Decoding Gen Z: Shape Shifters

This week, our Strategy Director Amy Lee deep dives into the world of “Gen Z.” Loosely defined as anyone born after Millennials (helpful), Gen Z are roughly 13-17 years old right now. Regardless that the majority of them are still relying on pocket money, brands and marketers are already frantically thinking about ways to capture their attention, influence and potential spending power. “Screen addicts”, “Cord nevers”, “The iGeneration”, “Net Gen”… whatever you call them, Gen Z are coming into the world of work and consumption soon. At scale: they make up over 25% of the US population and millions more worldwide. So, it’s worth understanding more about the next tidal wave of influencers.

No generation can be reduced to simple definitions. But we’ve observed patterns of (largely US-centric) behavior, having observed Gen Z through research insights, their online activity and speaking to them directly. 

Last in our series on Gen Z, we explore…

Shape Shifters

Michael Jackson once sang that “it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white.” That has never been more true than for Gen Z. They are empowered to challenge assumptions about who they are or who they should be based on conventional definitions. They embrace the blurry middle between binary positions.

Statistically, and logically, they are the most ethnically diverse group of consumers ever to enter the market. As globalization has moved from an economic phenomenon to a familial reality, more teenagers growing up today have parents from different cultures and have roots in far off places. Which means they can spot ‘token’ diversity a mile off — whether in advertising or in the make up of your work force. They see diversity not just as a marker of political correctness but a signal of accessibility: if brands and businesses don’t reflect their multi-racial reality they will walk on by, since this is clearly ‘not a place for people like me’.

But diversity is not solely about ethnicity for this generation. Gender and sexuality are also increasingly nuanced concepts, open to interpretation by each individual. 10,000 people in the US have taken part in the Self Evident project to identify as anything other than 100% straight, and transgender champions now grace the cover of Vanity Fair. By no means has prejudice been eradicated but there is no doubt that the mainstream media is on board with fluid notions of sexuality and gender, thanks in large part to contemporary idols like Miley Cyrus and Jaden Smith who defy typical gender and sexuality stereotypes.

Lily Rose Depp in Self Evident Truths. image: @iolovesyou on Instagram

Gen Z refuses to be pinned down. They want opportunities to chop and change their identity, and they celebrate those that share that sense of freedom. Increasingly, this means they are less focused on glossy celebrities, and looking for guidance and inspiration from people who feel more ‘real’: peers (like Cameron Asa), bold individuals (like Malala), and talented people who reject conventional celebrity tropes (think, Zoe Kravitz with punk peroxide hair and grungy cargo pants).  

They aren’t asking for your acceptance into a tribe. They are collectors of reference and kaleidoscopes of identity. Don’t expect to mold them to your idea of ideal: they are looking for a platform to find their best selves, whatever that might look like this week.

Illustrations by Nejc Prah. Hero image left: Wenn, middle: polyvore.com, right: hollywoodlife.com

Amy Lee is Strategy Director at Wolff Olins New York. Follow her at @amynormalee

Decoding Gen Z: Fake Real

This week, our Strategy Director Amy Lee deep dives into the world of “Gen Z”. Loosely defined as anyone born after Millennials (helpful), Gen Z are roughly 13-17 years old right now. Regardless that the majority of them are still relying on pocket money, brands and marketers are already frantically thinking about ways to capture their attention, influence and potential spending power. “Screen addicts”, “Cord nevers”, “The iGeneration”, “Net Gen”… whatever you call them, Gen Z are coming into the world of work and consumption soon. At scale: they make up over 25% of the US population and millions more worldwide. So, it’s worth understanding more about the next tidal wave of influencers.

No generation can be reduced to simple definitions. But we’ve observed patterns of (largely US-centric) behavior, having observed Gen Z through research insights, their online activity and speaking to them directly.

In the second part of our series, we explore the world of...

