In an article on ‘being open’ in the Financial Times, their digital correspondent Tim Bradshaw describes how companies are trying to engage partners, suppliers and consumers by revealing their process and inner-thinking.
Indeed, at a time when many companies’ investments in innovation are being cut, technology and media companies are showing that there can be advantages in harnessing the ideas of customers or even competitors.
The principle has been extended beyond technology and applied to organisational structures. For instance, new kinds of advertising agencies are springing up that replace the vast, all-encompassing networks of WPP or Omnicom with something more informal and ad hoc.
“Digital [networking] allows and feeds a freelance marketplace, because I can rapidly find experts,” says Piers Fawkes, co-founder of PSFK, an informal network of trend-watchers and creative types around the world. Feedback from 400,000 monthly readers of PSFK’s blog informs the consulting work it does for Apple, BMW and Coca-Cola, while regular conferences and “salons” further aid networking.
Websites such as Twitter have also been instrumental in making it possible to find and maintain such loose connections.
Mr Fawkes likens the new agency model to a film production company with a central “superproducer” to pick up talent as and when required. “If you have a superproducer, you don’t have to staff up,” he says. Without a team of, say, TV advertising makers to support, recommendations for clients are unbiased.
At PSFK we have been helping companies you know conduct trends research with web-enabled, effective and cost-saving research tools that leverage networks we create. If you would like to know more about our services – check out our consultancy offering on this page and then drop us a line.
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