We look at vlogs on youtube with average lengths of 10 minutes. the average mobile viewing session is 40 minutes (source). And the amount of time we spend on youtube is growing 60% yearly (let alone all other video orientated platforms..) We can FaceTime with our family or friends to make it feel like someone who may be 1000 km away is actually sitting opposite you. We use Webex or Skype to do our business face to face. etc.

Change in (traditional) video content production Producing semi professional video content used to be a costly thing with a big crew and fancy equipment. Advance preparations and days of editing followed. Camera’s with good quality were not affordable for the average guy/girl on the street. Editing software was hard to learn and license fees high. In the past 5-10 years there has been a big change going on all of these items. 

Youtube, Vimeo, Skype, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram and other video services meant direct unfiltered and un-edited recording/streaming opportunities. Cameras became better AND cheaper. Now even a regular Samsung or iPhone brings you HD recording capabilities, Maybe it’s no 4K, but it is good enough for vlogging or internet only content!  

The more trained bloggers produce a full day of video content and know how to edit that down to a +/- 7-10 minute vlog within a few hours. The examples i’ve hared range from 1,5 to 3 hours. Most professional vloggers make use of either Adobe Premiere with After effects or Lightworks or Final Cut pro. But there are many more alternatives and some even consider Apple’s Imovie a very good choice for their type of content. The amount of video content created for the social networks like Snapchat and FB are a mystery because it is often not published, but the nrs must be staggering! in the meanwhile you can read more Youtube stats here.

Impact of video on day-to-day life To let you know something you already know (sorry). Youtube is a big search engine… Anything that you want to know about anything. From cooking recipes to how you can repair your car. It. is. all. there! Google knew this already in 2006 when it bought youtube for a low 1.65 billion dollars. We thought it was a lot then, didn’t we? I am confident it must be worth somewhere between 30-40 billion now. The revenue, users, data. All in all not a bad deal Sergey and Brin did, huh?!

Back to my point. With a knowledge bank so close by (on our desktop/laptop/smartphone etc ) we are always close to the answer we need to know. AND we have the visible reference how to execute / repair / act / dress / build whatever it was we searched.

It also enables us to be part of emotional moments that may happen on another continent. The wedding of your friend in Australia, you are there via FaceTime, periscope or Facebook live. The role (streaming/live) video is bringing to our lives is emotions orientated. And it is making our living space much bigger than it used to be. going on a holiday soon? Want to know how the hotel looks? or the beach bar? Search and you will probably find video content showing you exactly if you should book or not. I already mentioned the remote working option with Webex and Skype. But also Slack and other services use video, or will soon.

New, experiential video consumption In the past years there are a few developments that will only accelerate our current video experience and consumption. Casey Neistat is one of the people who make good use of Drones. He films his surrounding location from the air. It brings a extra dimension to the viewer. You know exactly where he is, and if you’ve been there, you are standing with him at that mid town traffic junction or that South African beach. Him moving on his “boosted board” through down town Manhatten makes my heart go faster!  Another upcoming video experience is VR. Although there is no standard yet on the market, it will come and be accessible for all. iIf it’s going to be via goggles or another way, I don’t know. But VR is here to stay.  

What makes my heart tick even faster is augmented VR. Looking through your phone or (special) glasses and seeing your surroundings augmented by digitally created content that is aware and able to interact while moving. One of the most realistic demo’s i’ve seen comes from Microsoft (yeah, i really said that) with Hololens:  

 if you are interested in this I suggest you follow Robert Scoble. he’s gone all-in on this movement (not just Microsoft btw). He’s written a blog on his move into VR that shows you more about the potentials and reasons why this is going to be huge.

Cross-references to impact on traditional media We’ve looked at traditional video consumption on TV/Phone/tablet etc. but what many have already seen in the big cities. the big video screens that are popping up everywhere. They will multiply with the cost dropping more and more.  They will be connected and in time even contextual sensitive. they’ll know it’s night - what there location is - what weather it is and more. they may even know who you are, what you’ve watched before, which brands you like and what clothes you wear. 

These are no new things! These capabilities are possible but not yet cheap enough to implement in mass.. For now the screens are getting connected and will have programmatic content (automatically bought advertising content spread through a network of screens/advertising spaces). You’ll read a interesting post about the reasons and means of programmatic OOH (out of home advertising) here

Now why did I start thinking about all this with Casey in mind? Because we need inspirators and storytellers looking beyond technologies. We need people that not only understand the tech capabilities. But know how to use it in such a way that the products produced with them become part of daily life. 

