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March 21, 2014

Why did TV become so judgemental ?

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  • Under : Innovation

TV schedules in the UK and the US are plagued by judgement sickness. What do we mean by that ? We’re talking about the endless TV programmes where budding amateurs ( chefs, singers, wannabe designers, entrepreneurs) put themselves through tough challenges,  get judged by ‘experts’ and are voted off one by one in public voting.  From Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity,  through American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice, Nigella Lawson’s ‘Taste’,  Great British Bake Off, The Apprentice.. you name it, that is some judgement going on right there.

What does it say about us that these programmes are so popular ? Do we empathise with the contestant’s ‘ups and downs’ ? Are we really engaged in the search for an epic win ? Do we love the schadenfreude of a devastating failure ? Or are we simply getting off on the fact that the TV puts us in the illustrious position of judge and jury ? So we’re a growing bunch of remote controlled power freaks ?

As a consumer, it seems like the TV producers are in copycat mode. They want to squeeze as much out of this format -du-jour before moving on to the next thing (let’s hope that’s soon).

You can track the rise of ‘ready meals’ and the demise of home cooking with the rise and proliferation of TV cooking shows and the dawn of the TV Celebrity Chef. What impact will judgement TV have ?

In TV land format innovation is still where it’s at.  Wired Magazine have a great piece on the future trends driving the TV market looking for the next big thing.  Aside from the  sensible stuff about content mobility and the impact of multi screen usage,  they have a  section focussed on Binge Watching – or Crack TV as it is known in our house. When you can get the whole series in one lushious download- admit it- we’ve all TV Binge Watched!

Maybe it’s time to turn off the TV and read a book ?

Turn off the TV


March 14, 2014

How Ideas Spread- the New Science of 'Social Physics'

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  • Under : Innovation

Ever wondered why some ideas spread and others don’t ? Well MIT Professor Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland’s new book “Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread — The Lessons from a New Science,”  seeks to answer just that.  The theory examines the interplay between exploration and engagement. Unsurprisingly he discovers that levels of engagement, face to face interactions and connections to multiple networks are conducive to the social ‘habits’ that nurture and grow ideas.  Importantly his findings are quantitative.

“We have enough data to take all of these theories about people and innovation and good decision-making and make them quantitative,” Pentland says. “And when you do that, you find that there are some reasonably simple principles that account for 80, 90 percent of the variance in some cases.”

Another great contribution to the behavioural economics field – Pentland is worth reading because it is quantitatively robust- using the massive opportunity that access to networked Big Data provides.

Pentland's Book, Social Physics

Pentland’s Book, Social Physics


March 4, 2014

The Beacon Revolution Led by Retailers

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  • Under : Customer Experience, Innovation, Retail Innovation

Beacons and iBeacon are set to change the way we shop ( again).  These low-cost bluetooth devices offer retailers the opportunity to connect with customers in-store, deliver contact-less payment and all sorts of other whizzy stuff. Beacons have multiple applications but reports suggest it will be retailers who blaze a trail in this space.

Despite the obvious initial barriers ( like users having to turn on Bluetooth, accept apps, and opt-in),  commentators seem agreed that this technology will change how we shop and quickly move to changing our home, leisure, work and education spaces.

If this Business Insider report is to be believed, half of Americans are already using mobile devices in-store. The report outlines the impact Beacon devices are set to have in the short term.  Interesting reading.  Our view is that the relevance of any push notification or in-store application is still paramount; spam is spam after all, however it is delivered.

iBeacon Devices set to change the way we shop

iBeacon Devices set to change the way we shop

 

 


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