How Doblin use design thinking to reduce ambiguity

As discussed in my previous post, a primary role of designers is to reduce ambiguity and increase clarity, so that clients can construct meaning about the actions and purpose of their organisation.

Doblin is an innovation strategy firm based in America. Their CEO Larry Keely has been advocating the need for a comprehensive, reliable, and repeatable approach to innovation. Now part of influential management consultants Monitor Group, they are acknowledged as industry pioneers and thought leaders.

As part of my research into innovation I interviewed Jeff Tull, Program Leader at Doblin Group. I was fascinated that they had formulated a number of tools and processes that give clients an insight into the “innovation condition” of their organisation, which helps reduce ambiguity and foster innovation.

Jeff Tull commented, “one of the specific things that we think is a helpful starting point … is to diagnose the innovation condition of either your company, or the industry, or perhaps adjacent industries that you operate within in.”

Tull also commented on tools used later in a project, “we do a lot of internal analysis of the company. We do it in different ways, we do it through interviews, we have a couple of specific diagnostic tools that we use at the company level, and also at the industry level. You’ve probably seen some of the innovation landscapes … that gives you a somewhat objective view into that playing field.”

Tull demonstrated how the particular tools are used to support a conceptual framework. “[W]e do a lot of work to understand patterns of behaviour – articulated or unarticulated, and the next level up where companies exist and they send things out into the world to different people. The next level is our industry, Innovation Landscapes are kind of a picture into that level. Then there’s a very broad level and it’s really just kind of the world. It’s our job to always navigate up and down between these spaces. Clients commonly know these two spaces pretty well …. We can provide a somewhat objective look into this side of the industry, a third-party view into the industry, or we can provide some third-party relatively objective or subjective interpreted comments into the company level. We identify with the orthodoxies, really what some of their abilities are, help them consider new options not bounded by the internal bonuses and who I don’t like working with down the hall, and what I’m afraid to say to someone.”

This points to a key role played by consultants is the mandate to challenge traditional views. Consultants can state the obvious, ask dumb questions and question the status quo, enabling clients to see the situation from a new perspective. It also demonstrates how consultants can enable rapid change in organizations because they are bound to a lesser extent by hierarchical or bureaucratic structures which frustrate us all.

— Excerpt from my research into the value of design thinking

Reducing ambiguity through design thinking

As discussed in my previous post a Design helps reduce ambiguity and increase clarity, so that clients can construct meaning about the actions and purpose of their organisation.

IDEO helped reduce ambiguity by applying a ‘human-centred’ framework during their knowledge creation and the sense-making process.

To explore this thought I had the good fortune to interview IDEO’s Illya Prokopoff. He is the co-leader of IDEO’s Transformation Practice. Their human-centred framework comprises of three interdependent considerations:

Prokopoff summarized it as:

“(1) The technical capability of an organisation … not just what capabilities they have, but how able are they to deliver on them. (2) The business situation that they’re in, and (3) the human need or the human ability to do what that organisation is creating out there in the world"

"All these things are critical. I mean if you come up with something that people want in an unsustainable business, shame on you. If you start with technology and you’ve got a great business designed around it, but people don’t like it, shame on you. Our feeling at IDEO is that you have to start by understanding what people are really wanting and what people are really needing … It’s not saying that this negates business issues or technological ability, it’s simply saying if ultimately what you’re trying to do serves the needs people have, focus on understanding what that need is first, then fill in how capable you are of delivering on that need … So, always start with the person in the system.”

— Excerpt from my research into the value of design thinking

Brand Strategy and Innovation at Wolf Ollins

I've always loved the work of Wolf Ollins. Much to the disgust of many of my peers, I absolutely love the brand for the London 2012 Olympics.

I read with great interest London brand strategy agency Wolf Ollins broadening their offer from strategic branding to new business, product and service creation. In 2009 they assisted Mercedes Benz develop two new branded services — Kinderclass and Mercedes Benz Driving Acadamy — which are driving growth beyond their world of cars.