Casey knows how to use all kind of video generating content including drones and mixes whatever he needs in the final production. A daily vlog that became part of my daily routine. No regular TV for me but content whenever i need, unfiltered, unbiased and emotional. 

We need more Scoble and Neistats to embrace the options but don’t overhype them. Make them understandable and experience them when relevant. i believe Casey will be back on his channels with better and more content. Experiences with a message making optimal use of all means available to him. Looking forward Casey!

It is only a few months ago that we left Holland with bold new adventures lying in front of us. Now that we are nearing the end of the year the rollercoaster slowly comes to a more steady pace.

The biggest news i can share today is that i found a new challenge! After a period of a few months freelancing with Omnicom media group (OMG) Switzerland, the holding for media agencies OMD and PHD. i have now been appointed as their new Managing Director Digital. A proud role and new page in my career. Omnicom media Group Switzerland is the largest media company in the market. OMG already has a strong digital offering but with the team i will continue to build on the current foundations.

It feels great to bring my full experience from agency to client and entrepreneurial side to this job and company. Although my German speaking abilities are not yet on par I can confidently say that almost all communication within meetings internal and on client side is in (Hoch) German. Learning the written language and speaking German on business level will no doubt come in the months/years ahead.

My main focus, together with the team, is to be the best strategic media business partner in the market. This means not only thinking about digital or TV or OOH. But to come up with a owned-earned and paid strategy that combines all relevant media channels with a smart and creative focus on driving brand and business. Provide insights in target audiences. Engage with them and/or facilitate the best brand experience possible. 

It’s a bit more quiet on the blog than before, and with good reason. I have started a very exciting strategy assignment which not only involves digital marketing itself but also organisational effects and future ways of working for the company at hand. It’s too soon to talk about details but maybe I will in a later post. All I can say is that I am getting to know Zurich as well ;-)

image: No, it’s not Starbucks ;-)

In the meanwhile both our families and some good friends have dropped by for a long weekend of enjoyment, cheese fondues and countryside explorations. It was really nice to show them our house and surroundings. As the “being on holiday” feeling starts to wear of and the “feeling at home” enters our minds , these visits have helped accomplish that.  

Visiting the H.R Giger museum (my long time artistic hero) in Gruyere was really cool

Image: Art in Montreux

Image: walking in our “backyard”

As some of you know, last year I dropped out of the Lowlands festival weekend at the very last minute. There was too much work at hand and my mind and body was not ready for the aftereffects of such a fun time and the consequences it may have on the agenda of the week after. Yes, I may accidentally have grown up a bit ;-) 

BUT, this year I did go! And it wasn’t planned this time. Well, i wanted to. But it had to fit in with everything happening in Switzerland, and luckily it did. I can not describe the feeling this festival gives to me. It is a very positive flow of energy. Friends were very kind and brought a tent etc for me as flying with that would have been a nightmare and even more costly. 

You can set your watch to them. The brands that go with all social hypes to make sure they are there. Full throttle without a decent strategy and thought behind their actions and content. (Full disclosure: Yes, i am also the person to give you the advice to go ahead and try. just do it. BUT, there is more to it than that.)

I can see you are confused.. And maybe that is a good thing. Because being confused makes for great questions and searches for a fitting answer or answers.

A good brand strategist will ask you a ton of questions. None of them should be about which social channels you prefer or see fit but they will be about who you are. The questions should be about what kind of products are in your portfolio. When they are “consumed” and by who. The focus should be on all big data that is lying around on your harddrives.

And please don’t show the many wishful thinking ppt files on your harddrive from past years plans. Because most of the times the brand you think you “Are” is most definitely not the brand your consumer sees. Anything closer to the truth is probably that you just haven’t paid attention to the real image your clients/consumers have of you.

A new brand journey only starts after you’ve determined a better image on what you are, who you want to be + what your current image is with your target audience. What you aspire to be should drive your next moves. The fire already present in current customers can ignite your next move. One of those moves is choosing the social channels you should participate in to find the right traction.

The strategy person in your team/agency can help you to define the set of channels that can help you make a difference. He/She can look at the trends that are currently going on and probably define a mix of social channels to use. One of this could be Snapchat. Because your aim is for the younger generation. The mobile savy teen that has some money to spend. The young yup that likes to look at new ways of interacting (or the sexually active person that thinks this way his or her content is not going to be seen by anybody else than the friend (wake up, please)).

