how to really make it: marketing and the internet of things

How to really make it. Four ways to get involved in the Internet of Things if you’re in marketing. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino alex@designswarm.com @iotwatch

About me Director of designswarm a consultancy focusing on strategy, product design and building communities in the internet of things. Designing and manufacturing the Good Night Lamp. Former founder & CEO of Tinker London the first UK distributor of the Arduino.

Four ways to “make” things. 1.  Skunkworks 2.  Labs 3.  Guerrila 4.  Partners

Skunkworks. That 20% project that your developer is quietly working on. That might be a thing you want to show clients. To do: Fostering an environment where playing with hardware is encouraged, training available, demo days planned in. Careful now: This won’t be billable to a client yet.

Case study: Mint Digital Benjamin Redford came up with Olly & Molly and put it on KS in Feb 2012. He then designed Projecteo.

That became Mint Ventures Now he has moved on and they have a Ventures are to the business that focuses in product development.

Lessons -  Invest in training your own staff -  Also invest in building a talent pool around you,

there are plenty of freelancers around. -  Beware that the timelines are different,

components can take weeks and months to arrive.

-  Success is measured differently and handling the distribution is hard.

-  Crowdfunding is only part of the equation, leverage your clients brands to push an idea to the next level especially if it’s for someone other than a 30 year old Californian.

Labs Shape a team whose role it is to educate your staff and your clients at the same time. To do: Build the right communication tools for that team to do their work successfully. Live with a different ROI. Careful again: This won’t be billable to a client yet. Better ideas and collaboration is a qualitative result.

Case study: Ogilvy Lab Nicole Yershon has been building a team at Ogilvy Digital for eight years. They’ve organised Lab Days, one every quarter for their staff and clients.

Lessons -  Invest in a long term vision -  Get all your management behind the idea and

mission. -  Make sure that’s communicated to new

management when there’s a change. -  Make sure people see results little and often. -  If there’s no internal support, it’ll limp along.

Guerrila. Sell to your client the ability to build an internet-connected thingy for a campaign. To do: Build a network of makers, designers and developers who can walk in and out of a project. Careful now: One offs are always more expensive than 20 of but usually cheaper than making an ad. The client may not be willing to pay top dollar for this.

Case study: Dare (2009) Building a grid that would inflate space hoppers when someone used a hashtag. This was streamed 24h for 3 weeks.

Lessons -  Plan for fuckups -  Trust your partners to know better, sometimes

the laws of physics can’t be broken. -  Plan for disassembly, storage & disposal -  Make sure the novelty doesn’t wear off

Partners. Sometimes your digital talent can really help a hardware partner. To do: Approach hardware companies, they might really be scared of getting involved in digital services for their products. Careful now: This means a very different level of SLA and obligations towards a client.

Case study: Hue They had the hardware ready for years but didn’t know how to build the app / digital service side. A UK agency helped them get there.

Lessons -  Think differently about your capabilities and

your business. -  The CMO is the next CIO -  This means that marketing & product will get

closer, so agencies will engage differently.

Good luck! Questions?

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

alex@designswarm.com

@iotwatch @designswarm

@GNLamp

@iotangels @iotlondon @knowcards