Live blogging PSFK London: morning session



I’m here at the PSFK conference in London. Arrived a bit late (missed the early sessions) but the room is packed and the conversation is flowing.

How Digital Media Screwed the Media Business
Journalist Mike Butcher talks about how media owners are on a race for survival against technology companies that put the power to publish in the hands of the ‘audience’.

Mike Butcher’s talk was good. He’s always got great examples and insight into the changing landscape that digital is forcing on the traditional media business, and today was no exception.

Turning Trends Into Insights
Chair: Steven Overman (Lowe Worldwide / Jack Morton)
Panel: Beeker Northam (Bloom), Simon Sinek (Sinek Partners), Faris Yakob (Naked)
Once you've found good ideas and great trends, what do you do with them?

Chair: Steven Overman started by looking at some definitions. Yawn. Trend is observation. What is significant? What do we know of the meaning? Then, he started looking for “actionable things” …

Don’t you hate it when semantics get in the way of good debate? A relatively short (30 minute) discussion and the first 10/15 minutes is lost in conversation about definitions. Duh.

Simon Sinek was the standout for me: Companies must understand who they are. They must have a clear sense of their purpose cause and belief. He used a good dinner party analogy, which I’ll probably steal and use myself. Thanks Simon.

A lot of hand-raising: Being creative vs a creative. Being strategic vs a strategist.

The three agree that “inspiration” is one of the most powerful things that people can bring to the table.

Perfect pitch book: Confronting the client with an unfortunate truth about the brand. Mentions an anecdote about a nasty cartoon dealing with Porsche. Recommendation out of this is to use humour to take the sting out of the truth.

Belief: Starting with a belief. Finding people who believe the same thing. Turning that into culture. Trends must resonate within that culture.

So, that's all for the morning, basically.

Hugh is sitting next to me, and I'm sure he'll have a good chat about Stormoek later this afternoon.