From The Head Of Zeus Jones

Great presentations

As the brand molecule concept is clearly a far more appropriate framework for a world where consumers are a constituent part of the brand, then shouldn't planners and agencies now be looking for 'experience innovation' as opposed to 'emotional innovation'?

If so, then perhaps we already have a blueprint for the evolution of account planning:

http://www.lifemovesprettyfast.net/?p=1706

Would love to open/extend the discussion... Especially to the Zeus Jones team who clearly (like myself) believe that actions speak louder than words!

hi david, just read your post and found it truly interesting. because agencies are at the point where it's necessary for them to reinvent themselves (vgl. http://amirkassaei.posterous.com/an-elegy-for-t...). to do so they need new concepts, methods and tools. design thinking could be helpful but as adrian already stated it's unlikely that it works without an adaptation to branding needs. go for it and help us all find the future planning tool... it's your chance to get famous ;-) cheers torsten

Hi David,

Was just having a conversation about design thinking with another planner last week. Our take (FWIW) is that putting user-centricity at the heart of what we do will lead to homogenous answers that aren't related to the brand or business situation. To me, one of the biggest shifts in the role of planner in the age of molecule brands is that we need to look to the soul of the company for guidance rather than to the "voice of the consumer." This isn't to say that design thinking or experience planning doesn't have a role but I don't think they drive the branding process.

thanks for mentioning us here! but also a bit annoying for us as john grant's brand innovation manifesto didn't make its way to good old europe so far... although a molecular concept makes totally sense and should be spread - and this the more as we are heading into a word-of-mouth culture of viral conversations. thus, it's truly the customers who become a constituent part of brands - as their advocates and front-end representatives.

these are really helpful -- i particularly like the point that identity=identical -- it reminds me of how at sony we used to strive for unity, not uniformity