And so, the question comes. Is your brand a Snapchat brand? Are you able to invest time and money to take on the Snapchat channel as a part of your social mix? Can you produce enough content and storylines (if needed) to be intriguing as a Snapchat brand. Do you have a brand person that can host. Do you want that? And what other channels are in the mix. Which ones do you identify as a channel with more “service minded” interface. Which one could be helpful to build a brand image. What rules of engagement are there and who are you competitors for attention? Is the timing of a storyline important and what generates the content that may help you? And last but not least, does your consumer this you are relevant on Snapchat?

Not a easy task huh? Yes, it is much easier to just sign on the dotted line of a predefined media presence with lots of TV coverage so you can say you’ve reached a lot of eye-balls (when we all already know that isn’t the case)

Becoming a social brand involves a lot more effort. You have to become a true no-bullshit-brand. With products that work and services that create a smile on someones face. because you can and they want to be your ambassador whatever you do.. They will go on snapchat to record what they liked about your product and will send it to you AND their friends.

Photo: A cycling view from our backyard

When you are running on adrenaline you pretty much feel very good. You don’t feel the fatigue, lack of focus nor the strain your body is taking. It is a natural high that helps you to keep going in times of need. It is in fact what has kept us running around between the Netherlands and Switzerland the past weeks/months. Now that all furniture etc is almost in place (we have all but 1 or two boxes unpacked) there is a short time to breath.

In your lifetime you encounter different roles in different companies in different times. You grow, learn and evolve as a person. You professionalise, make choices and hopefully increase your ability to recognise the core of your capabilities. Although you started out as a specialist, you may have grown into a teamlead or manager, maybe even a CEO. 

Does this mean you are a natural leader in any circumstance? Can you be the best man/woman for the job in all phases of its tenure. I already see your head moving into the “no” movement. But it is much, much harder to recognise this while you are leading a team or company. While you are putting in many odd hours and a lot of passion.

Phil Libin seems to be one leader that knows when to step aside and let the cavalerie come in to go to war: 

Libin’s passions, he says, lie more in working with “small teams of nerds” on “specific actionable things,” like improving Evernote’s software. “We’ve now gotten to the place where we can afford to bring someone in who is just going to be amazing at scaling the company and the flip side is that I will get to work on the stuff that I like to work on.”

He knows what needs to be done in the phase his company is growing into. A short read but informative and I advise you to think it over for at least 5 minutes. Are you the right person in the right spot?

It takes a big heart to listen to your own shortfalls, but it is for the better in the long run. You will have more energy to give and time to spend on everything that matters most. And yes, that also goes for your private life.

If i have counted correctly this is my 9th move during the past 39 years. Moving house is not only putting things in boxes but also changing scenery. Losing and regaining the feeling of “being at home” somewhere. It’s become easier the past years. Feeling a home has almost become a state of mind. And yet. I don’t like the process. As i write this i am literally sitting in my hall way on the last standing shoe bench. Throughout the house are boxes and almost everything has been packed by the moving company. I had never experienced moving house by a third party but i am glad they are here now. Moving from city to city or within a city is slightly easier than moving abroad.

Which made me think. How much easier, or harder, will it be to adjust and find our "at home” feeling in Switzerland? The people are different, the language is, the climate is. But, i remember stepping into our new home in Savigny for the first time (during our search for a new home). It made us both feel very happy and welcome. The former residents were very open and welcoming as well. We could instantly see ourselves living there, having friends and family over and planning our next years. And so, within 3 hours after the kick-off of our actual home search, we had already found our new home. Both physically and mentally. 

As you do when orientating in a new surrounding, this weekend i visited a small place near Lausanne called “Morges”. It is known for the high amount of foreigners living there. The town is conveniently located just outside Geneva and next to Lausanne. You will find millions of dollars homes on the waterfront with houses equal in size on the other side of the road but going for half price.. Safe to say it is a rich environment. Both in quality of life as well as the bank accounts of most residents.

Part of that richness comes from the companies employing the local and worlds talents for their mission. Almost all capitalistic missions with one or two exceptions. If you know your economy thrives by the wellbeing of a company it is harder to acknowledge that the mission of a certain company is wrong. 

