The digital era requires a new type of consulting firm. Aimed at launching, not archiving. Bold digital products and services delivered at lightning speed. Strategy, Design, Coding and Launch in startup mode. Welcome ktc.

Today, the advertising story is dead. Innovative technology, connected consumers and disruptive startups are a reality companies have to deal with. Selling the same product with a different taste won´t do it. The gap between consumer expectations and traditional offerings is just too huge. Companies must innovate. ktc is a new sort of digital firm that helps companies launch digital products and services. Innovation in startup mode.

Disruptive startups are killing it

Traditional discussions about startups mostly end up “they are innovating, but we have the brand”. Thing is, relying on abstract things like “Brand” or “Industry Barriers” is a recipe for disaster. The value of this type of abstract items has changed dramatically. In the current economy, your brand is just as good as your latest product. The life span of Fortune 500 companies has dropped from 61 years in 1958 to 18 years today. Since 2000, 52% of companies in the Fortune 500 have either gone bankrupt, been acquired or ceased to exist. Disruptive startups have access to enormous amounts of capital to become big in months, not years. Just take a look at AirBnB, Uber, Fitbit and Booking.

Only true innovation will save you from extinction

With today´s technology, a truly better product offering is possible. In every industry. GPS, mobile, wearables, 4g internet access, etc have established a basis for disruptive technology that makes industries converge and opens the way to entirely new ways of doing business. This is an era in which the Alibaba, the worlds largest online retailer has no inventory; Facebook, the world largest media platform, creates no content; and Uber, the world´s largest taxi company, owns no cabs. And this is just the beginning. With new technology being patented each day, we cannot even foresee how the world will look like in 10 years from new. What we can foresee is that is will never be the same again. A true revolution is going on.

Great brands are loved because of what they do, not what they say.

While many companies still believe in using great creativity to create great brands, we believe in using tech to create them. But it´s not about inserting some tech into the company. A website, a mobile app, or social media platform, too many initiatives exist because of “doing tech” instead of “doing business”. Whereas 10 years ago launching a digital product was about “can we make it”, now the discussion should be “should we make it”. Innovation requires a strategy.

Digital is not about tech, it is about being awesome.

When talking about digital, we like to think in awesomeness. And although today´s consumer is spoiled, expectations can still be exceeded and awesomeness can be reached. Only then tech will be your partner instead of your enemy. Because then you will be the one that creates buzz on social media. Be the hashtag of the day. Or the one quoted in Mashable, Forbes or Fast Company.

So then what does awesomeness mean? According to wikipedia, it comes from awesome, which at it´s turn means: “something which inspires awe”. So it is about something that inspires people. Creates positive energy. Something that demands respect. Excitement. Love.

At ktc, we think a lot about awesomeness in business. And although we have not found a single recipe, there are some things that can be filtered out about succesful digital products and services. Here are the five things we have found out.

Awesome is about Simple, Convenient, Beautiful and Personal.

Simple

Simple products and services are easy to purchase, easy to use and easy to update. Fiat Chrysler had to recall 1.4 million vehicles after hackers documented it was possible to remotely control the accelerator, brakes and other systems of a Jeep Cherokee through a vulnerability in the SUV’s infotainment system. Tesla suffered a similar vulnerability, but they updated the software over the air. Simple not an add-on, or just about the interface. It is a key product design principle.

Convenient

Convenience is about taking away friction. Many services and products today suffer friction. Even the best online retailer with next day delivery suffers friction when it comes to delivery when nobody is home. In most cases the product is left with the neighbors or delivered again the day after. That´s friction. Convenient products and services take out friction in all customer interactions.

Beautiful

The more digital products and services you launch, the bigger the percentage of digital interactions during the customer journey. In some industries, most of the contact points become digital and physical contact points become an exception. So your interface becomes your brand. And just like you invest in great design for your brand outlets or contact offices, we believe you should do the same for your digital platforms.

Personal

Data-driven becomes an industry standard. Services and product are personalized through data. Websites personalize content with product suggestions or special promotions. The challenge today is making data understandable and easy to digest for the end-user. Invest in data visualization so the end user can take decisions based on data.

Your website is never “just” a website. Your digital product offering can really become your business. Just ask Uber. Any digital product we develop has to be awesome, because we know how important it is in today´s business environment.

We aim to deliver a product. Not just a story like an agency. Or a paper strategy on like a consultancy. But the product isn´t ready until it tells a story on itself. A story about awesome.

