Idea2009: Dawn of Perfect Products
Skipped out on work to attend Idea 2009! Loving my internship. First, to summarize the big ideas (to be reflected on when I have the time to internalize and digest it, and possibly apply those tactics):
The Dawn of Perfect Products
- Presented by Tim Queenan
- Will we interact with less and less inferior products over time because of the influence of social media?
- Products will always have flaws, whether they are perceived, or inherit via some conscious decision (e.g. volume, physical decay, usability, usefulness-think products sold by amount, accessories, preservatives, product features, new releases).
- The latter thought is a bit scary. It makes business sense; however, we know that companies are not designing products to the best of their capabilities because it’s not in their best interest to do so.
- Social media rightfully puts sucky experiences in their place; it weeds out products that suck, and promotes products that are good.
- If you have a shitty product, social media can’t fix it.
- Business breaks down the product into pieces because they want consumers to buy more; it builds momentum, enhance and extends the product lifecycle.
- Twitter is not a service in which you sell products, but to share points of views. Don’t see it as a different channel for the same behaviour.
- Social media isn’t a tactic (?); it’s a fundamental way to rethink how the business operates. Recall Michael Jackson’s death. Most of us learned through Twitter as it happened, not through the news hour. News stations were following Twitter feeds because that’s all that they could do. They didn’t have access to the information.
- Rise of end-user prototypes => better products; see Quirky.com; it’s about products that we co-create so that when the market appears, we advocate (step above promoting) for it.
- Traditional way to think of products-it (mostly from the manufacture’s POV, not the user’s):
- fulfills a need or want
- has either a niche or mass-market appeal
- has high margins
- has high perceived value => rise of brand and brand awareness
- must be replenished or repurchased by the customer often
- need multiple products and services in order to stay competitive
- is easily upsold or crossold
- Old way of thinking: Understanding the need; new way: understanding the behaviour
- Experiences increase in value as more people interact with them; harness the network effect. Recall Dove’s True Beauty campaign. It was not to settle the debate of True Beauty once in for all; the conversation increased the perceived value of the product.
- Experiences live as part of a network in real-time to stay relevant, and encourage more authentic interaction. Organizations are passive unless they interact with their clients in real-time because the platform is already out there, and people are using it.
- Think of behaviours we want to incite and organize for it vs. feature-itis or user preferences.
- Social media challenges perfect products to be intuitive, elastic, intelligent polarizing and enterprising.
- Designing for the masses means designing for no-one => small is beautiful.