As a brand consultancy Wolf Ollins have taken a brand-centric view of innovation. They ensured each new venture leverages unique aspects of the brand — German engineering and control — in addition focusing on giving the brand relevance to a new audience and achieving results in a return of sales of 20% or more.

What I also find interesting is when I view this work in context of one of my favorite authors John Grant. Seen from a marketing perspective this initiative ticks many of the boxes from his excellent book The New Marketing Manifesto.

1. Get up close and personal
2. Tap basic human needs
3. Author innovation
4. Mythologise the new
5. Create tangible differences in the experience
6. Cultivate authenticity

It's another concrete example of traditional branding consultancies evolving their offering into something altogether more interesting, exciting and valuable.

Helping reduce ambiguity

In an uncertain world, a primary role of designers is to reduce ambiguity and increase clarity, so that clients can construct meaning about the actions and purpose of their organisation.

Designers encounter four kinds of ambiguity:

1. Ambiguity of intention results when an organisation has inconsistent or ill-defined objectives. 
2. Ambiguity of understanding exists when there is a lack of clarity about the technologies and processes of the organisation, and when the environment is difficult to interpret. 
3. Ambiguity of history exists when what has happened in the past is difficult to specify or comprehend. 
4. Ambiguity of organisation arises because participants vary the amount of attention and energy they devote to an issue, and their attention varies from issue to issue and from time to time.

Clarity, consistency, and certainty are prerequisites for collective understanding and coordinated action. However, organisations cannot, and do not attempt to eliminate ambiguity completely. To innovate, organisations must retaining a certain level of ambiguity — a white space within which members can play, experience, and improvise.

— Excerpt from my research into the value of design thinking

People trust real friends over advertising

Thanks to the web, markets have become better informed, smarter and more demanding of qualities missing from most brands. As conventional marketing approaches lose impact, the greatest challenge brands now face is how to create relevance, trust, authenticity and influence at the lowest cost.

There is a stack of research around to support this, but I've picked up on a recent study by Neilsen which underlines this trend. I've pulled out the key take-outs:

Recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising, according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries.

Ninety percent or consumers surveyed noted that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trusted consumer opinions posted online.

“The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” says Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company.”

However, in this new age of consumer control, advertisers will be encouraged by the fact that brand websites are trusted at that same 70 percent level as online consumer opinions.

Carson adds, “We see that all forms of advertiser-led advertising, except ads in newspapers, have also experienced increases in levels of trust and it’s possible that the CGM revolution has forced advertisers to use a more realistic form of messaging that is grounded in the experience of consumers rather than the lofty ideals of the advertisers.”

1. Personal utility drives adoption

This is the first of a series of blog posts exploring some excellent research from social marketing agency Mr Youth. What's clear from their research is today's consumer have a brand new perspective on relationships, brands, technology and media. 

The key insights from the research were:

1. Personal utility drives adoption

People chooses to consume what they find useful in their lives over manufactured marketing needs
2. Authenticity trumps celebrity
People respond to honest, relevant messaging from peers over marketing speak and celebrity endorsements
3. Niches rule
People relish in choices and look for products and services that speak to them personally
4. Serve bite size communications
People digests short, personal and highly relevant messaging in bulk while growing increasingly adept at blocking out noise
5. Consumers own brands
People will speak about, repurpose and associate with your brand as they see fit

The first insight is a powerful statement about the impact of the internet on traditional marketing practices. This is best summed up 10 years ago in the precient book The Cluetrain Manifesto.

These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked.

Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.

If personal utility is driving brand adoption versus traditional marketing, the role and value of Service Design becomes critical because it aligns your brand experience to the needs and desires of people. A great example is Live/Works work for British car-share club called Street Car. 

Streetcar launched in 2004 with a great concept but a customer experience that needed to be radically improved if Streetcar was to realise its full potential. In order to persuade people to switch to this new way to using a car the customer experience had to be better than that of buying and owning your own car.