Fake Real

From Holbein to Valenica filters: for centuries, we humans have tried to portray ourselves in a more flattering light. ‘Selfies’ made it into the dictionary in 2013 as cameras became omnipresent throughout phones. Now, Gen Z are growing up with the online world at their feet and all the tools to build an identity at scale.

Online audience gives them (and all of us) an opportunity for immediate validation, so they seek opportunities to create an image and demonstrate what they stand for. But in a world where hashtags — like #Cecilthelion — attract two billion impressions and ‘virality’ is the goal, it’s hard to tell what is from the heart and what is more for their audience’s benefit (aka fake real).

#cecilthelion - image bottom: realitywives.net, right: realitywives.net

Gen Z are certainly not shy of promoting themselves in the traditional way (flawless skin, ideal angle etc.) on social channels. But they are also more nuanced creators of self-image than the generations before them. Insta-envy may be prevalent, but so is the #epicfail culture — they understand that showing yourself as fallible makes you more likeable, and so they deliberately curate their image to present a rounded view.

Image: scoopnest.com

They are taking cues from pop icons like Taylor Swift: a performer who regularly shames us with her picture-perfect #squad of girl friends (that we don’t have), while creating videos that embrace her failures (not being a great dancer — see ‘Shake It Off’) as much as her assets.

Image: youtube.com

However tempting likes and affirmative comments can be, Gen Z are well aware of the pitfalls of sharing everything: Apple Cloud revealed more of Jennifer Lawrence than she ever intended, and off-key tweets result in real life consequences — as Iggy Azaelea, Cee-lo Green and many more can tell you.

Images: whisper.sh

The utopia of social media has passed, as Gen Z grew up knowing its dangers. So, they are increasingly turning to more ‘shy’ social tools like Whatsapp, Snapchat and Whisper which limit sharing by group size, time and anonymity respectively. They are also more inclined to leave something to the imagination. There is power in showing something — an image, a quote, an oblique tweet — and leaving the rest to interpretation. And we are left to discern what is real, what is fake, and what is fake real.

Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of our series where we explore ShapeShifters. 

Illustrations by Nejc Prah. Hero image: Instagram

Amy Lee is Strategy Director at Wolff Olins New York. Follow her at @amynormalee

Decoding Gen Z: Cloudeaters

This week, our Strategy Director Amy Lee deep dives into the world of “Gen Z”. Loosely defined as anyone born after Millennials (helpful), Gen Z are roughly 13-17 years old right now. Regardless that the majority of them are still relying on pocket money, brands and marketers are already frantically thinking about ways to capture their attention, influence and potential spending power. “Screen addicts”, “Cord nevers”, “The iGeneration”, “Net Gen”... whatever you call them, Gen Z are coming into the world of work and consumption soon. At scale: they make up over 25% of the US population and millions more worldwide. So, it’s worth understanding more about the next tidal wave of influencers.

No generation can be reduced to simple definitions. But we’ve observed patterns of (largely US-centric) behavior, having observed Gen Z through research insights, their online activity and speaking to them directly.

First up: let’s talk about...

Cloudeaters

Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard that Gen Z are “digitally native”. So, they’re always on their phone and they’re learning coding instead of Spanish at school. But what does that really mean for the rest of us, right now?

It means that many things older generations saw as entrenched systems (like cable TV), are being forced to adapt or die as the internet offers so much for free. ‘TV’ for them isn’t cable or broadcast channels, it’s YouTube and Netflix — so they expect content to be on-demand, modular, and served up by smart algorithms to suit their needs.

image: wanelo.com

It means that Gen Z use curated aggregator sites like WANELO, ASOS, canopy.co to instantly access, save and compare items they covet. They know they have power at their fingertips which makes them much more discerning customers: - They expect infinite choice combined with intuitive interfaces to navigate that overload, - They demand real, transparent value from retailers — because they can instantly find a cheaper alternative.

