Balls, magazines and power

Well, the last day.

Having snatched a few hours sleep, I waited for the shuttle bus to take me to the conference. It didn't show so I shared a cab with a designer from Kimberley Clark.

The first session started a couple of minutes before I got there. Jim Dator is a Professor of Future Studies. What a session this was! He talked about how society will break down and the Dream Society – Korea being the nearest to that society at the moment! In a nutshell, he explained that designers will grow more and more important in society. Our views will be much sought after. The power!

Afterwards Terry Schwartz, senior director of brand design at ConAgra foods spoke. He knocked the spots off his competition yesterday. He was a designer who could talk the talk, not like that woman who was full of puff. He added a view things to the whole research topic which has been a subtext for the week. Qualitative research should never be used to make decisions, and defining consumer insights is NOT about demographics, but about psychology.

In his company they have wargaming exercises where they try to destroy their brand. Through this exercise, they can identify the weaknesses.

A speaker I was looking forward to hear speak turned out to be a diappointment. Kate Betts, editor of TIME Style & Design, spoke about fashion trends. Although interesting, not exactly what I was expecting.

After lunch was Chris Dixon, the design director at iconic New York Magazine. This was fantastic, and sort of what I was expectig from Kate. Lots of visuals, the design ethos, how it works with the web, etc. Obviously I had to speak to him after, and he gave me a copy of his presentation. There were some superb covers from 1968. It happens that Milton Glaser designed the original magazine and logo.

Julie Robertson, National Cause Director at the American Heart Association, spoke about building passion brands. This was really interesting. It was about how you build partnerships with people and companies who wouldn't ordinarily be associated with you. Did you know that it costs 5-7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one?

Tap into your entire brand community – employees, partners and customers.

Then came the fun! Todd Wise, senior vice president of toy design & development at Hasbro, came on. In the first minute he had us throwing Nerf balls around. A Nerf ball is made from a foam material and doesn't hurt when it hits you! He then spoke about the different markets and some of their key products.

"It's so cool to have kids fight over your toys"

Yup, he said that! Then he pulled out a gun and shot us – with a Nerf gun. It was a shotgun that fired little Nerf balls, then he showed us the pistol version. Then the big reveal, not seen in public before. All the blokes in the room went "Whoah!" It was a big machine gun (like Rambo had in First Blood) with a strap. It was belt-fed with a belt of 25 and could be in single shot, semi-automatic or full automatic. He then sprayed the audience!

He then talked about some of the things that influences them and how it appears in the products. This was a really cool presentation.

The concluding keynote speech was by another heavyweight. Ken Carbone. Another inspirational talk about what inspires him.

And then it was over. Time for some sleep and reflection.

Comments

[jimm]

interesting posts Alexis. Keep it up