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Martin Thomas, author of Crowd Surfing and one of the pioneers of integrated brand and communications planning as a specialist marketing discipline, has just published his latest book, “Loose”. We invited him to the office to share his words of wisdom - here's his presentation.
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Loose: The Future of Business is Letting Go
Martin Thomas @crowdsurfing
What’s Wrong With These Pictures?
Loose Drivers
1. Chaos, complexity & need for speed
2. Emergence of new, informal organisational models
3. New generations emerging at top and bottom of corporate hierarchy
4. New technology
5. Failure of tight
1.Chaos, Complexity & Need for Speed
o Macro-economic meltdowno Socio political upheavalo New patterns of consumer behaviouro New expectationso New technology
Defies rational analysis & neat, simple solutions
2. Emergence of new, informal organisational models
o Capable of delivering political, social or commercial change … without structure or formal leadership
Underlines deficiencies of tight, bureaucratic structures that have to deal with them
* McKinsey 2010
3. New Generations
o Emerging at top and bottom of corporate hierarchy– Gen X in the Boardroom with a post-Boomer
mindset– Gen Y entering the workplace with new
expectations
Demanding new ways of working
4. New Technology
o Social media driving new behaviours & expectations
Dramatizing institutions’ structural, operational & cultural weaknesses
The Connected Consumer meets the Disconnected The Connected Consumer meets the Disconnected CorporationCorporation
5. Failure of Tight
o Illusion of controlo Growth of auditing, risk assessment, compliance,
consulting, reporting, planning & forecastingDelusion of controlDistortion of prioritiesHuge bureaucratic & cost burden Inability to respond to real world
Emergence of Looser Ways of Thinking
o Economists discover Behavioural Economicso Business Schools embrace critical & creative
thinkingo Politicians talk of “a post bureaucratic age” &
introduce Big Societyo Conventional political parties challenged by
informal movements e.g. The Tea Party
Thriving by Loosening Up
o Five simple operational & cultural traits of successful organisationsTrustingOpenAgileInformal Collaborative
Tight Thinkers Need Not Apply
o Organisations & people that struggle with this new worldHierarchicalBureaucraticProcess orientedDistrustful
Trusting
o Bedrock of strong internal cultureo Allows shared responsibility & real time
decision making
The best company rulebook ever written?
Trusting
o No scriptso No time limitso Devolved decision-
making
Open
o Transparency & honesty non negotiable
Capable of transforming reputations
Openness for Commercial Advantage
“Empower consumers”
“Open culture”
“Creative collaboration”
Agile
o Ability to improvise & operate in close to real time
o Limitations of excessive faith in longer-term planning
o Speed more important than absolute accuracy
Why most institutions struggle
o Not configured to work in real time, in terms of resources, structure or culture
One hourOne hour Ten MinutesTen Minutes
* Critical response time for responding to negative comments
Informal
o NPD: Living life in Beta
o Design: Messy vitality
o Creativity: Authenticity more important than production values
Informal Creativity
Informality in the Workplace
o Emphasis on freedom & trust
o Encouragement of creativity & individual responsibility
“We’re giving people the latitude to go off & do their own thing. We trust them to do their regular jobs & to experiment, innovate & have fun”Microsoft Snr Mgr, quoted in Business Strategy Review
Collaborative
o Tapping into spirit of collective self expression
Opening up new business models
Community Commerce
Self-sustaining creative community Members submit designs => 80,000+
submissions Opportunity to pre test beta versions Community votes => 800+ designs Designers receive $2,500 + marketing advice +
retain IP
No professional designers, no salesforce, no distribution, no market research, no advertising=> $30m revenues … high margins
Community Commerce
People-powered mobile network (from O2) Members receive points for recruiting new
people, making suggestions & solving problems => converted into cash
20% actively involved Aim that 25% of members will get half of cost of
calls returned to them for contribution to community
Plans to involve community in pricing & marketing decisions
Not reliant on call centres, expensive marketing & product support
Formula for Collaborative Success Ensuring strategic focus
Publicity as bi-product not sole objective
Planning – who, what & how? Obama’s 100
Devolving control to community Continuous feedback loops
Anticipating subversion Bieber in North Korea
Managing IP rights
Why PR People Should Thrive in This New World
o Used to operating in close to real timeo Strategically & creatively flexibleo Comfortable exercising judgemento Benefit from removal of financial barriers to
entry– Creative production– (Technology based) planning & evaluation
www.crowdsurfing.net@crowdsurfing
