Disrupt, or be disrupted

photo: cynergy on flickr

PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS MONTHLY BRIEF: NOVEMBER

Disruption – new ideas, messages, products or processes that disrupt

existing markets and behaviors – is becoming increasingly common

today. It’s driven in part by people’s demands for more convenience,

more collaboration and more attention to addressing societal issues.

Of course, it’s not easy, quick or intuitive to create new ways of doing

things… especially when it comes to addressing social issues which

often requires re-invention of business models. But doing it

successfully can lead to benefits for performance, people and planet.

In some cases, for all three.

In this issue of the People’s Insights monthly briefs, we cover three big

innovations launched by Apple, Amazon and Google; three new

approaches to Black Friday from TD Bank, Santander Bank and

Patagonia; and two examples of upcycling by Southwest Airlines and

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. As a bonus, we also take a quick look at the

immensely popular podcast Serial – which mashes-up different types of

storytelling.

First, here’s an overview of the nine examples featured in this report.

mysza on flickr

cat-sidh on flickr

Big Tech Innovations

Steve Jobs’ famous line, “people don’t know what they want until you

show it to them,” may hold true for some of these attempts to change

customer behavior.

• Apple Pay – Simplifying mobile payments

Apple’s latest iPhones and operating system allow people to make

quick contactless payments by tapping their iPhones against NFC-

enabled terminals. The hype around the launch of Apple Pay

boosted usage of mobile payments across U.S. stores – but will

Apple be able to make this behavior more mainstream?

• Amazon Echo – Virtual assistant for your home

Amazon’s Echo merges voice-activated commands (similar to Siri

and OK, Google) with a speaker designed for your home. The

invite-only product received mixed reactions – will people lower

their privacy guards to give Amazon Echo a chance?

• Google Inbox – A new way to Gmail

Google’s Inbox is designed to make it easier for you to organize

your email and make email work for you. It’s currently invite-only –

will it become displace Gmail to become the preferred way to

manage email and tasks?

asylumprincess on flickr

New approaches to Black Friday

Sometimes, disruption comes from listening to the quieter voices and

catering to them…. when done around the biggest shopping period in

the U.S., this approach feels quite meaningful indeed.

• TD Bank’s #MakeTodayMatter

Acknowledging that many of their customers are keen to give back,

TD Bank gave 24 people 24 hours and up to $30,000 each to serve

their communities. The bank shared these stories and videos online

to encourage more people to give back during the holiday season.

• Santander Bank’s Black Tea Friday

Acknowledging that the hyper-consumption around Black Friday

can be distasteful, Santander asked people to make their day after

Thanksgiving more meaningful. Have a Black Tea Friday or a Black

Kung Fu Friday with your kids, the bank suggested on Facebook.

• Patagonia and Yerdle’s Worn Wear swap parties

Continuing its commitment to recycling and reusing “worn wear,”

Patagonia partnered with goods-sharing site Yerdle to host swap

parties at eight of its stores on Black Friday. People could bring in

their old clothes and swap them for new ones or for Yerdle credit.

marcyleigh on flickr

Upcycling & Paying it Forward

Inventing of new business models can take years in the making, and a

lot of persistence, as these examples show.

• Southwest Airlines’ Project LUV Seat

Following an eco-redesign, Southwest was left with 80,000 used

leather seats. The company spent a year looking for meaningful

ways to upcycle the leather. Eventually, Southwest donated the

leather to NGOs in Kenya to turn it into bags, wallets, shoes and

footballs which were used to develop skills, and support health and

education programs for children.

• Ben & Jerry’s The Chunkinator

Ben & Jerry’s invested four years to create a tank that would break

down waste water and left over cream waste and convert it into

“GreEnergy” at its plant in the Netherlands. In a year and a half of

trials, the Chunkinator produced enough energy to create 16

million pints of ice cream.

tzofia on flickr

Bonus! A new way to tell stories

• Serial Podcast

Serial investigates a murder that took place in 1999 and shares the

findings in weekly episodes. The format is mash-up of investigative

journalism, weekly storytelling and podcasting. Its success (5

million downloads on iTunes in two months) has led to speculation

that podcasting might enter the mainstream.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Share your thoughts and

feedback with us at @PeoplesLab on Twitter.

