Future-fit brands

Welcome   |   Future-fit brands   |   Navigating change   |   Putting it all to work

How can we build future-fit brands, when the future seems so uncertain?

It’s all about signals and noise

AlphaLab can help you steer through the noise so you can pick up the signals. We can help you understand why an experimental mindset is vital for brand growth. And we can help you boldly navigate uncertainty.

One signal that emerged through the noise in the last decade was Amazon’s fierce customer focus driving them towards becoming a trillion-dollar business. As Jeff Bezos put it, “Our success at Amazon is a function of how many experiments we do per year, per month, per week, per day.”

Today, Amazon release an experiment every few seconds.

Why does this matter for your brand?

Well, imagine how fast Amazon are learning from their constant experiments with customers.

By investing in tomorrow, they’re building their business future one decision at a time, using what we call ‘an experimentation engine’. Essentially, they’re constantly validating the value of their ideas.

Knowledge is power

So if we aren’t constantly experimenting with our customers, how well can we really know them?

We call it Signal 1: Future-fit brands use experiments to create value.

Tech won’t save us.

• 70% of IT projects fail.

• 56% of those that ‘work’ deliver less value than predicted.

• 17% of IT projects go so badly they threaten the very existence of the company.

That’s a high failure rate in anyone’s book. So how are brands responding to this change? By using digital transformations (although the failure rate is still very high).

Why is the failure rate so high?

It’s because boards are ‘optimising for the known’. They’re exploiting existing markets, and using industrial era methodologies.

Adopting Agile isn’t enough when measured in start-up years (which are like dog years). Any digital strategy that takes 6 months to deliver, is already 3.5 years old – and any transformation project that takes 2 years is actually 14 years in ‘real time’. So when they arrive, they’re often obsolete.

In a world where cars are launched before they’re finished (TESLA) and their software is updated remotely, we need to be comfortable with constantly being in ‘beta’. In other words, we need to get used to learning as we go.

We call it Signal 2: Future-fit brands aren’t fixed, they’re designed to learn.

Ideas aren’t enough, execution is hard

Every enterprise has ideas they struggle to activate given the gravity of BAU. As you read this, you’re undoubtedly surrounded by ideas that could transform your future forever.

“If only I could unlock and activate them.”

Well. You can. You can have that capability AND build a brand with the budgets you have.

We’re going to show you how.

We call it Signal 3: Future-fit brands can unlock internal ideas to grow faster.

Side hustles and start-ups.

Another way brands have responded is by starting ‘side-hustles’. Buying (or investing in) startups to hedge their bets.

But do people really want different providers for every small service, from home insurance to super to home or car loans? And how can they navigate this when it’s already stressful?

We call it Signal 4: Future-fit brands maximise power by helping customers navigate the noise.

And Signal 5: Brands need to ‘be more human’, understanding deep human needs.

Let’s talk.

A new strategic capability to help you solve problems AND build new futures for your brand.

We’d be happy to help you shape your strategic planning documents to include a line item for ‘experiments’, looking forward to this time next year when you can all say you’ve got closer to customers, new and old – by running hundreds of experiments.

Aimee Coleman
Director, AlphaLab
0401 388 002







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