Gregory is inquisitive by nature, sometimes for the best and other times not so much. But regardless of the outcome, he’s always willing to share his experiences and perspective, particularly the idea that it is the people who are dictating the direction of technology not the other way around. His marketing blog, Le Blog de Greg, has received quite a fan base in France. Follow this passionate, people-person as he continues to explore his curiosity.

Author: Gregory POUY

campaign-creators
Cat Links Culture, Social

If you don’t understand people, you won’t understand anything about marketing

Posted on Gregory POUY

Following my meeting with Stéphane Hugon, a researcher at the Centre d’étude sur l’actuel et le Quontidien (CEAQ) and lecturer at the University of Paris V, I believe that we must look to social sciences (anthropology or sociology) for an in-depth understanding of marketing and communication.

The speech given by anthropologist Simon Sinek at the 99% Conference 2011 explained a lot and served to remind the audience of some misunderstood, or too quickly forgotten, truths.

We have a tendency to separate the way we interact in our lives with the way we look at business. And yet, as far as I know, business happens between humans. So, when debating this, I like to pull examples from daily life to explain my point.

 

And just like the video’s title says, if you don’t understand people, you certainly won’t understand the first thing about business.

The facts are clear.

As such, Sinek explains the difference between being reliable (doing what we said we were going to do) and trust by bringing us back to what unites us.

Trust is not (of course) connected to reliability; to prove it, he takes a simple example that applies to everyone.

When you meet someone from your country on the other side of the world, chances are you will immediately connect with and trust this person, even though you don’t know him. If he says to try a restaurant, you’ll try it.

Of course, if some random person stops you on the street at home just to recommend a restaurant, chances are you’re going to question his reliability and simply dismiss his suggestion.

All of this is simply linked to a system of common values and beliefs in a potentially strange – or at the very least, different – location.

He continues with another example:

If a friend drops by to ask how he should speak or dress so that you’ll like him more, you’ll most likely reply (after rolling your eyes or looking at him like he’s gone crazy): “Just be yourself!”

However, the majority of companies study all of these elements and forget that what they believe in ultimately determines what they are. They even go to the extent of asking people how they could be more authentic… it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Say what you think people want to hear doesn’t work because in the end, it’s neither consistent nor authentic.

Brands like Harley Davidson and Apple succeed because they have the strength to state what they believe and everyone consequently understands. When you see someone with a Mac or Harley Davidson tattoo it indicates that they share the brand’s values.

Do you agree that to understand business you need to understand people?…

iCloud
Cat Links Culture, Social

iCloud to be the corner stone for Apple’s post-PC era

Posted on Gregory POUY

Since becoming mainstream, personal computers have been at the centre of consumers’ digital lives. Concretely, this meant that files, photos, music and videos were stored on personal computers and gathered from other devices. This was a good paradigm because each external device had one main purpose: mp3 players for music, cameras for taking photos etc. More importantly, these devices either created content or served to consume it, never both. The computer was the only logical place for getting and pushing files between devices.

But then something changed. Smartphones and tablets came along. Users started to consume, create and even edit multiple types of content on their mobile devices. Not only did this slow down synchronization, it rendered it very difficult. Nothing was every truly ubiquitous. Users weren’t able to start editing a document on one device and continue on another without having to think about transferring the document.

A few weeks ago, Apple unveiled iCloud to modernize synching on their devices. From now on, the PC has been demoted to just a device with the cloud replacing it as the digital hub.

What makes this solution very unique, and even groundbreaking, is the way it’s integrated with the users’ applications. As explained by Steve Jobs during his address, the hardest part of learning how to use a computer is the file system. On iOS devices, apps have always managed their own files and presented them in a way that made sense for the user. The problem was that, if users had to manage their own syncing, they had to manage their files at some point anyway. Luckily for users, Apple’s new cloud solution does it all automatically.

So iCloud is undoubtedly an improvement for Apple users, but will people be willing to trust the cloud with all of their content? Will they take the risk of being imprisoned in Apple’s ecosystem? Is Apple’s answer that “it just works” enough to convince users?

What is clear is that Apple has laid the last piece of the foundation needed to fully embrace the upcoming post-PC era.…