At Vibewire, where I serve as honorary president, we have a vision of inclusion and leadership for young people. We say it’s about ensuring young people participate in the “conversations that matter”.
A great example of this is our monthly fastBREAK event (last Friday of every month). It showcases the passions, ideas and often very personal motivations that inspire our young artists and innovators. Produced in partnership with the Powerhouse Museum, fastBREAK has become a vital event in Sydney’s cultural life – connecting young artists, innovators and entrepreneurs with like minds from the government, business and creative industries sectors.
Last month we had a stellar line up of speakers:
Luke Geary, managing partner of Salvos Legal
Annalie Killian, director of innovation at AMP
Nic Newling, youth mental health advocate with Bite Back
Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney
Marita Cheng, inventor and Young Australian of the Year
You can watch last month’s speakers in action using the playlist below (it will take about 30 minutes all-in-all). Or better yet, come along to the next event live. You’ll leave inspired, well-fed (thanks to the Black Star Pastry folks) and feeling part of a vibrant community. I hope to see you there!
When What’s Mine Is Yours – the groundbreaking book on collaborative consumption launched, it was at the crest of a newly emerging movement. Combining an awareness of our under-used or under-appreciated assets with online networks for managing reputation, collaborative consumption not only disrupts business models but creates new markets.
The poster child for the movement – AirBnB – showcased how the tourism/hospitality industry could be inverted – allowing travellers to stay in private accommodation and for individuals to create an income stream from by renting out their spare rooms.
Collaborative consumption, trust and human connectivity
One of the most interesting aspects of the collaborative consumption movement is that it impacts behaviour on both the buyer and vendor side of the equation – the thin veneer between public and private that we experience due to social networks becomes membrane-thin when you invite someone into your home. But the same holds true for the visitor. Think about it …
Can you trust the visitor?
Can you trust the owner?
Fundamentally, there is an intention to trust – or a willingness. And there is also a conscious decision to act. As Rohit Bhargava says, “in a world where we don’t trust institutions around us, the only real metric for trust is human connections”.
So what happens when you put a focus on this conscious decision – to purchase with a clear intention, but to do so with purpose?
Andable – retail with a social purpose
Sydney-based startup, Andable, are tapping this conscious consumption model with a globally unique online marketplace. Over the last few months, the Andable team have been working out of the Vibewire Innovation Lab in Sydney’s Ultimo, so I have had a number of opportunities to hear their story, understand their approach and see the site develop.
Featuring a wide variety of products across over 80 categories from independent retailers and individuals, Andable is allowing consumers to securely purchase while also supporting an overseas entrepreneur through micro-loan marketplace, Kiva. With each purchase 10% of the price is invested into a Kiva micro-loan.
So not only are consumers able to purchase directly from independent retailers (who often cannot afford the time or money, or do not have the confidence to create online shopfronts), they can do so in the knowledge that 10% of the purchase is performing a social good in another part of the world.
The nice thing is – is that Andable guarantee the repayment of the 10% in three months – so the vendors are not out of pocket. It’s just a slight deferral. And there is minimal risk on Andable’s side, after all, Kiva experiences a current 98.99% repayment rate for loans with all partners.
When business gets personal, consumption becomes conscious
The idea behind Andable is simple and was inspired by personal experience. The founders, Rupal Ismin and Melissa Dean, with backgrounds in media and advertising had a sense that online shoppers were wanting something more from their retail experience.
The 10% mission was inspired by Rupal’s grandfather, who, despite growing up as an impoverished boy in India, always donated 10% of his income to charity. By putting this mission at the heart of the business model – consumers are offered a conscious choice in the purchasing process.
And as the walls between our public and private identities continue to collapse, and as we continue to choose about where to invest our time, our consumption and our attention, a marketplace that offers a social and feel-good experience delivers a new dimension to our retail experiences. After all, we all want to do something good in the world – now perhaps we can have our cake and share it too.
Our actions can come back to haunt us – as movie makers, novelists and storytellers the world over remind us. But what happens when the time between action and reaction reduces. What happens if we don’t have a whole summer to forget about what we did, why we did it and how it happened?
Welcome to the world of social media.
Following up on this infographic on the volume of data and activity that takes place across the web each and every minute, I thought it might scare/intimidate/excite you to know that happens to that data. The folks at Baynote have pulled together this infographic that goes some way towards explaining how your data, information and behaviour is mapped against a series of business outcomes:
Target advertising
Location based services
Notifications
Lead generation
Account authentication
But the big question for brands and for marketers is not even “what did you do”. It is “are you ready to be held to account for your actions”. It seems that despite our personal use of social media technology, precious few companies are ready for the social web at an organisational level. How about you?