Brands have to up their game with experiences and product to convince them to part with their cash — which explains why teen-retailers that have for too long relied on big logos to justify mark-ups have been losing ground (see Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, GAP).

It means they are comfortable forming bonds with people they’ve never actually met in real life, across borders and timezones. They gravitate to short-form social platforms like Vine, Instagram, Snapchat that appear to give them real-time insight into other users’ thoughts, friends, families, lives. So, they are heavily influenced by people their age who can speak to them on their wavelength, instantly. Unlike traditional advertising, these people — like Kylie Jenner, Jenna Marbles, PewDiePie — feel as authentic as they are aspirational, right down to how forthright they are about being paid to promote products.

image: blogs.skype.com/

It means they have seriously high expectations for digital integration. They’ve grown up Face-Timing friends, getting into the cinema with e-tickets, skipping queues at Disneyland with the Magic Band, having Santa replaced by Amazon. Digital is not an optional add-on: without it, you are not able to function fully in their lives.

Come back throughout the week where we’ll deep-dive into what is ‘Fake Real’ and who are the ‘Shapeshifters.’

Illustrations by Nejc Prah. Hero image: Youtube.com

Amy Lee is Strategy Director at Wolff Olins New York. Follow her at @AmyNormaLee

Creativity vs. Illiteracy

We recently kicked off Creativity Vs. X, a series of breakfast brainstorms in New York. The concept is pretty simple: inviting a diverse group of experienced people into our office to shake up their thinking on how to tackle a big social issue they’re all passionate about. With coffee and granola on the side.

The first big issue on the table was illiteracy — a global problem that impacts the lives of millions, and not just in developing countries. Here in the US, 20% of high school seniors can be classified as being functionally illiterate when they graduate, and two thirds of those who can’t read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.

We hosted a group of leaders from Pencils of Promise, Girl Scouts, McGraw-Hill Education, The Uni Project, Nook and Lit World, set them some creative challenges and facilitated as they work-shopped potential new solutions. Together, they shared their struggles to keep kids learning for the long term, and imagined ways to make reading more visible and engaging: like leaving tantalizing unfinished stories in public spaces throughout the city.

The event was an experiment. We didn’t solve world peace — we never intended to. But it was inspiring, energizing and (according to our willing guinea pigs) productive. Ideas were shared. Minds were opened. Connections were made between people who really do make a difference.

For that, Creativity vs. Illiteracy was worth doing. We can’t wait for the next one.

Quality is the new black

By Amy Lee 

Netflix is on a roll, right? House of Cards was catnip for West Wing withdrawal sufferers, Arrested Development whipped comedy nerds into a frenzy and now Orange is the New Black is taking TV (as we now know it) by storm. Even Ryan Seacrest was moved to humor on Twitter: "Orange is the new black is the new gluten free diet".

So, what's their secret? The creation of a TV hit is (I imagine) a complex mixture of talent, timing, funding and magic.  But the New York Times also identified a more fundamental variable that boils down to a shift in TV business models: from a "third-party-decider economy" to viewer-first. In short, where shows were traditionally created for "broad, unobjectionable appeal" to please advertisers, "Netflix predicates its model around the person watching the show, [and] needs to provide content that the viewer deems worthy of $7.99 a month".

Good news for us as viewers. And just one example of a larger TV renaissance spearheaded by Netflix and HBO, but also embraced by broadcasting pioneers (like the BBC) and some cable players (see AMC). Technology that allows viewers to binge, time-shift, and watch on a variety of screens is encouraging a new type of TV. Storytelling can be longer form, less reliant on the episode-ending cliffhanger, more niche, less conventional. Stars, directors and writers can find freedom of expression not possible in the blockbuster rat race of movie making.

Is this the golden age of TV? Perhaps that's a little hasty. From an economic point of view there's still a long way to go before any one company breaks through the network strong-hold in the US (although Aereo is trying hard to trample that path). But there's no doubt that TV is back on the map as place to go for quality entertainment. Because TV is finally putting us first, and it shows.

