This document discusses the key topics and themes from the 2013 Influx Creativity Conference. It addresses how consumer problems and demands have changed, driven by trends in technology and the economy. Brands are encouraged to move from general messaging to solving specific consumer needs in highly personalized ways. Successful brands will embrace experimentation, iterate quickly, and create solutions that add value to people's lives through both function and magic.

2. INFLUX CREATIVITY NYC-2013-SPEAKERS
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3. THE CONTEXT FOR GREAT IDEAS

4. BRANDS SOLVED MASS PROBLEMS
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5. THE PROBLEMS HAVE CHANGED- RELIABILITY?
“It’s 10 years since
J.D. Power revealed
that there is no such
thing as a bad car;
they’re all good.”
—Mark Earls, Herd
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6. THE COUNTRY IS CHANGING- MORE DIVERSE BY THE DAY
The percentage of people
identifying themselves as
multiracial grew three-anda-half times faster during
the last decade than the
number of Americans
reporting a single race.
US Census- September 2012
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7. THE OLD STEREOTYPES ARE CHANGING
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8. THE DRIVERS OF CONSUMER CHANGE
Technology + The Economy
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9. TECHNOLOGY-WHY THE GROWTH?
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10. TECHNOLOGY – THE JOY OF CONNECTIVITY
“Smartphone users
reach for their phones
150x per day.”
—Mary Meeker,
Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers
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11. TECHNOLOGY- MEERKATING
Red Bull Second Screen
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12. TECHNOLOGY-CHANGES OUR DEMANDS
“There’s no opt-in for
attention with an
animated GIF”
Alexis Kaplan- Tumblr
Tinder
No time to.....
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13. ECONOMY – A “LESS” MENTALITY
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14. PRIORITIZATION OVER ACCUMULATION
COVEY’S TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX
Important
Not Urgent
1
2
Not Important
Urgent
3
“The accumulation of more is
giving way to the prioritization of
less.”
4
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—J. Walker Smith, The Futures Company,
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15. WILL YOUR BRAND GET CUT?
“Preliminary data suggest that August sales still are weak,
though “better than July,” said Malcolm Knapp, a New Yorkbased consultant who created the index and has monitored the
industry since 1970. The summer slowdown is a symptom of a
“reallocation nation,” in which people choose between different
discretionary items to purchase each month, he said.”
Bloomberg- August 2013
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16. CONTROL A NON-LINEAR PROCESS
THE PURCHASE
Source: The Futures Company, 2012
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17. BLOWBACK-CONSUMERS BUY THEIR OWN ADS
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18. ZERO TIME FOR BRANDS THAT AREN’T RELEVANT
“Consumers wouldn’t
care if 73% of brands
disappeared.”
—Havas, 2012
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19. HOW DO BRANDS RESPOND?

20. WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
Everyone else
People who know you
Your fans
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21. TREAT THEM LIKE NUMBERS
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22. DEMOS AREN’T EFFECTIVE
Source: Catalina, 2012
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23. GIVING CARROTS TO RABBITS
“...in recent years, fueled by the need to grab eyeballs in our
short attention-span culture, marketers have deploying the
“Made ya look!” fakeout with an increasingly exhausting
regularity. We now live in the age in which any wild, weird thing
can still go viral—but it’ll also soon after provoke a weary
question of ‘Yeah, and what’s it trying to sell?’”
—Salon, October 4, 2013
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24. ANOTHER CRAZY STUNT, FOR SMART?
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25. THE STRATEGY WAS IGNORED
In a desperate quest for fame, the strategy was ignored.
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26. ATTENTION IS NOT A DEAD CERT
Video Shares Peak Two Days After Brand Launch for Top Brands
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27. MANY BRANDS ARE RUNNING SCARED
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28. BRAND AND CONSUMER MISMATCH
IMPORTANCE
PERFORMANCE
Offers High-Quality Products or Services
41%
Places Customers Ahead of Profits
63%
62%
Listens to Customer Needs and Feedback
Treats Employees Well
Difference
30%
61%
24%
59%
23%
-22
-32
-37
-36
Source: Edelman, 2013
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29. THE THREAT OF DISINTEMEDIATION
2012 Market
Cap ($B)
2011
Revenue ($B)
2011
EBITDA ($B)
Financials
$6,855
$4,647
$1,035
Consumer Staples
$4,386
$3,972
$543
Wal-Mart, Nestlé, P&G, Coca-Cola
Information Technology
$3,966
$2,298
$422
Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Samsung
Energy
$3,926
$6,652
$1,068
Consumer Discretionary
$3,734
$4,734
$624
Toyota, Amazon.com, McDonald’s, Walt Disney
Health Care
$3,380
$2,204
$455
Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Roche, Novartis
Industrials
$3,198
$4,407
$608
General Electric, Siemens, UPS
Materials
$3,129
$2,607
$712
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Vale
Telecommunication Services
$2,572
$2,045
$699
China Mobile, AT&T, Telefónica, Vodafone
Utilities
$1,188
$1,501
$315
GDF Suez, National Grid, E.ON, EDF
TOTAL
$36,335
$35,066
$6,483
Top Companies by Market Cap
ICBC, China Construction Bank, Wells Fargo
Exxon Mobile, PetroChina, Shell, Chevron
Source: Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
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30. NEW, BETTER, MORE HUMAN, MORE PERSONAL
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31. THERE’S A NEW HIGH BAR FOR BRANDS
New expectations
New demands- it’s not about your category
= brands can’t ignore the realities
Be Real
Be Concrete
Be Human/Connected/Personal
Be Believable
Do something
Solve a problem
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32. THINK ABOUT ACTIVITY, NOT AUDIENCE
“As more organizations realise that the key to long-lasting,
commercially pleasant relationships is great digital service delivery not message delivery - you can expect audience thinking to diminish
and activity thinking to increase.”
Russell Davies-October 2013
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33. FROM GENERALIZATIONS TO SOLUTIONS
Messaging
Finding the broad glue that connects lots of individuals grouped together
under ridiculously broad generalizations
Need
Solving for individual needs
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34. WHAT DO USERS WANT TO DO?
Learn
Personalize
Brag
Play
Entertain
Connect
Experience
Solve
Share
Buy
Net- Highly Personalized solutions
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35. WHAT DO USERS WANT?
Source: Adaptive Path
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36. THE BLANK SLATE OF TUMBLR
Today there are millions of people making stuff and putting it
into the world: that's become part of our identity and it
shouldn't be limited to people who fancy themselves writers, or
who are particularly witty or talented.
David Karp on Tumblr
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37. WHAT OTHER PROBLEMS COULD YOUR BRAND SOLVE?
Nike Training Club: 600k workouts/week
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38. MAKE SOMETHING BETTER
Samsung: Takes all your Foursquare data
aggregates it and brings your city
experience to life
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39. PAPER MAKES CREATING EASY
Paper
http://vimeo.com/75045142
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40. ZOMBIE HACK THE SELFIE
No3 App in the World
50 photos uploaded every
second
People love “selfies”
500m photos a day are
uploaded to social
networks
Dead Yourself
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jStB1MnFqaU
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41. DON’T SOLVE EVERYTHING- LET PEOPLE WORK THINGS OUT
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42. WHAT NEEDS SOLVING?
“With every call, you’re telling
Amazon how to be better. And
getting better at selling to you is
exactly what Amazon wants.”
—Roberto Baldwin, Wired
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43. THE RISE OF THE SMALL AND PERSONAL
In looking at the industry's growth over the last decade, Ms. Somers said the
company realized that half of the growth was being driven by those smaller brands,
with one-third driven by segments -- such as energy drinks -- that barely existed a
decade ago.
Out of 3,000 brands in the nonalcoholic category, only 33 are billion-dollar brands.
Ms. Somers' group is hoping to identify and cultivate the next brand to crack the
billion-dollar mark. To do that, VEB is looking for entrepreneurial brands with
potential and identifying overseas brands that could be successful in the U.S.
"Plenty of products at Coca-Cola play in the middle of the distribution curve," Ms.
Somers said. "At VEB, we really live on the left. We will develop things that not
everybody will like, and that's OK.
Ad Age-2010
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44. MAKING BIG, PERSONAL
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45. INNOVATION CAN COME FROM BIG
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46. EMBRACE THE NAIVE
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47. MAKING THE INTANGIBLE, TANGIBLE
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48. CLARITY OF PURPOSE
“To create a family of devices and services
for individuals and businesses that
empower people around the globe at home,
at work and on the go, for the activities
they value most.”
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“Everyone’s private driver”
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49. CLARITY OF PURPOSE MAKES IT EASIER
Dove: Brand consistency and continuity—from viral to social
responsibility.
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50. BE USEFUL-BE GENEROUS- USE YOUR SCALE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOcp16exF4
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51. BE USEFUL-SOLVE BIG PROBLEMS
Coca-Cola Ekocenter- Africa
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52. MAKE PARTICIPATION HAPPEN
http://vimeo.com/
62082218
Charity Water Birthday Campaign
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53. INITIATE A CONVERSATION
http://vimeo.com/68751825
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54. INITIATE A CONVERSATION
2 months late
No ideas
Off the radar- small project
Leader who wanted it to be great
Patient
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55. YOU CAN’T ITERATE MAGIC
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56. MAGIC MATTERS
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57. MAGIC MATTERS
A student wanted more human-like footwear
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58. MAGIC MATTERS
Let the art out of the
gallery
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59. MAGIC MATTERS
MINI owners get to drive
Indianapolis
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60. GREAT IDEAS DEMAND
Magic
‣ Understand, respect and value people
‣ Think about needs- solve for them
‣ Add something to their lives, make it better, rather than detract or
distract
‣
‣
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OK-BUT........
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61. HOW DO YOU GET THERE?
Be Willing to Experiment - Adopt a “test and learn mentality”
Iterate on the Spot
Clear the Path- Small Team/Easy Decision Making
Expect Idea Killers, but Stand Up to Them
Be Responsible/Accountable- “They have to pay their kids college
tuition”
Source: Eliza Esquivel- VP Brand Strategy, Mondelez
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