Nidhi Makhija-Chimnani

Director, Research and Insights, MSLGROUP

• Apple Pay

• Amazon Echo

• Google Inbox

• TD Bank - #MakeTodayMatter

• Santander Bank - Black Tea Friday

• Patagonia - Worn Wear swap parties

• Southwest Airlines - Project LUV Seat

• Ben & Jerry’s - The Chunkinator

• Serial Podcast

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Apple recently unveiled a project

that took years in the making:

Apple Pay.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus come

with NFC chips which enable safe

storage of credit and debit cards

and quick payment by tapping the

device on NFC-enabled terminals.

Apple Pay also works for in-app

payment on these devices, and

the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.

Apple Pay currently works only in

the U.S. for major banks and

about 220,000 retailers.

#innovation

How it works?

iPhone users begin by adding their cards to their Apple Pay Wallets.

This can be done by taking a photo of the card or manually entering

details. Apple Pay can then be used to pay for purchases online and at

stores with NFC terminals (such as Visa’s PayWave, MasterCard’s

PayPass and American Express’ Express Pay terminals). Simply tap the

phone against the terminal, and confirm by swiping your finger print.

Recent purchases are stored in the Passbook app.

Apple sells Pay as a more secure way to pay: you don’t have to hand

over your card, and it relies on single-use tokens for transactions

which means hackers can’t steal your data (more on that here). You

still pay using your card, so you qualify for rewards points etc. Rumor

is that Apple charges a small fee for all transactions, possibly to the

banks.

Adoption of Mobile Payment

In the first three days, Apple reported that 1 million cards were

registered across the U.S. In the first three weeks, Whole Foods

reported 15,000 Apple Pay transactions across 384 stores, McDonald’s

said that Apple Pay made up half of all mobile payments, and

Walgreens reported that mobile payment had doubled.

The hype around Apple Pay spread over to other mobile wallet users

too. Softbank and Google said that their own apps saw a boost in

downloads and use since the launch of Apple Pay.

Impressive? Maybe not, this PYMNTS blog post argues, saying that the

behavior is spread across a large country. It’s not as strong as adoption

of the Starbucks mobile app which sees 7 million transactions a week.

And it may not last once the hype dies down.

Partners

That being said, Apple Pay has an impressive range of partners, with

more planning to come on board. Apple has also partnered with

China’s Union Pay bank to enable in-app purchases in China.

Apple does however face some challenges from retailers who have

invested in their own mobile payment service CurrentC. These

retailers, including CVS, Rite-Aid, Walmart and Best Buy have disabled

NFC-terminals in their stores to ward off the competition, much to the

ire of some Apple users.

All in all, it’s a long term game and Apple seems to be in for the long

haul.

Watch the intro video by Verge: Using Apple Pay in the real world

Amazon has had mixed success with its new products. The Kindle was

a huge hit and fuelled the market for ereaders. The Amazon Fire

phone on the other hand entered a crowded market and failed to

make a dent.

The new Amazon Echo launched in November, but critics are unsure if

it will be a hit or if it is ahead of its time.

A virtual assistant for your home

Amazon’s Echo merges voice-activated commands (similar to Siri and

Ok, Google) with a speaker designed for your home. It’s currently

invite-only and priced at $199 for normal users and $99 for Amazon

Prime subscribers.

The device responds to the names “Amazon” or “Alexa.” People can

ask it to read out the news, weather and Wikipedia entries and

answer general questions (like what is the tallest mountain in the

world?). Echo can also play music from Amazon play-lists or online

radio stations, create to-do lists and set alarms. It can even connect

with devices over Bluetooth and stream music.

Echo uses far-field voice recognition technology. Its seven speakers

can pick up sound-commands from across the room.

#innovation

It also comes with noise

cancellation so it can hear

commands even while it is playing

music. Its speakers offer 360

degree surround sound.

An all-in-one speaker, virtual

assistant, and voice-activated Siri.

So, why are critics so skeptical?

Processes commands in the

cloud

Echo processes all commands by

sending them to the cloud.

Amazon positions this as a good

thing – Echo is always getting

smarter, adding new features and

adapting to your speech patterns

and preferences.

But people aren’t too excited by

the “always on” speaker

transmitting information to the

cloud.

In fact, this is one of the major criticisms of the device – it doesn’t

address privacy concerns in today’s post NSA-revelation age. The other

criticism comes from Siri and Ok, Google users: “my phone already

acts as my virtual assistant.”