Amy Lee is a Senior Strategist at Wolff Olins New York.

News worthy

Watch out newspapers, Amazon is coming to get you. 

No doubt that thought kept a few editors awake Monday night, albeit that it's factually inaccurate since it was Jeff Bezos (in his personal capacity) that snuck in and bought the Washington Post to almost everyone's surprise. BuzzFeed – the much admired/bitched about online competitor of traditional news sites – dismisses the move as "old news": just another mogul trying to buy power through media.

But it would be foolish to ignore that Bezos brings with him an Internet sensibility. He said as much in his open letter to the employees of the newly acquired paper: "The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about and working backwards from there."

Under his leadership, Amazon has become a threatening competitor to book publishers. Not only does it undercut prices, nail distribution and sell devices, it's now building a suite of manuscript editors to bolster its direct publishing arm – bringing together old school talent with online might. 

So, what does the Bezos takeover mean for newspapers? 

It means established news groups can't afford to look back. It's another kick (if one was needed) to realize the time for action is now:

• Think Big – take your incredible, highly credible brands to the next level, exploring how they can evolve and reach audiences in new ways using the digital tools at your fingertips

• Listen & Learn – audiences are notoriously loyal to news brands but time is increasingly split across myriad new platforms and sites; papers need to understand why and what they can do better to serve changing behaviors 

• Shake up – reinvention can be tough to do in an environment where the editor's word is law; how does organizational structure and culture need to adapt to allow innovation to flourish?

Amy Lee is a Senior Strategist at Wolff Olins New York. 

Brand your body

By Amy Lee 

Atkins, Hollywood, South Beach, Master Cleanse, Zone, Dukan. Over the last decade there’s been a proliferation of diets with capital letters. Celebrity diet setters who claim to have the key to skinny nirvana. Pseudo medical insights that rationalize bizarre eating habits. And merchandise to follow.

We’ve become accustomed to branded diets advocating that we only put certain things in our bodies at certain times. Sometimes they work. Often they result in only a short-term loss of inches, and some less pleasant side effects (as anyone who’s lived with a Cabbage Soup diet devotee can tell you). 

And yet, we can’t afford to ignore our health. Obesity can be fatal – shockingly, kids in America today are the first generation expected to live shorter lives than their parents. Food habits are a  huge part of that problem. But so is our increasing lack of activity. Nike and partners’ ‘Designed to Move’ report reveals that inactivity is expected to kill more people than smoking this year. Activity is vital, in every sense of the word. 

So, it’s interesting to see that fitness brands are emerging to rival diet gurus for people’s attention. SoulCycle has taken New York by storm: it’s indoor cycling but with added motivational music, mood lighting and confessional therapy that makes spinning somehow more sexy and addictive. On both sides of the Atlantic, CrossFit is also creating its own ‘cult’. Like many of the best consumer brands out there, it builds a community (posting a new workout online every day that’s followed by CrossFit gyms across the world), encourages sharing (people are beating the clock and each other’s times), and has a clearly defined approach recognisable anywhere (a unique mixture of aerobic, gymnastic and weight lifting activities that involve a circus-like mixture of props – ropes, tires, batons etc.). Perhaps more than most enterprises, they also have complete staff buy in: they are literally living the service, body and soul.

These are powerful brands, growing quickly. You hear about them at parties. You see them listed under ‘interests’ on CVs. Of course you see the branded hoodies and bags. But you also see the bodies. Afriend of mine spotted another CrossFit disciple across the room at a wedding just by checking out the definition of her shoulders (and perhaps sensing the same whiff of obsession). 

I’m not sure what this new fitness fervour means. Time will tell whether they have the focus and innovation to survive long term. But I’m happy to see that some of the smartest tactics in brand building are being applied to getting us more active, and I’m willing to give it a go.

Amy Lee is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins New York.