During my visit in the hometown of employer Monsanto(if you don’t know them, please read this insightful article) i stopped and smiled. “Monsanto est méchant” (Monsanto is evil) was sprayed on a inner city wall. Quite visible from a lot of angles. Deliberately put there by someone smart enough to care but helpless enough to put that care in another act of emotion other than spraying a wall.

No matter how much lobbying Monsanto and other related parties will do in Brussels or the US, the public reacts once it gets the bad nature of your business. Although it can’t fight your lobbying or is over invested in your vicious circle, it will respond. And it will hurt over time. All needed is a good alternative.    

And maybe some Neil Young involvement may help as well ;-) 

Yesterday i sat in a very warm metro going uptown, towards the garage where my car was at. I saw a lot of commuters going into work. Among them a young guy with a suitcase. I think he made just about the same observation of the travellers. After picking up my car I drove a 500+ km roundtrip and had 2 meetings in Zurich. Upon coming back in Lausanne i once again sat down in the metro, now heading downtown. And to no surprise to you i saw the same young guy, with his suitcase also riding back into town. He must have thought i was also going into work at Epalinges (a business district of Lausanne). That i had also just sat down behind my screen and do business stuff. As you do when you work

I like this observation because it is telling of our marketing views on consumers lives. We think we know what is going on when they touch base with us on their devices and in our stores, but we don’t… We can assume but you know how the saying goes. Assumption is the other of all f**k-ups.

So how are we going to increase our knowledge of a consumer? How are we going to see more of their lives without a privacy breach? And should we want that as our goal? Or should we be content with all the exchanges we already have and make sure they at least make it possible to serve the consumers wishes, always and everywhere? We can theorize our contact, sales and customer cycles but in the end. A transaction will only be made when trust and willingness to exchange information is available and beneficial to all parties. A transaction could also be knowledge, given by a person to you as a brand, because you are appreciated for who you are and what you do.

If you can be relevant in Snapchat, do it. And see how your potential customer likes your efforts. Maybe even refer you to someone else. But start first, learn along the way and don’t immediately build a business case if the effort is worth the 5 minutes it will take you.

The past few days were strange, exciting but good. E. came down from Lausanne to our home in Amsterdam. We had been apart for 2,5 weeks and reconnecting was really good. We enjoyed a children packed wedding from friends i have known for 23 years. Special and great fun. 

Being apart made me realise even better how much i missed being together. And it gave us a chance to reconnect, spend time discussing the upcoming events. Final transition to Lausanne. Decorations in the house. Things to move. What to order and many more things. The coming days there are a few items coming in by mail as well. 

The reason i write this is something we as marketeers take for granted. A brand can often feel like a relationship. Your product has been enjoyed in a certain way, moment and place in the past. It could be used again because the relationship was good, product was enjoyed and expectations confirmed. 

Changing consumer patterns indicate these relationships don’t have the automatic longevity as before. A consumer is more open to change and sometimes even forced to change. Look at your local supermarket exchanging branded products with their own copy - (please also read my earlier post about copying and a brand being a MVP). 

This change tells me we need to improve our game. Change tactics and improve our ability to adapt to change. Increase our efforts to be a good partner in the relationship. Most often this means listening first, acting later. 

Too often a brand thinks it can outspend others and the sales uplift tells them they may be right. But the amounts spent for each new “attention moment” need to increase and in the long run don’t work. Other brands say they are doing well because they are selling great in nr of items sold. In reality they are discounting their products on a monthly basis (1+1) and therefore the economical orientated consumer keeps on buying it. They know that they can wait for the discount moment. 

What does that say about your product? It is accepted and used but too pricy... Right? Or did you just devaluate the brand? Or does the consumer appreciate your product and pricing but just can’t afford it? Can you find out the consumer expectations? Sense their product awareness? Ask them why they buy the brand? I say, yes to all three. But how many brands do?

By not taking your consumer for granted and being open for change every day - a ‘brand’ new slate everyday -  you are evolving with your consumer as a brand and its product. This may mean more work in the short run but will increase your longevity as brand and thus increase your turnover. It would probably mean changing your company outlook short term and fight the excel fetishists (aka management) working with the old projections. And yes, it may even mean taking into account your margins are decreasing. 