Live|work set about creating a customer experience that would enable Streetcar to meet their growth plans. They systematically resolved Streetcar’s key barriers to growth – lack of comprehension, access and usability. The service is now clearly communicated as a four-step process. Customers find joining easy through a quick call to Streetcar and the DVLA, and the online booking engine was rebuilt to make it both usable and exciting.

Due to a customer experience that is both seamless and consistently high quality, Streetcar is now the fastest growing car club in Europe with 30,000 members in 600 locations in 6 cities.

Faced with the question of how to engage your customers. To my mind it's clear a breath-taking consumer experience is the best advert you could ever write.

The next post will examine how 'authenticity trumps celebrity' and show how a basic blog can establish credibility and drive sales.

Where to for advertising?

Thanks to social media, consumers increasingly trust social networks versus traditional advertising.

As a consequence we're now seeing agencies radically re-think their campaign creation process to suit this new context. In this excellent video Nick Law from R/GA paints a compelling picture about how campaign creation must move from telling stories to designing systems with multiple touch points across many different mediums. Within this model agencies must spend more time building and nurturing an online community based on trust, relevance and authenticity. Traditional story telling and push advertising programmes have a complementary role in the new model.

This opens up new possibilities that reshape the traditional role of agencies. Through managing the relationship with a brands online community, agencies become the custodian of a brands reputation. In this position, advertising agencies are better positioned to respond to briefs typically given to PR agencies — historically where the biggest money has always been.

Campfire

Advertising and Media Planners could benefit from integrating ideas from social media.

Powerful new tools such as social network analysis enable you to understand, identify and engage lead users and influencers.

New York agency Campfire (creators of the Blair Witch Project) have produced a series of groundbreaking campaigns for Audi and HBO that seduce the audience into entering rich, multi-leveled stories, driving value through peer-to-peer referral.

Personally, I love their work. It would be fascinating to explore how Social Network Analysis could enhance this approach by creating deep, actionable insights about the true needs and values of lead users, influencers and target audiences for their clients.

How could you apply this thinking to your practice?

Content as Advertising

Starworks initially built their business around matching premium brands to their roster of celebrities. They even brokered Karl Lagerfield's cameo in Grand Theft Auto! They're now introducing a range of additional services including new media content creation and event management allowing them to create integrated marketing campaigns.


Starworks were instrumental in launcing the career of NY band The Virgins. Their "Rich Girls" video was the catalyst for them to turn into an overnight internet sensation. The most interesting thing the video was how they placed Burberry and Agent Provocateur products in the video, then subsequently leveraged the attention by linking it to an eCommerce experience enabling people to buy clothing 'as seen' in the video.

I assume Starworks is driving Burberry's successful explorations into Social Media which also includes their Art of the Trench Campaign in collaboration with The Satorialist.


We all know it's 'advertising' but when it's authentic we leave our cynicism at the door.

About this blog

Welcome to an ongoing blog about the convergence of four key industries — Branding, Public Relations, Advertising and Social Media — into something altogether more interesting, exciting and valuable.

Social Network Analysis

The key to growing communities is leveraging influencers; they’re the 10% of your audience that connect, inform and excite everyone else. By building deep, collaborative relationships with this small group of influencers, you can leverage their position to engage and convert groups of people who look to them for answers.

Traditionally identifying and leveraging influencers owed more to luck than planning, through social media analysis it’s now possible to accurately identify and engage these people. New marketing companies are using these tools to identify key influencers that drive word of mouth. It enables strategic marketing decisions to be built on deep, fact based insights not intuition or fashion. 

What's social network analysis? Well from my perspective it studies online consumer behavior, exploring data collected from people as they from move link to link. Analyzing this data unveils deep insights into your audience, untapped communities, competitors, influencers and how ideas spread.

Companies like Linkfluence and Double Loop Marketing are pioneering this field — they're evidence of how the internet is shaping the way we do things and exposing the frailties of our old ways. One of my favorite new marketing companies is R/GA. They're a great example of staying ahead of the curve and offering an integrated solution.