How do we respond to Uber's Children?
Why have we become so unreasonable? And how can challengers respond to an ever demanding consumer that wants everything this instant, and for free?
In our final Challenger Project Live of the year, we invited Sharon Anne Kean, head of product at Bloom & Wild, Tash Walker, founder of The Mix London and Mat Braddy, founder of Rock Pamper Scissors, to share their insights on the subject.
Nick Geoghegan, eatbigfish
First up, eatbigfish's Strategy Director, Nick Geoghegan, set up the problem - we're all monsters, spoilt by free Wi-Fi and same day delivery. But what if we saw these new demands as an opportunity rather than a threat? How exactly can a challenger respond to the generation of Uber and Amazon Echo?
Sharon Anne Kean, Bloom & WIld
The flower delivery platform, Bloom & Wild, have shaken up the industry with a winning combination of on-trend blooms, ordered online and posted through your letterbox. Sharon Anne Kean shared insights into the process of delivering a customer experience that not only meets expectations, but exceeds it - including innovating in supply chain to deliver ever longer lasting flowers, cutting the development time for trend-led products from weeks to just 24 hours, and getting the brand's website to load in less than a second.
“In the future people aren’t going to want to press a button to order, they’re just going to want to say ‘flowers’ - and if we’re not there then someone else will be.”
'We need to be able to sell flowers through Alexa', said Sharon, 'in the future people aren't going to want to press a button to order, they're just going to want to say 'flowers'- and if we're not here then someone else will be.'
Tash Walker, The Mix.
Our third speaker, Tash Walker is founder of research agency The Mix, and is more interested in studying human behaviour than sitting in focus group sessions. She gave a stirring presentation in defence of the so-called Uber's children, isn't it the unreasonable that push for progress and change after all? Instead, Tash railed against a world of too much choice (and Christmas scented toilet paper), and put forward the strong case that all Uber's children are asking for is good old fashioned usefulness.
“These brands aren’t breaking the rules,
they are simply applying the rules.”
'These brands are fundamentally delivering what all brands promise they can deliver', said Tash, 'they're not breaking the rules, they are simply applying the rules.'
Mat Braddy, Rock Pamper Scissors.
Our final speaker of the night was Mat Braddy, former CMO of Just Eat ("like Deliveroo but more profitable"), and currently strategy director of start-up, Rock Pamper Scissors. Mat shared his perspective on how incumbent brands can protect themselves from being de-throned by staying ahead of the consumer.
“Any one of these ‘toys’ has the potential to destroy your company if you don’t know how it works.”
'Who here has a virtual reality headset?' Mat asked the audience, 'We have to be open minded about trying this stuff - any one of these 'toys' has the potential to destroy your company if you don't know how it works.'
Thanks again to our speakers, and to everyone who attended, the next Challenger Project Live will be in March 2017 - make sure you're on the mailing list for the chance to grab a seat.
With thanks to Karma Cola and Snaffling Pig Co for the drinks and snacks.