We´ve been in the market for about 10 years now. Doing amazing stuff for big brands. First as a Mobile Marketing agency. In 1996, we launched the first large 2d code “Shotcode” program for Sprite in Mexico. In 1997, we launched one of the largest SMS campaigns in the world for Coca-Cola, with over 700 million bottles participating. In 2006, we launched the first computer game with real cars, together with Suzuki. And in 2013, we launched a Uber like environment to get a demo car delivered. We loved being around in the marketing world. Hell, we even fulfilled the vice-presidency of the agencies committee for IAB in Mexico back then. But in some way, we always felt weird. In pitches we would underestimate the risk averse culture with traditional marketeers and our concepts were just too innovative. Aimed at the user, not the brand. When a stain remover brand asked us to relaunch the product, we came up with a fantastic application called “Ask Grandma”, a Quora like environment for “grandma´s recipes” about how to get rid of stains. We loved it. The company at the end chose a banner campaign launched on social media. Social media was hot back then…

When the words “Paid Media, Owned Media and Earned Media” came into use, we realized our strategies were always built on Owned Media and Earned Media. Because our ideas were about changing businesses, not changing advertising. That´s when we realized our agency was about innovation.

We are passionate about innovation

Not because of the sake of it. But because we think innovation can bring a lot of good in the world. It helps cultivating plants in saltwater environments, it helps in bringing clean water to poor regions and it helps educating kids that don´t have access to traditional schools. But innovation needs guidance. It needs business perspective. And it needs people that can bring it to market. Today, the best people for this job are at startups. They are the ones with the best talent and insights in Entrepreneurship, Product Design and Launching. ktc makes that startup talent available to big corporates. Smart teams with capabilities in Strategy, Design, User Experience, Coding and Creative.

Ideas aimed at launching, not archiving

We don´t believe in an excess of planning. Too frequently, great plans end up in drawers. And market share meanwhile has been taken by a startup. Yes, we believe in taking the time to know where you are going to. A vision of who you want to be and how you will compete in the future. But we don´t believe in “All or Nothing” transformations. Today, new digital products can be launched without risking it all.

Nail it before you scale it.

Working with methodologies like Lean Startup, and Minimum Viable Product, a getting a perfect product market fit can be done before launching the product to the public, eliminating the biggest risk of new product introduction. And besides, new products are risky, but waiting to see what happens is probably be even riskier. Just ask Borders. Launching doesn´t mean putting up an expensive TV-commercial and playing the media game anymore. It means learning about market fit and nailing the product.

From idea to live: Our services offering

Understand

This is the part where we help you identify where your industry is heading and how you will compete. We do this by an offering including: Innovation workshops, Digital Transformation Modeling, Product Scenario Planning and Business Case Development.

Concept

This is where we identify how your killer concept looks like. Services include Business Concept Development, Product Definition & MVP, Prototyping and Platform Visualization.

Make

This is where we build beautiful digital products, coded for customer love. It means UX Design, Coding and Content. Basically this is about any customer facing platform. Bespoke and beautiful.

Launch (&Learn)

This is where we put the product in the hand of the customer. Most probably first to learn, and afterwards scale. Social Media, Content and Analytics is involved in this offering. Our KPI´s are about learning, getting critical mass and positive energy, not “views” or “engagement”.

A touch of Chanel into tech

We love design: and believe in a world where “experience” becomes a business differentiator (Check out Tomorrowland for that matter). Software should be designed as a unique experience. With a focus on design, with premium feel and functionality. When tech meets design, big things can happen!

“Hola, Hi, Hoi, Hallo.”

Technology unites the world. It seems today instead of having a country culture, every day it´s more about being connected and not connected. Social networks have connected people that didn´t know of each other existence before. Our team is like that. Our head office is located in Mexico City. Other offices are in the Netherlands and Belgium. And we work (or have worked) with smart people from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Mexico. With only 40 people that´s certainly not a place for small thinkers. It seems that our culture is appreciated by some of the best companies in the world. Over the years, team members were recruited by Facebook, Tesla, Coca-Cola, Twitter, Sencha and of course…several WPP/IPG/Omnicom agencies (thanks for that guys).

Committed to results, fun and good. Aimed at client, not shareholder.

Step inside our offices and we´re probably too serious to be called a creative agency. But it´s too noisy to be called consultancy. Mostly young people work for a limited number of accounts. They could be working for a big insurer that is looking to make their claim process mobile and fast. Or an automotive brand that wants to start selling cars online. And maybe, there is a client that is entirely lost, and just wants to know how his future can look like.

We take our assignments very seriously. We work for client results, not for Industry Prizes or Shareholder Value. And it´s about a long term relationship. But that can start with a simple assignment, or even a quick cup of coffee. Consider this post as an open invitation to drop by any time!

From Mobile Marketing to Digital Agency to Digital Business Innovation.

Sometimes you need time to really understand what you are good at. In our case, it took about 10 years :) But we really feel the offering we now have fulfills an urgent need of companies. I wrote this post to let existing clients know our appreciation in working with us, and letting them know we are up for another 10 years (David, Eduardo, Alberto, Maik, Diego, Philippe, Albert, and many more…). But also for our team to thank them for being part of an exciting ride…although sometimes it has been difficult. With our international expansion into Europe, we are ready for the next 10 years of existence. Let´s innovate and help businesses become awesome!