Mixed Reactions

Tech journalists and bloggers aren’t quite sure what to make of the

Echo. It doesn’t help that someone made a parody of Amazon’s Echo

ad the same day it was released (or that the parody received a million

views more than the original).

As more people receive the Echo and upload video reviews on

YouTube, the sentiment may change. Some people are already

responding to video reviews with detailed questions about the product

and positive reactions. According to the comments so far, the Echo

seems to be a great fit for the elderly, non-tech savvy and visually

impaired.

Watch the video: Introducing Amazon Echo

Email today is not perfect. A

Google search for “too many

emails” brings up 95 million

responses.

As people chase for the coveted

“Zero” Inbox, some have

introduced email management

systems, games and new apps to

help people better manage the

inflow. One app in particular,

Mailbox, seemed to have gotten it

right by helping Gmail users to

swipe to delete/archive emails

and ‘snooze’ emails till a later

date.

This may have inspired Google to

come up with its own solution –

Inbox.

#innovation

What is Inbox?

Inbox is an alternate way for people to access their Gmail via the web

and mobile apps. It borrows the swipe and snooze features from

Mailbox, and adds some more:

• Bundles – a handy filter that clubs email under headings like Purchases

and Travel

• Highlights – Snippets from the email that appear in the Inbox view itself,

highlighting Attachments, Photos, YouTube videos, Flight details, Maps,

Calendar items, Reservations and Purchases – and makes things easier

and quicker to find

• Icons for Bundles, and Display pictures for email senders – which make

it easier to understand who your mail is coming from

• Snooze – the ability to make emails ‘go away’ until a certain time or

location

• Pin – the ability to retain certain emails in your inbox, making them

easier to find

• Reminders – an acknowledgement that Gmail users often email

themselves reminders… or a step to make email an even more useful tool

Essentially, Inbox encourages you to act on your email. Inbox features

and the size of the action icons makes email management more

intuitive and easy. As one blogger put it, “Gmail’s Inbox Doesn’t

Organize Email, It Reminds You To Answer It.”

Clockwise: Information Week, TechTimes and Yahoo

Positive Reactions

Inbox launched in October and is

currently in invite-only phase. It’s

available for personal Gmail users

but not for business or Google

Apps users. Initial response has

been positive. The mobile apps

have over 4 star ratings on both

the Android and iTunes stores, and

tech news sites are likening Inbox

to “the future of email.”

But across the reviews, there are

comments from people wondering

why it’s easier to archive emails

than to delete them completely.

As more people receive invites to

use it, it’ll be interesting to see if

Inbox is the email solution we’ve

all been waiting for.

Watch the video: The inbox that works

for you

A few days before Thanksgiving,

TD Bank unveiled its

#MakeTodayMatter campaign.

Throughout the month of

November, the bank selected 24

people and offered them up to

$30,000 to serve their

communities within the next 24

hours.

These people were nominated by

local bank employees or selected

after interviews at branches in

the U.S. and Canada. They each

came up with their own way to

give back, and with the help of

TD’s funds and resources, brought

their visions to life.

#black friday

A video featuring the behind-the-scenes of these projects and

reactions of community members was shared online. Within a week,

the video received 3.5 million views and – more importantly – positive

reactions. All 24 stories and projects are shared on TD’s website.

Why this approach?

Apart from being a great way to stand out from the typical Black

Friday messaging (BUY SHOP DISCOUNT NOW!), #MakeTodayMatter is

also rooted in an interesting insight. According to Tim Hockey,

President and CEO of TD Canada Trust:

"A recent TD survey found that roughly 70 per cent of people said they

are inspired to give back when they witness a good deed."

TD’s goal was to kickstart the good deeds and inspire more people to

give back around the holidays.

Watch the video: 24 people. 24 days. 24 communities.

facebook.com/santanderbankus

Increasingly, Black Friday is

becoming known as much for its

long lines, violent brawls and

occasional stampedes as for its

value-for-money deals.

In fact, this was the first year

where sales over the four-day

weekend declined (TIME:

Spending drops 11%).

Spanish bank Santander’s gamble

to cater its messaging to people

wary of the Black Friday madness

may have paid off quite well.

#black friday

A week before Thanksgiving, Santander Bank US published a video that

showed a father and son waking up early on Thanksgiving, heading

past a mall and volunteering at a soup kitchen. It ends by asking

viewers how they will make their “day after Thanksgiving” more

meaningful. The video raked up 150,000 views on Facebook.