Remember when we used to think about how many “messages” people were exposed to during the day? Some would say hundreds, some thousands. Some of these messages would be subliminal – some would be “in your face”. Many of these would be difficult to recall – others would stand out, be unforgettable. Fewer still were remarkable.
But then along came the web with its banners, text ads, affiliate links, sponsored tweets, branded content, apps and dedicated websites.
The big difference between the pre-web and post-web world is not just measurement. Sure we can capture the number of actual impressions and clicks from online advertising – but we can capture so much more. We don’t just know how many, we often know who. We know when. We know what happened before you clicked and where you went afterwards. We know who you know and what you like.
It’s called “big data” and there’s a whole lot of behavioural information trapped in the clicks and links that we all make each day on the web. The challenge we face as marketers is to sort this data in ways that are meaningful for our businesses.
But what can all this data tell us? This infographic from business intelligence platform Domo explains what’s happening with each and every minute.
Months ago I saw this very clever in-workshop snapshot explaining social networks … and I have had it sitting open in one of my thousands of browser tabs ever since. Every now and then I happen upon it and still smile.
And in the interests of closing one additional browser tab, I thought I’d publish the picture here and embark on a browser cleansing ritual.
But what about you?
Do you have a favourite explanation of social media? Is there something that you use that really resonates with your audiences? Does it include donuts?
If you could only read five articles online each week – where would you turn? Would you turn to the mastheads, to Twitter or to your RSS reader? Would you wait for the updates to come or would you go and seek them?
I’d be lost myself, without my trusted Feedly reader … it’s become my must have start to the day. Interestingly, however, I have yet to try it out as an iPhone app – even though it is installed. There is something that I prefer about the big screen – but then, that may change at any moment.
I hope you enjoy these five must-reads from last week!
It has been an amazing week – for some unforgettable. So I’d like to lead out with this powerful anti-gun rant by Jason Alexander. Well worth a read.
Many brands and businesses treat social media like any other form of media – something to yell at your audience. Robin Grant suggests that social is a waste of time unless you can engage your audience.
I have always liked “persona mapping” as a way of communicating types of behaviour to my marketing teams. It allows us all to “work from the same page”. There are a variety of ways that you can do this – behaviour mapping, Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, demographic segmentation and so on.
But while this is a useful theoretical exercise in developing your marketing strategy, how does it apply to social media?
Generally, in social media, I look for the underlying behaviour in the social objects that people leave in their online wake. I look for clues to understand their motivations rather than seeking to contextualise their digital interactions. For example, knowing who drives knowing how – so understanding the social platforms that people use reveals interesting and useful information that you can use to chart your path to engagement.
But check out this infographic from the folks at CPP.com – they’ve taken the MBTI approach and mapped profiles against social networks. How does it play out for YOUR profile (you can take this online MBTI test for a rough approximation). How does it rate for you?
There is no doubt that Dodge and the team from Wieden + Kennedy have produced a great piece of advertising for the Dart. But as I was watching it … as I was listening to the sparce copy that was voiced with just the right amount of self-deprecation and assurance, I couldn’t help but think that it was describing the world of the startup entrepreneur.
Watch it – because it’s great. Then, play it again and listen with your eyes closed. Don’t think cars. Think startups.
What do you hear?
Start with a simple idea. Stop thinking. Start doing … Drink more coffee. Build a prototype. Mould it shape it. Hate it. Start over …
Now, despite the hype and energy around startups, I often wonder why they don’t take a small proportion of their often overblown valuations and invest in advertising. And I don’t mean advertising for themselves … I mean in brand building for the sector. Surely there are some grand stories to be told and some people to inspire.
If the car industry was the powerhouse innovator of the 20th Century economy, then surely we should look to the startup industry in the 21st. It’s about time we told some stories.
At the recent FailCon conference in Sydney, Pollenizer co-founder Mick Liubinskas threw a challenge to the audience. “When it comes to startups, let’s redefine the language around failure”.
FailCon was a day-long event bringing startups, innovators, supporters and investors together to share stories and experiences. And while there was plenty of goodwill and intention from the folks in the audience, it wasn’t until Mick pulled out a live Google Document and started challenging the audience and putting names against action items that things started moving.a Taking on the role of facilitator, he fired questions at the audience – what do we need to open up debate around failure and startups? How can we talk about success? How can we remove the stigma?
Here in Australia we not only have the “tall poppy syndrome” which aims to lop the head off anyone who becomes too successful – we also have what I call the “failure undertow” – where even a sniff of failure can drag your reputation deep into the depths of business obscurity. That leaves a very small area in which new entrepreneurs can navigate. And that, in turn, lowers our sense of reward and capacity for risk taking.
The folks in Silicon Valley have a completely different view of failure. In the startup capital of the world, entrepreneurs who have not survived a business failure are often considered amateurs. In fact, Dave McClure, founder of incubator 500 Startups considers his business a Failure Factory.