A former employer once said to me “Networking is not equal to working for you”. He of course meant that i like to meet people and have a rather large network. In the Netherlands this is true. But i am “blind” in Switzerland. The people i know can be counted with two hands ;-) 

To take away my blind spot I want to meet people that are working in the Swiss  creative/marketing branche. This could be within a media or creative agency, brand or self employed. In principle my contact would be in Vaud region(Lausanne/Geneve) but i am aware more network opportunities lie in the Zurich area and other big cities as well. 

As i m orientating what my next new new thing” will be i am just “working the network for now”. If the contact leads to a freelance gig or other opportunities, that would be a bonus ;-)  

Here is what i want to ask you:

If you have a relevant networking contact. Can you please point them to my Linkedin profile, and send them a short introduction? You can use my email (markdekock at gmail dot com)  in cc if you think it helps.  

Your network help will be much appreciated! 

In the book Exponential Organisations, building a MVP is mentioned as a good way to discover if a product that is being developed can sustain in a market / userbase. You use it to decrease the up front investments.  And i agree that this “Agile” way or working can help speed up the implementation process and improve user insight in a early stage. 

This made me think, can a corporation such as P&G start working in a iterative way and launch a new brand/product (through insights out of the market) as MVP? 

At the moment launching a new brand is something that takes ages. User testing, research, product cycles, innovation funnels. All made with a set of required phases and something that used to work for a lot of companies/brands. 

What if the new product is made as a MVP? No years of research and product evolutions over evolutions, months of debating product packaging colors and millimetres of design. I remember a presentation by a French lady that had worked in *muted well known yoghurt brand*. The packaging design had been done by her company and had taken roughly a year. The difference with the old packaging was negligible. 

It was all needed to make sure senior management was confident their sales figures wouldn’t drop. And actually their turn-over should rise. The product however hadn’t changed. It was the same cheaply produced yoghurt with a lot of chemicals and sugar in it and a major margin.   

Can we as an industry change this behaviour? Think out of a strong product made with a good effect on our bodies, and maybe even minds, and launch it very short term. Should we  free up 10% of shelf space to experiment? Stating up front to our consumers. This is not a finished product design and branding but we sure as hell appreciated the actual consuming good.  

Is the copy-paste branding industry, we find in the Albert Heijns and Coops of this world, too insecure to try? Are we as consumers open to this kind of innovation? I think we can be. if pricing and contents is matching with our expectations we just may find a good alternative that fits with consumer needs. 

Or is the consumer too fixed on what they know? Not open to innovating their  daily consumption routines? And can the producing companies think and work agile?  If they don’t have to spend a few hundred million pre-launch this may just be a good way to go. It doesn’t mean your product can not sustain for a long time? It just needs to be more fitting with consumer wishes and needs.

 And that is exactly what we see all over the world A changing consumer.

Last week i had the privilege to join an evening with the Dutch ADCN (Art Directors club NL). On the roster was a presentation and subsequent discussion on “the goodness of brands, now and in the future”. This wasn’t the official title but i like to think this was the main theme. 

My friend Antoinette Hoes (SD DDB NL) was the host of the evening. I have known her for a long time, she was as always an excellent host and voiced her opinion as well. This was the first time in a while i got the chance to discuss the changing environments for brands with “trade companions”. Just as in Game of Thrones we all know that “Winter is coming”, the change i see is definite. We just have to wait for the timeframe in which it will arrive. 

I understand this sounds vague but i will explain! Let’s start with this overview called “the illusion of choice”:

Make sure you read the source of this image as well

It shows that a group of 10 mega companies control almost all you consume. Yes, that is right. The moment you choose which cereal to eat, chocolate, milk, washing soap. You actually get to choose only the product in a range that was pre-defined and controlled by just a few companies. 

We used to live in a society where a lot of our choices came out of our past. The coffee in your kitchen? Almost certain it was the brand your parents had at home. Same goes for a lot more consuming items. 

Part of the discussion of the evening was the trend we see starting at generation Z (more commonly known as “the millennials”). The consumer patterns are changing. The change (or transition) this group is making comes out of a push to better understand the purpose and quality of life. That sounds heavy right? Well, it should. With our world population growing at an alarming rate and a bad distribution of wealth we need to become better aware what is right and wrong in our society. What is quality over quantity. Easy way to start is what you need to do everyday. On average you eat three meals. A big part of the money you earn goes to that part of your life. 

