Brand/Design 20 Conference
June 11-13, 2008, Cincinnati
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| Margo Johnson |
By Margo Johnson, President & Founder, SUPERSEED
I spent a few days at DMI’s Brand/Design 20 Conference in June 2008, where experts explored synergy, collaboration, and strategy. With around 125 attendees, the event was just the right size for a more intimate gathering. As my first DMI event ever, I was impressed with the valuable insight from speakers and diverse attendees.
My favorite eight themes that were discussed:
Design Re-framing Opportunities: For starters we heard about how the term “brand management” was born in Cincinnati, the home of P&G. The new CEO, inspired by the influence of design after living in Japan, made it his mission to instill design into the DNA of the company and business strategy. 120 design facilitators worldwide now work to infuse design thinking into daily team dialog and operations to “reverse the order of workflow,” and use design as an “innovation incubator” to gain competitive business advantage.
Positioning & Practicing: The Hewlett Packard corporate design practice lead establishes a sense of urgency to make change internally using tools, charts, diagrams, publications, and news stories to communicate the value of design. The momentum is building in the business media to position “design as a business tool” to innovate new business models, new product categories, new market share, differentiate by extending existing technologies, and simplify for consistency and cost savings.
Synchronization: A look at internal processes, showing the design spiral of massive redesigns or “revitalizations” executed with military precision and absolute synchronization, “orchestrated like a symphony” at the staging area of RCC cruise line ships.
Icons: Art museum curator and critic Aaron Betsky spoke of icons as “condensed information” with current uses of either a natural or found iconic artifact, or icons as literal or conceptual re-use of objects. He reminded us to visit the Venice Biennale show to see a perfect blend of public art, design and architecture.
Startup: The Live Well Collaborative, a nonprofit which allows companies to co-invent with the University of Cincinnati multidisciplinary teams, was sparked by an interest to innovate and fulfill needs of the growing global aging population.
Storytelling: International design collaborators for a theme park in Abu Dhabi use storytelling as a tool for a visceral experience that translates to a global audience.
Feeling: A former 80’s pop musician presented how his sound design consultancy brings music, sound, voice and silence to the element of branding with a motto, “feel it, don’t process it,” citing an example of a French German wine store chain that increased sales dramatically during the hours of audio enhancement.
New-Age Research: Dev Patnaik has researched what he calls “open empathy organizations” that have an intuitive connection to the outside world. Forget more research – growth results in places where the company culture makes it fun and easy to connect to the consumer or target audience. He cited experiential examples such as architecture and interior design as personas, real world video in bathroom stalls, and staff who embody everyday experiences.
During the conference, I was most inspired by examples of design functioning as a key strategic business component, which supports the concept that the MFA is the new MBA. Instead of showing off glitzy end results, speakers gave a peek behind the scenes into operational process, collaboration methods, and how design thinking is becoming more integrated into business strategy in more and more large corporations. I look forward to more events from DMI.
Margo Johnson
President & Founder, SUPERSEED Award-winning agency Creative Director with 20 years in brand building and design. Problem solver & motivational leader who combines marketing strategy, business savvy & technology to deliver profitable results. MFA in Design. Served on board of directors for the American Center for Design. Taught design at USC and other colleges. National awards & work published in The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Metropolis & many books.
View the conference photo gallery.
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