As Mick prowled the stage at FailCon waiting for audience input – a voice from the back of the room rang out. We were talking failure and we were talking learning. What if you combined them? What if we could talk about “FLEARNING”?
And it was done.
Over the last couple of weeks, Mick Liubinskas, myself and FailCon organiser, Josh Stinton have been putting our heads together to build a place to share our failures and the successes that follow. We have been talking up the concept of “flearning” and are now looking wider – for stories and experiences of failure that we can share with the wider Australian startup community. We’d love to have you involved.
Take a few minutes to check out FLEARN.ORG and let us get this conversation started. You know you want to get that story off your chest – and now’s your chance.
We have all been there … a crowded table, a busy restaurant and service staff under pressure. On the one hand there’s orders for the bar, on the other new customers ordering meals. The challenge for most restaurants and cafes is to maximise the yield – to get your customers in, fed and out as efficiently as possible.
But then comes the bill.
Everyone wants to pay by card. Some want to split bills. Some want to tip – others don’t. Eyes start to roll. A great experience has come to an end – and all you want to do is give someone some money. It should be easy, right?
So I was interested to learn more about the Commonwealth Bank’s “revolutionary” solution that they are claiming will be the “future of business”. Based on CommBank’s platform known as Pi, it allows developers (including retailers, businesses and vendors) to create business apps that run on the Android powered secure device unimaginatively named “Albert” (they claim links to Einstein).
The fact that CommBank have engineered a finance focused software platform should be enough to send chills up the spines of software vendors around the world. With an already trusted relationship with their merchants there’s a real chance for simplification of business systems here. In fact, the launch video suggests ways forward – inventory and stock management, customer relationship management and customer loyalty.
Interestingly, they’ve taken a mobile first strategy which puts them ahead of the game – not just locally but globally. There’s even a touch of “social” potential in some of the “out of the box” apps – with a micro-donation option available for those times where customers want to “round up the bill” and donate to a worthwhile cause.
Leading the Sector through Technology Innovation
Over the last two years or so, I have liked the market positioning that CommBank have been taking. Their aggressive use of consumer technology with apps like the Property Guide App and Kaching have differentiated them from the rest of the sector. So this announcement follows a pattern of technology innovation … with the main difference that we’ll have to wait until 2013 to see Albert up close.
An App Store to Rule Them All
Effectively, CommBank are creating and delivering their own App Store for a proprietary device. It’s an interesting move up the vendor chain – working with Wincor Nixdorf on the hardware and IDEO on the human-centred design. In a clever move, this will lock-in Commonwealth Bank merchants across the country and will also serve as a platform for product cross- and up-sell.
It’s still unclear how the App Store will run, but it seems that it will follow the model set down by Apple and Google – with developers registering and having their apps certified before release. I presume there will be options that allow developers to create apps for specific merchants – I’m thinking of the larger retailers like Myer or David Jones – but there is huge potential here for franchises as well.
Thinking Outside the Square
Apple pioneered the “own the ecosystem” approach – connecting data, identity, analytics, content and proprietary devices via the “cloud” – and CommBank seem to be reading from the same hymn sheet. And when it comes to banking and security, there’s a clear case for this sort of approach.
But the question has to be asked … why not just partner with an organisation like Square – the card reader that turns an iPhone into a mobile payment gateway? It seems that the answer is Leo (yes, as in DaVinci) - a “strap on” or cradle for iOS devices like iPods and iPhones. This allows for access to the secure Pi platform.
And while this works for the bank – I’m wondering does it work for the customers of the bank’s customers. John Pironti, security and risk advisor with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association in the US suggests that smartphones may well be more secure than our PCs:
It’s pretty easy for banks to use GPS co-ordinates, SMS text messages, phone calls or some combination of these things to make mobile access to your bank account more secure … Plus, banks can in turn use the smart phone as a type of Swiss Army knife for security — employing the various apps and embedded features in their authenticating mechanisms.
Evolution or Revolution?
There may be a kernel of a revolution here … though it’s not in the device. For all its sleek lines, Albert is an evolution of the ubiquitous EFTPOS device found in most stores across the country.
The real value lies in the platform. As we know from social networks, power always accrues to the platform – and the underlying data – the patterns of purchase, customer relationships, business process enablement – could represent significant value to small businesses. And if CommBank could swim up the value chain a little further to deliver customer experience analytics not ONLY to the small business but to the consumer, then they may be onto something.
The thing to remember, is that in a world where business innovation arises out of the customer experience – it’s your customers who are creating the demand-pull for business innovation. And that’s where disruptive technology like Square come into their own. So, if I was the CommBank, I’d be already thinking of version 2 – and wondering just how I could put the power into the hands of its customers customers.
– the groundbreaking book on