Santander also shared a series of posters suggesting people “Have a

Black Tea Friday” or a “Black Kung Fu Friday” with their kids.

It’s a fresh initiative, and the focus on meaningfulness and family

helps the bank differentiate itself. Now that the bank knows its

messaging seems to be in the right direction, it will be interesting to

see its efforts next year. Maybe we’ll see some family events

sponsored by Santander branches on the “day after Thanksgiving.” It

would definitely help get more customers and people involved.

Watch the video: Santander Black Bean Soup Black Friday

Outdoor clothing and gear maker

Patagonia is known for promoting

reuse of its products. This unique

position has helped in several

ways: it extends the life cycle of

its products and keeps them out

of landfills; it establishes

Patagonia wear as durable; and it

caters to an eco-conscious

audience.

In 2013, Patagonia partnered with

eBay to create the Common

Threads initiative, and

encouraged people to buy and sell

used Patagonia goods on eBay. For

Black Friday 2013, Patagonia

partnered with IFixIt to co-publish

free repair guides for Patagonia

clothing and invited customers to

get their Patagonia wear repaired

in-store.

#upcycling

#black friday

Worn Wear

This year, Patagonia partnered with swapping app Yerdle to celebrate

what they call Worn Wear. In a short video, Patagonia celebrated worn

clothing, with athletes talking about the trust they place in clothing

they have worn on previous adventures and the superstition they

associate with their “lucky” clothes.

Patagonia called on people to ‘swap’ their Worn Wear through the

Yerdle app rather than throw it away. Through the app, people could

swap used items for “Yerdle” credit and spend these on other items.

For Black Friday, Patagonia partnered with Yerdle to host 8 swap

parties at select stores. People could bring in “Patagonia-like”

clothing and swap it for Patagonia Worn Wear or Yerdle credit; a nice

way to bring people in to stores, while sticking to the eco angle.

People could also join the action on Twitter – by sharing their worn

wear stories they could win Yerdle credit.

Watch the Video: Worn Wear® Stories | Presented by Patagonia

Southwest Airlines left no stone unturned with Project LUVSeat, a

great example of achieving the triple bottom-line – performance,

planet and people.

It began with Evolve – an eco-redesign to Southwest’s entire fleet of

Boeing 737-700 and some 737-300 aircrafts. The airline had sourced

an upcycled eleather material to use for its seat coverings that would

make each plane lighter by over 600 pounds. The eleather was made

of scraps of leather and was cheaper and faster to produce than

regular leather. The lighter seats meant less fuel consumption and

savings of $10 million annually in fuel costs.

The redesign also made space for another row of seats in the planes,

giving Southwest additional revenue per flight.

Southwest was then left with 80,000 used leather seats – 43 acres of

leather – that it wanted to keep out of the landfills. The airlines

embarked on a one year search for opportunities to maximize the use

of the leather. Members of the Southwest community (employees and

customers) were invited to share their ideas and happily complied in

over 1,000 comments.

View the full infographic

#upcycling

LUV Project products by Looptworks include a limited number of convertible totes,

duffle bags, backpacks and toiletry cases

Upcycling – converting waste

material into something of

higher quality or value

Some of the leather was donated

to NGO-run workshops in Kenya

where it was transformed into

useful products and passed on to

other NGOs.

Some was upcycled in the U.S. by

Looptworks – a company that

employs the disabled and converts

used materials into premium

handmade products.

Looptworks estimates that the

upcycling of leather helped them

conserve “more than 4,000 gallons

of water conserved per bag and

[achieve] a 72% reduction in CO2

emissions.”

Kenya: 6,000 seats for a pilot program

In Kenya, Southwest gave the used leather to local NGOs and

companies Massai Treads, Life Beads Kenya and Teamlift Inc. that train

young adults, women and disabled persons in handicrafts. Using the

leather, they produced 2,100 pairs of shoes, 1,000 soccer balls, 15,000

bags, wallets and backpacks, and other leather goods.

The goodwill didn’t end there. Some of the shoes were donated to SOS

Children’s Villages in Kenya as part of an anti-jigger campaign – to

protect children who normally go barefoot and are susceptible to

parasites. Shoes were also donated to Cure orphanage, a residence for

children who lost parents to AIDS.