  Image via http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/crossfit

Lost in content

By Amy Lee 

Since I moved to the States 6 months ago, I’ve been immersing myself in the US lifestyle: turkey, Super Bowl, rye whiskey and exciting new business idioms (“Let’s double down on that”). I’ve also discovered This American Life – a radio series that investigates odd stories about everyday people all over the US.

One episode described the emergence of a strange new practice: hyper local news stories written for small town American newspapers by people in the Philippines. Journatic – the company in charge of outsourcing and producing these cheap news stories – claims they are helping keep local papers alive. Ryan Smith, the whistleblower telling the story, sees it differently:

Last week, the content monetization debate ignited again, this time discussing whether publishers should rent their content to brands – which they are increasingly doing in droves, to bolster waning revenue from traditional proprietary routes. NewsCred, a matchmaker for brands and publishers that launched in 2008, predicts syndication of content to brands could make some publishers up to $1 million a year. 

Like Ryan Smith, journalists were weighing up the commercial rewards with the principle of the thing. Will the short-term rewards ultimately obliterate publishers, by helping to make brands the primary sources of content?

Publishers need to be smart about how they grab this opportunity. To protect and enhance their own brands, and not get lost in the public consciousness, they need to keep three things in mind:

Quality – make sure journalistic standards are not undermined once content is handed over to the brand, so establish a strong direct relationship or use of a trustworthy agent

Fit – only supply brands that match your values and your ambitions (e.g. President of Business Insider, Julie Hansen, says ‘We typically don’t license content to brands for use outside of ad campaigns we’re involved in”)

Value – is it worth it? For many big publishers the income doesn’t make a significant impact on annual revenue, and money may be better spent on home-grown innovation

Which raises an even more interesting question: what is ‘quality’ and can we recognize it? At the DLD conference last month a panel including esteemed American writer Jeff Jarvis and CEO of Speigel Online Katharina Borchet discussed ‘The Future of Authority’ in journalism, in an age when millions of people on Twitter rehash events everyday. Both Borchet and Jarvis agreed that publishers had to do more to educate audiences on what it takes to create ‘quality’ (i.e. first hand, fact-checked and well-edited) reports. But, Borchet also acknowledged that her site now has to fight against brands for people’s views: “If they want to see stuff about cars, most of them will go to a car manufacturer’s website because they have beautiful, high quality content.” 

The financial reality of where content comes from continues to make us uncomfortable – so a lot of the time we’re willing to overlook its origins if the content’s good. In a knowing nod to the fallibility of our perceptions, fashion brand Viva Vena have produced a parody of one of the most skin-crawling uses of ‘content branding’ – fashion films focusing on ‘real’ / ridiculously unobtainable people. Enjoy. 

 ‘Fashion Film’ by Matthew Frost, starring Lizzy Caplan:

FASHION FILM from Matthew Frost on Vimeo.

  Amy Lee is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins New York. 

Top image via Antony Gormley

Life Across The Pond

Wolff Olins London

By Amy Lee and Melissa Andrada

What makes a business global?  

Do you need to be physically located across several continents – like so many of the big corporations, banks and professional services firms?

Or is it enough to travel regularly all over the world, working with foreign organizations and getting to know their homeland?

Or could you argue that a dedication to diversity among the workforce is what counts, mixing up international perspectives even if you all sit in one place?

Here at Wolff Olins we're a combination of all three: having hubs in the UK, USA and UAE, a client-base that is around 90% based outside our city locations, and a workforce comprised of well over 15 nationalities. But maintaining a global perspective is not a static purpose. We have to keep finding ways to experience different ways of life and work abroad, and bring those insights back into the business. With that in mind, this year the business committed to opening up more opportunities for us to spend time working overseas in one of our offices – London, New York, San Francisco or Dubai.