Back to the discussion. A lot of consumer goods are generic. There is almost no distinction between the category brands. That’s where a marketeer often comes in. There are brands that try and be good from the start. Tom’s shoes (the one for one company as they call themselves). Promises to give a pair of shoes away to the needy for every pair sold*. There are also companies like Pampers who (during a three month period) vaccinate a baby for every product they sell. 

The important part of these examples is the 3 month period. When do you do good for sake of marketing and when is something within your DNA. In other words, when do you make money by using a thin layer of chrome and when is it pure gold. This year a movie appealed to the Cannes Lions public (and brands) to think and act in the latter part. 

Please take a moment to view this video:

How can a corporation claim their “good” CSR plan if they unite on the one hand a brand that advocates women rights, do good for the impoverished but also tell men that spraying a cheap scent on them in multiple layers will bring them top models in bed? 

My point? There needs to be even more discussion about what will make future brands successful. And my (somewhat naive) opinion is that consumers will grow up and want to see less chrome and more gold. 

Living in Switzerland is in that sense  good journey to that point. Everything is pretty expensive when you are coming from the NL and their local pricing. But the products that are hard to come by are also more expensive with less cheap rip-offs available. The Swiss love their natural, quality foods. They cherish local grown consumptions (wine but also small produce). It is all part of the search for a better quality of life. Something that I think more and more people outside of Switzerland are realising as well.   

Good brands have good brand DNA. They have a purpose to fulfil and are not afraid to adjust their trajectory if needed. They are not ruled just with Excel sheets and from a fear point of view (what if we loose marketshare or profit the coming quarter?) This short term managers view makes for bad choices and fake stories which an increasing amount of people just don’t want to be part of anymore.

In terms of purpose, please review the book “Exponential Organisations” written by Yuri van Geest and Salim Ismail ao. This is in my opinion a very good handbook for future brands and companies wanting to change now. It looks into what makes the new generation corporations successful and more.   

You can make a quick start by reviewing this presentation by Yuri van Geest on Slideshare. I will be investing much more time in the reasons why ExO is the way to go for all organisations in the coming time.  

When you are young and bold, building a startup may seem like the dream of a lifetime. But, becoming the next Elon Musk just doesn’t come with a push of a button. There are a lot of factors that i’ve seen mentioned on blogs as ingredients for succes, but one that is not often among them is “optimal communication to users AND investors”. This piece will focus on investor communication.

Making sure you take all people involved along on your journey doesn’t always seem the obvious “tool” to make your fresh company successful (focus is almost always on product, product, ship, ship). But to me it can be one of THE means that determine a successful startup with longevity and maybe even a true corporation in the making. 

Inspiration for this came from two sides. On the one hand i am following the startup efforts of my good friend Steven van Wel ever since he got me my (the) first iPhone from the States (exhibit A). And the second part is a piece i read that was linked to by another successful Dutch entrepreneur  Vincent Hoogsteder (exhibit B). 

Exhibit A) What makes a difference in the communication that Steven orchestrates within Karma is the transparency and frequency in which the communication is done. Karma is a super startup that is doing wel in the US market. A hotspot wifi on the go that provides acces to you and your friends but also the crowd surrounding your presence can benefit (think dropbox exchange of return of favour). Since the beginning of Karma communicating with their investors is done by a weekly email. Just one. But it is ALWAYS there and always on the same time of the week. Non-intrusive, transparant and regular. It doesn’t only focus on what they want to tell you about the day to day business of the past week but also what is coming AND what you can do today to make them more successful. Yes, you as an investor feel you can contribute more than with money and so it should be with a good investor in my opinion. The difference is, how many times have you asked your investor to really help you becoming successful and thus increasing the potential return on their investment?  

Photo courtesy of FD

Part of the same communication tactics of Karma is their dashboarding. ALL data that can possibly be gathered and shared is done in a basic but great dashboard. ANYtime you want, you see the metrics of the company and this makes you part of the performance. You can see trends and changes before the official communication is done in a formal communication. 

Exhibit B) 

Financial dashboarding is very important in a startup. The way you report on your economic status tells your stakeholders how you are doing, where you are investing their money in and how much TTL (nerdy abbreviation for “time to live”) there is left. You can do this in various ways but this piece on mattermark gives a good idea and pointers.

“So Mattermark gets to spend $400K a month, right? WRONG.

