Business Design and Successful Innovation
The key to effective, customer-centric value propositions.
A veteran of the marketing and business industry, Guy Kedar formerly served as Head of Innovation at Wavemaker, a WPP company. Previously, he launched EURO RSCG’s (now Havas Worldwide) first social media offering in Israel and was a co-founder of Shalom Tel-Aviv, an integrated communication consultancy in Israel. Guy’s laser focus on the customer experience has positioned him as a leader in a new frontier — building the Digital Transformation offering as a Business Design Director at MING Labs.
With innovation in his blood and a myriad of accomplishments behind him, we sat down with Guy to hear about his background in communications, and how consumer-centricity is a key attitude needed to design the future digital companies and the transformation of legacy ones.
Q: You started your own venture and were one of the first to identify the rise of social media, back in 2007 when it was still in its infancy. Tell us a bit about those early days.
Consumer centricity (and the desire to improve people’s lives) has always led my approach to business. My product lab focused on finding solutions for needs we identified and which were unmet, using design thinking and hacking existing products and services to come up with new ones. We then tried to sell these ideas to large brands as brand utilities.
In 2004, I joined EURO RSCG as a communication consultant. These were early days: The digital revolution and the rise of Web 2.0 platforms gave consumers an unprecedented voice and much power. At the time, most brands were not acknowledging new media and obviously not leveraging it, which seemed to pose a clear opportunity. I initiated EURO RSCG’s first social media services in Israel and then went to launch it as part of a new agency I helped found together with EURO’s ex-CEO. The idea was to tap into social media to gain a better understanding of consumers, and apply these insights across our clients’ value chains; from business intelligence to R&D, marketing and sales. Using this approach, we were able to provide our clients with a significant competitive advantage.
Q: Prior to joining MING Labs in Berlin, you spent seven years at Wavemaker, the media arm of WPP. There you achieved a number of milestones, including building social marketing across the globe, becoming the Head of Innovation, leading digital transformation of clients as well as the agency itself. Can you share some insights about building a digital discipline at Wavemaker?
Like with any other discipline, or transformation, driving one requires a combination of setting a clear vision in which the company buys into and develops supportive infrastructure for workflows, tools, processes and behaviours that deliver. Many companies underestimate the importance of culture in the process, but the reality is that you can introduce the latest tools and tech, and people may not use them (how many apps are sitting idle on each person’s phone?). Transformation begins with identifying an opportunity for impactful value creation, creating the right internal mindset and behaviour, and providing the tools to enable these. In addition, whatever is developed needs to be as simple and useful as possible, otherwise it will not gain traction. It is all about creating value.
Q. Can you share about some work you are proud of from Wavemaker?
We did a lot of great things at Wavemaker (and MEC), working across many brands and industries. It is hard to pinpoint a ‘favourite child’ but I guess my recent work for Marriott Hotels, Marriott TestBED, which included setting up a new type of accelerator that invited startups to pilot their products inside Marriott Hotels, is something I am proud of. It was truly groundbreaking in the industry, and a source for many look-alike programmes that sprouted after it.
Q: As the new Director of Business Design at MING Labs, can you tell us more about the discipline? What role does Business Design play in any digital transformation roadmap?
Business Design is the art of creating new value propositions (led by the identification of peoples’ real needs and desires) backed by strong and viable business models.
I believe that digital transformation should start from the consumer (and understanding how to better serve and delight her/him) and not from digitizing systems (these need to support and bring to life the proposition). Too many organisations are taking the wrong approach, setting themselves around tech and disciplines instead of around the customer. Business Design therefore plays a crucial role in digital transformation.
Q: What kind of vision do you have for Business Design at MING Labs? What kind of change do you hope to create for clients with the new field?
Business Design will eventually become the backbone of MING Labs’ business transformation services and its future mode of operation. I believe it will help us to develop new and disruptive businesses, and drive transformation for existing brands.
Applying system thinking, looking across the entire customer journey, putting heavy emphasis on value creation and the touchpoints that can deliver most impact, and using creativity, tech and data to deliver those will all be part of our proposition. We aim to work closely with clients, and help them grow and change as an organisation, beyond the mere introduction of a new product or service.
We have a great foundation here at MING Labs, filled with amazing people and talent, and I truly believe we can create something groundbreaking in the industry.
Q: What skills are needed for building a Business Design discipline? Do you have any advice for someone looking to develop the skill set?
I believe Business Design requires a combination of strategic consultancy, product development and innovation management. The abilities to identify the core problem and opportunity, derive customer insights, be creative with tech, and communicate ideas in a way that will gain traction among multiple stakeholders are all important.
Being a polymath doesn’t hurt.The more one is exposed to different ideas, industries, disciplines and methodologies, the more one is able to synthesise them and tailor a solution that answers the problem. There isn’t one solution, you see, so go out there, learn, experiment and push the envelope is my advice to everyone. And don’t forget to have fun on the way, it is important both to be able to keep going on and to get people to like working with you.
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MING Labs is a leading digital business builder located in Berlin, Munich, New York City, Shanghai and Singapore. We guide clients in designing their businesses for the future, ensuring they are leaders in the field of innovation.
