I’ve known All Is Social author Graham for a number of years. We first met when he ran MobileYouth selling marketing research to mobile operators, focused on the youth market. All is social is a mix: Graham’s own journey as an observer of Japanese society during his time as a JET scheme member and onwards with his experience in market research to date and a treatise on the interactions of consumers and brands. He considers that this all has an essential social component which makes a lot of sense.
Graham puts out marketing, the idea of branding on its head. Instead brand comes from consumer’s use for the brand. The brand as tool, or what we describe as ‘intent and context’ at Ruder Finn. He thinks that innovation is in the use rather than the design. I’d be less inclined to completely believe this, when I think about how iconic design and engineering can make a difference:
- Dieter Rams work at Braun, which was part of the German economic miracle and has echoed down into many Apple products
- Christian Lindholm’s work at Nokia on smartphone user experience: S60
- The industrial of design of Sony from the 1960s through the 1990s
- Henry Ford and the Model T
- The user experience of Twitter and Google
But anthropological co-creation can make a real difference. Whilst Graham’s writing focuses on young people, I think that it the principles fit consumers in general. Check it out Kindle. More book reviews here.