Labels, labels, labels – adjectivizing the world. June 7, 2010
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Design Thinking, Industrial Design, Innovation, Innovation 101, Marketing.Tags: adjectivizing, business jargon, buzzword, Capitalism, Corruption, Design Thinking, Innovation, Jugaad, Jugaad innovation, Labels, trends
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Labels have always had a place – behind the collar and on cartons. That’s where they belong and that’s where they ought to stay. Make fashion statements out of them and we’re heading for big trouble. Because labels have a way of sticking beyond their life. Would you still call India “Third” world? See, the label just won’t go away.
Example #1 – Hybrid Design.
As though we don’t already have enough confusion around understanding “Design” – designers and non-designers both – our propensity for labels is adding clutter to the chaos. This recent Fastcompany article “Beyond Design Thinking: Why Hybrid Design is the Next New Thing” thrives in the romanticism of stating the obvious.
From the post … {an attempt to enlighten that fails to impress} (more…)
Twitter – Wasted Time or Lost Opportunity May 8, 2010
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Companies of the future, Culture, Everything 2.0, Heart Capital©, Innovation, Management, predictions 2010, Social Entrepreneurship, social media, Web 2.0.Tags: Anand Mahindra, Barkha Dutt, Culture, Dalai Lama, Enterprise 2.0, Entrepreneurship 2.0, Iffort, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing 2.0, N Madhavan, Rajdeep Sardesai, social media, social networking, The Economist, Twitter, Vishnu Som, WoM
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Twitter is a place to tell the world something in all of 140 characters. I’m not about to explain that the underlying sms technology is what creates this limit and it is not a number based on user research or any fancy stuff of the sort. So it’s a great way to waste company time for personal gratification. After all, how can anybody say something in just 140 characters (including spaces). How’s 20-odd words going to convey anything meaningfully?
Okay, so you want to be the first to tell the world what’s happening around you. You want to get your thoughts out of your system so new ones can be born. You want to keep checking how many people are following you. And you want your employer to pay for all this. Shame on you. What a waste of time! And some of you even try to convince your marketing guys get a company account for some ‘brand building and preservation’. The world is about ‘conversations’ you say.
Sorry, but I just don’t get it. Okay, the Dalai Lama tweets his spirituality. And
BlogQuotes: Marketing #1 November 20, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in BlogQuotes, Companies of the future, Everything 2.0, Marketing, Quotes, Thought leadership.Tags: client dealings, customer, Innovation, Marketing, relationship, Sunil Malhotra
2 comments
1. Customers are human beings, not statistical aberrations.
2. Always remember you’re a marketer, not a marketeer.
3. If the client is God, worship him. Don’t work for him.
© Sunil Malhotra. 2009
Vendor-Client relationships November 14, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Innovation.Tags: absurdity, client, conti, Cost cutting, Culture, Ideafarms, Innovation, negotiation, outsourcing, partnerships, provider, vendor
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Whatever one may try in building relationships with customers, it always comes back to negotiating prices the way it was done in the industrial (material) age. This hilarious, in-your-face video says it all. Is our client listening?? Can they laugh as loudly as we at this beautifully captured absurdity
Read Ann All’s post “Squeezing Vendors Isn’t a Good Idea“
Designers w/o Borders September 30, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Companies of the future, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship, Globalisation, Innovation, Thought leadership.Tags: Design, Ideafarms, India, Indo-Dutch collaboration, Industrial Design, Industrial Designers, Innovation, International Design, New Business Models, Sunil Malhotra, Sustainability
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World Trade Centre, Rotterdam, 25th September 2009. Indo-Dutch collaboration summit focused on Industrial Design. Hmmm … (Design Crossover).
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- A view of the audience
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- That’s me on the right!
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- Raijmakers & Oberdorf
Why they invited me to speak is still somewhat of a mystery considering I dropped off the Industrial Design radar towards the end of the last millennium. I guess it could’ve been because my company, Ideafarms, has been able to maintain a growing relationship between India and Europe over the last 8 years through projects and partnerships with Dutch and German corporations.
I’ve never been a champion of networking – I’ve actually often criticised some of my friends for using networking to get ahead – but am quite overwhelmed having been in the midst of some of the most ‘conscious’ designers of today. Jeroen 
Raijmakers of Philips and Jos Oberdorf of NPK Design are inspiring to say the least. I’m grateful to Ruchita Puri for the opportunity to meet them at the event.
From whatever was presented, it looks like good design can be really good business. There’s a case to be made out for a design collaboration without borders. Couple of good reasons here …
1. European design reflects high quality, the idiom being minimalistic and functional. Whereas India’s design sensibilities are more embellished. Their combination will raise the aesthetic appeal without compromising design values.
2. Pure economic tenets come into play when we see the sheer number of people both on the supply side (design talent is plenty in India) and the demand side (India is emerging as one of the largest markets). Leveraging the ‘great Indian talent pool’ is an opportunity.
3. The life sensibilities of India’s cultural make-up have always been in the mould of sustainability, something the world has woken up to only recently. Add to this the rich craft-based traditions and you have a universal design paradigm that’s as powerful as Buddhism.
Jump into this conversation folks. You don’t want to be left out. Really!
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Sunil Malhotra
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