If we collect $1M in cash this month, we can spend $1.4M this month and we’ll have a net burn rate of $400K. If we collect $200K in cash this month, we can spend $600K and have a net burn rate of $400K. While spending $1.4M a month might sound irresponsible if you’ve been reading the news about startup burn rates, in the $1.4M scenario the company is covering 71% of expenses with cash from operations. In the $600K expense scenario, the company is covering only 33%.

As long as revenues are growing, burning $400K a month becomes less and less risky over time.”

The message here is that you could report the burnrate differently but that would not give the right message to investors and would not optimise your spending towards a successful enterprise. Knowing how to combine (big) data with the right communication skills increases transparency and (once again) makes sure your investors (and other parties involved) are on the same page as your mission is. 

Ingredients for success overview: Timing, continuity, transparency, pro-active engagement requests, big data dash-boarding.

It sounds so simple but if you ask yourself this question: “Have you ticked all these boxes to their full function?” can you honestly say yes? 

Innovating the world with your startup starts with doing a lot of things in the right way. Communication should rank high on that agenda. 

Within my network there are quite a few people that have a good focus on the changes that are going on in healtcare. With changes i actually mean disruption. And what i get from their signals is that the disruption (as is often the case) does not come from the establishment but from outsiders. Those new players are not in the traditional “healthcare countries” like Switzerland but the US seems to have taken the lead. Digital innovations are mainstreaming these developments. What does this mean for Switzerland and are they able to catch up?  

This morning i found this good short read on the changes that are coming: The companies disrupting  healthcare in 2015. The author Reenita Das writes: 

“Improving the healthcare system requires simultaneous pursuit of three aims (commonly referred to as the Triple Aim): enhancing the experience of care, bettering the health of populations and reducing per capita costs of healthcare. For this to happen, some major seismic shifts will need to take place.”

Her piece also states a overview of the companies the author and team sees as the Disruptors: 

Figure courtesy of Frost & Sullivan

As you can see these are NOT traditional names like Novartis, Johnson&Johnson or Hoffman-LaRoche. Amongst them there is even a retailer (Walmart). 

How big is the healthcare industry actually? Well, to give you an insight. The top ten pharmaceutical companies turn over as reported by their annual reports for 2013 is 469 billion dollar with a overall revenue of 95 billion. A “healthy” industry if your perspective is just on these top ten companies. Obviously the total industry is much, much larger and there are major players investing a lot of money with deep losses before launching their product.  It is not unusual that a new medical product is only launched after 12-15 years of development by a large team of people. If it is launched... 

Disruption

Back to disruption. The disruption Reenita is talking about is not just on the medical side. It is much more. It is a patients perspective on healthcare and all that comes with it. From daily patient information need to (big) data analysis and diagnostic tools. The pharmaceuticals can and in my mind must play a larger role in this customer centric thinking. I am aware that is being made difficult by the governing authorities but it seems to me the only road to take. 

Patient centricity

In my mind you can not produce a new medicine and not think about the way it will be used by doctors and patient in a certain phase of illness treatment. It’s complications on life/health experience and the total “sickness cycle” that a patient will go through. Your product is one step in a complicated array of experiences a patient will go through. With the increasing knowledgable patient that will sooner or later even be self diagnosing (look for reference at the Qualcomm tricorder X prize challenge lead by Peter Diamandis from Singularity University).

Partners

The good part is that you do not need to invent everything yourself. The aforementioned companies, and may others, can work/for with you. You can use their tools and services to build upon. A mobile app that tells you the patients food intake for the last year will give you a better insight in the overall health and wellbeing. A fitness app will tell you how often and long the patient exercised. A hart rate and blood flow monitor used over a longer period can reflect the patients... well, you get the point i guess ;-)

Money

By focussing on the (digital) changing patient, the quality of treatment should increase. With as a result more effectiveness and a wider range of means to “Service” a patient and its health coordinators. That of course also can lead to more income. And, more importantly it leads to a better spread income model. Where you ar not only focusing on the “big bangs” with 12-15 years lead-time but rather on a ongoing model of evolving, service orientated income.    

Change and unlikely partners

This new focus can/will involve focusing on all types of new digital channels (social, mobile) and innovations like nano and bio technology. It will also mean a  new organisation with an increasing amount of “new” employees like  anthropologists and digital strategists. If the traditionals can get over the “not-invented-here” syndrome it could mean partnering with companies you would have never thought of before. Novartis + Walmart and Johnson&Johnson with Nike+. 

Conclusion