Most of us appreciate the value of thinking out of the box. But how often do we actually do it? WGSN Editor in Chief Roger Tredre reports from a new cross-disciplinary event for CEOs, designers and marketing executives in the south of France.
I just came back from an inspirational few days in Nice down in the south of France. And I’m not talking about the sunshine and the great food.
At this time of the year, many people in the industry are heading for the south of France for the Tax Free World and Luxe Pack shows.
But my purpose for being on the Cote d’Azur was a conference at the Negresco hotel organised by Style-Vision, the Nice-based trends company.
The people at Style-Vision will hate me for calling it a conference. It was actually a “round table” and it broke the rules of the conference format – for the better.
First up, everyone had to speak. All delegates (or that should read “participants”), drawn from a wide range of countries and backgrounds, were allocated ten minutes to talk through three major trends affecting their respective sectors (in case you’re wondering, I spoke on fast response, the search for authenticity, and the impact of China for both manufacturing and creativity).
The industries represented by the 25 participants included: fragrance (Firmenich), cosmetics and haircare (Estee Lauder, Joico), food (Unilever, Danisco, Lindt), textiles (Ege, Zoffany), media (Time Inc), trends (WGSN) and others.
And there were speakers from diverse disciplines such as architecture and retail design (Ron Pompeii of Pompeii A.D.), psychology (Dr Jorge Forbes from Brazil), anthropology (Lars Christian Smith of the University of Monaco) and management consultancy (Axel Kniehl of McKinsey).
The format certainly got me thinking. Most speakers can say most of what they want to say in ten minutes – the problem is we’re usually forced to draw it out for three times as long to give so-called “value for money”. The way we usually extend our presentations is by supplying more examples than are really necessary – or by adding on several minutes extolling the virtues of the companies we work for.
The Round Table’s more succinct format enabled a much wider variety of views to be expressed. And if the occasional presentation was less than illuminating, well, it really didn’t matter – it was only for ten minutes.
Another feature of the event encouraged significant interchange of ideas. Participants were divided into groups of five to create “scenarios” based on “mood consumers”.
Mood consumers are the big Style-Vision idea. Style-Vision believes that traditional demographic analysis of the consumer is increasingly valueless and should be replaced by a closer understanding of how the consumer’s moods change. This is an emotional, psychological, personality-driven approach towards consumer study.
Well, I admit my mood wasn’t too great when I was asked to start brain-storming a group project at the end of a long day – too much like hard work, when it would have been so much easier just to sit back and soak in other people’s ideas.
But the group interaction really worked a treat. Communication is the basis for all the best work – and when communication is a two-way process, it can really spark a light.
After two-and-a-half days, I had got to know 25 other people from a broad spread of industries. I had useful insights into their sectors. I had picked up a range of ideas – some of which confirmed the directions in which we have been moving at WGSN for some time, some of which added fuel to forthcoming WGSN work, and some of which made me scratch my head and wonder whether we should start again.
From a learning perspective, events such as these remind us of the value of drawing lessons from others – and of the importance of retaining an open-mindedness at all times.
Plenty of food for thought – and an encouragement towards communication that all of us could take away and apply at our own companies.