YOU THINK PEOPLE LOVE APPLE NOW? WATCH THEM SCREAM 25 YEARS AGO

You can find Steve Jobs' first big presentation from 1984 online. Hear the crowd soaring. When we at Fronteer talk about smart brands, we talk about Apple (sometimes). The thing is, this brand is built in a quarter century. It was carefully constructed and nurtured over the years.  

When you have people screaming for more at your first real introduction, and 25 years later still... what can we add to that?

We found the link at TechCrunch

CUTE CUTE CUTE

Japan is the country of Kawaii - meaning cute (amongst others). Doing some pretty serious retailing research in Japan we found out that even grown up businesses are heavily influenced by this miraculous little word. 

Women determine what is bought and what not. Men get pocket money. Cars, food, travel goods, clothes,  anything really, bought by women. What do women want? Colour and pretty curves basically. This means that entire categories have to adopt to this and that foreign brands have to be well aware of the impact it has on their ranges. This combined with a very strong hype culture makes doing business in Japan tricky to say the least.

In our specific research - travel goods - we found a market dominated by a few players well aware on the might of the retailer and consumers. Double or Nothing is the game. Once you're in, you're doing well. Once you're out, you're out for good. Quality problems? Say by to the brand. Not cute? Same deal. Made in China? Rather not. Luggage brands that did well managed to please everybody: curves, colours, coolness and country of origin. 

What did we learn? Interviewing in Japan is tiring - try to sit in the same hot blue cubicles for days on a row - but Japanese are actually open for business. The ones that have stamina and try to do everything right have a pretty good chance to actually making it out there.

And, don't forget to bring 'stroopwafels'!

"I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING WITH CO-CREATION!" - DISCUSSION WITH FRANK PILLER

I had the honour of meeting Frank Piller, one of the most knowledgeable people on co-creation, open innovation and mass-customisation. We had set up a meeting since our Rooftop expert co-creation product is the kind of thing Frank researches. Frank is currently conducting a study on the 65 most important co-creation consultancies or intermediates, he told me in an animated conversation. He is especially looking for examples of well executed co-creation projects and he is invesigating the larger expert based platforms like Innocentive. One of the people admired by Frank was, next to Eric von Hippel,  Nikolaus Franke, from the Wirtschaftsuniversitat in Vienna. He also mentioned the success of Innospace, the on-line community based customer research tool, and Hyve, the German design-driven innovation and research firm.

We discussed the different approaches to co-creation and the value some companies bring to the table. Many companies deal nowadays with an urge to step into open innovation and co-creation but don't know how to do that. An awful lot of companies are in or close to being in a pilot phase. I was happy to discuss some of the recent successes we had with co-creation at Heineken and Nokia.

Our approach was seen by Frank as being fresh and differentiating. Some of the things we do he sees being not standard in co-creation are:

Expertise. We believe in finding the best people, screening them, and preparing them well for the assignment. 

Equality. Also, we strive for equality between all parties involved: clients, experts and lead-users. Only then true co-creation is achieved. 

Value. Each participant has different things he or she wants to take out of the session. Recognising that and making it happen for them are crucial.

Synchronisation. When dealing with a diverse group of people with different interests, being on the same page with the same energy level is a must. Sounds easy, it is not.

Continuity. Co-creation does not stop after a session, it continues. When clients recognise that, a wonderful world of opportunities arises. We have an online community space to facilitate that. Before, during and after the session.

A wonderful visit it was. 

GREAT! ANOTHER CONSULTING FIRM…

JUST WHAT THE WORLD NEEDED.

 

Actually, no. Fronteer Strategy isn’t ‘just’ another consulting firm, but one with a clear idea of why, how and what. The ‘double e’ is a conscious typo (thanks for warning me though, mum) that refers to our backgrounds: engineer, marketeer… and anthropologist. We apply our wide variety of interests and experience to develop clutter-cutting marketing strategy: innovation, co-creation and brand development.

 

As our name suggests, our main interest is in the ‘new’ and ‘unknown’. Whether it be new strategies, new markets, new concepts or products; we enjoy being ‘out there’ with our clients on the frontiers, where new value is created. 

No offense to other consulting firms, but I think we can honestly claim some points on the interesting-o-meter. The company was founded by Martijn Pater and myself, James Veenhoff. Martijn is an engineer with 8 years of consulting experience. Prior to launching Fronteer, he rode his motorbike from Amsterdam to China and back – as well as inventing, developing and marketing a new soft-shell helmet for outdoor & active sports. My own background is in growth strategy, and I have extensive experience in the fashion and luxury brand industry. My main field of expertise is brand strategy, specializing in the so-called niche, new luxury and ‘vanguard’ brands.  Due to my work as co-founder of Amsterdam International Fashion Week, I have also become very interested in Urban Development and hope to make use of my expertise in this area too.