The soccer balls were donated to Alice & Kicking which uses sports to

educate children about HIV/AIDS and Malaria prevention.

(contd.)

View the full infographic

Performance, Planet, People

Overall, LUVSeat resulted in:

• $10 million in annual fuel

savings. Extra seats for sale.

• Re-use of waste materials.

Water conservation. Reduction

in emissions.

• Employment for the disabled.

Training for the poor.

• Health and education for

Kenyan children.

• And, meaningful stories to

share with employees and

customers, reinforcing that

they are part of a *good*

ecosystem when they fly

Southwest.

Watch the video: Project LUV Seat:

Repurpose with Purpose

To fulfill its mission to provide the

best possible ice cream in the

nicest way possible, Ben & Jerry’s

goes beyond ethical sourcing. The

ice cream maker is also finding

more productive ways to manage

its waste.

Over the past two years, Ben &

Jerry’s has been testing a machine

that converts waste products into

“GreEnergy.” Ben & Jerry’s

partnered with biotechnology

company Paques to install a bio-

digester at its ice cream factory in

the Netherlands.

(contd.)

#circular economy

The tank, which it calls The Chunkinator, contains 24 billion natural

micro-organisms. It feeds on waste cream, fats, oils and waste water,

and with the help of the micro-organisms, breaks these down into

biogas. This gas is then used to power creation of more ice cream.

According to Ben & Jerry’s:

"The innovation comes from wastewater streams that contain fat and oil

being treated in one compact reactor, together with the degradable

particles—whereas in conventional systems this is only possible by going

through a number of processing stages.”

In a year and a half of trials, The Chunkinator converted half of all

waste products and all the waste water into enough energy to create

16 million pints of ice cream.

A murder-mystery

Serial investigates a murder that

took place at a Baltimore high

school in 1999 and resulted in the

suspect Adnan Syed receiving life

imprisonment.

It launched in October and quickly

ramped up to become the fastest

podcast to reach 5 million

downloads and streams on the

iTunes store, and topping charts in

the US, the UK, Germany, Italy,

Canada and Australia.

In 30-40 minute episodes every

Thursday, the show’s host Sarah

Koenig reveals more of the story

and clues that could reveal who

did it.

#storytelling

Mix of Formats

The show is told from the

perspective of Koenig, as the host

and reporter, and includes audio

snippets recorded during the trial

itself and during her subsequent

interviews with people involved in

the case.

It’s not a new type of story, Serial

is about two teenagers from

different backgrounds falling in

love, separating, and one of them

getting killed.

It’s not even a new type of

storytelling, but a mash-up of

various established forms of

storytelling: investigative

reporting, episodic storytelling

and podcasting in the style of a

documentary.

But it’s a unique piece of storytelling, because this mash-up hasn’t

been done before and is well-suited to today’s audiences. As The New

Yorker’s Sarah Larson puts it, the show combines “the drama of

prestige-television-style episodic storytelling” with “the portability

of podcasts.”

Serial is also interesting because the team behind show is still piecing

together the story and doesn’t know how it will end. In fact, the show

has been running in ‘real-time’ since the end of October, with new

episodes being filmed each week. This allows people to contribute to

the show, as we saw in episode 9 when Koenig shared information she

received from listeners who were in Baltimore at the time of the

murder. It also means that listeners can’t “binge-listen” to catch up -

as is normal for Netflix viewers. When it comes to Serial, listeners

must tune in to know what happens next.

“Mainstream” Response

Serial has quickly become a cultural phenomenon, occupying a

significant part of daily conversations which is typically reserved for

popular TV shows and movies.

Serial has inspired memes, infographics, podcast parodies, podcasts

that analyze the podcast, communities, debates, controversies… the

producers have even received offers to turn the show into a movie

(which they declined, for now).

Charts about Serial at thebolditalic.com

Analysts and marketers believe

that Serial might drive the

mainstream adoption of

podcasting by advertisers and

listeners alike, and some believe

it might revive long-form

investigative journalism.

As Josh Logue, a senior at

University of Maryland, explains:

“Serial’s success is good news. It’s

proof that journalism, done right,

can captivate online audiences,

and for long stretches of time.”

If nothing else, it may give the

show’s protagonist Adnan Syed a

chance to prove his innocence –

his appeal has finally been

processed and a hearing has been

scheduled for January.

Listen to the podcast here: Serial

Podcast

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