And so it is that, this summer, Melissa Andrada (a strategist from New York) and I (a strategist from London) swapped seats: me setting up residence in New York, her settling into life in London. It's been a deep dip cultural experience for both of us. New country, new neighborhood, new friends, new home. On a purely gastronomic level, I've increased my bagel intake by 100% and Melissa has no doubt done lasting damage to her liver (cliches exist for a reason). 5 months in, we're now ready to reflect on the similarities and differences between the two offices. 

Many things are common to the Wolff Olins (WO) experience on either side of the Atlantic: the abundance of curious, opinion-forming people to be inspired by and enjoy working alongside; the emphasis on taking the initiative – WO is your platform, don't wait to be asked; the enthusiasm for new ideas and for stretching our clients and ourselves to make bigger, better impact on the world. 

We've also observed some differences. Here's a snapshot of our insights so far - three key things we feel WONY and WOLO can learn from the other. (WONY is shorthand for Wolff Olins New York and WOLO for Wolff Olins London. Even brand agencies have their acronyms.)

THREE THINGS WOLO CAN LEARN FROM WONY

Wolff Olins New York

Look out and learn together

Every Thursday at 5pm there's a WONY office-wide share from an external person/ company/ group. It's a chance for everyone to sit together, eat, drink and learn something new. The scheduled nature of it makes it easy to slot into your week, and getting that regular dose of outside perspective is really refreshing.

New brains are better than one

The WONY office has a structured approach to interns – inviting a number of young, talented people to work alongside us every Summer and Fall. Getting their insights into culture as it's emerging (simply watching 'Girls' does not qualify you as culturally on the pulse…sadly) and their enthusiasm into projects is a real asset to the work we produce; and the program provides a valuable chance for those assigned as their mentors to develop management and coaching skills.

Work the room

The WONY office is set up to function as a design studio  - with big white blank canvases all around you, a newly set up 'crit area' where ongoing work is out for all to see, and an open layout that mixes skill sets successfully. It encourages you to get up and walk around, to use the tables in-between desk 'pods' to hold informal meetings, and to generally be more fluid about how you work.

THREE THINGS WONY CAN LEARN FROM WOLO:

  Wolff Olins London

The Friday Pub can be just as important as the Office

Every Friday, at least 10 or so WOLO-ers venture off to the local pub for a round – or two – of pints and wine. It’s a lovely tradition that gives people the chance to bond and catch up with each other outside of the office. Many a conversation at the Thornhill have led to an important insight – an inspired collaboration.  

Get the most out of your neighbors  

With Robert Jones and Brian Boylan as your officemates, why wouldn’t you tap your neighbors for a bit of outside perspective on a pitch or a project? WOLO has the benefit of having “specialists” -- Bethany Koby for social impact, Nathan Williams for tech, Karl Sadler for interaction design, and many more. At WOLO, there is a greater informal economy of thinkers offering offline insights and advice. 

Start something up

From the Honey Club to Because talks to WO Entrepreneur, WOLO has a wealth of projects kickstarted and run by folks internally. It’s a great way to work with new people, stretch skills, test drive new ideas, start businesses and make an impact in the world – outside of client work. Internal projects allow everyone to be the CEO of something.

Amy Lee is a Senior Strategist at Wolff Olins New York, and Melissa Andrada is a Strategist at Wolff Olins London

The universality of community action

By Amy Lee, on behalf of The Honey Club

This time last week New York was in the midst of one of the worst storms the city has experienced. Many people lost power, property, livelihoods and, in the most heartbreaking cases, loved ones.

The hardship is far from over. But in its wake has been an outpouring of community spirit: people donating food and blankets, volunteering to fix wires and clear rubbish, offering support of all kinds to people in their neighbourhood – whether they knew them before or not.

That may seem like a strange introduction to the launch of a website for a bee-friendly social enterprise, but bear with me. Yesterday we launched the fully formed Honey Club website: a year after we officially kicked off the enterprise with our ‘Welcome Event’ in London last November.  The Honey Club is underpinned by two key ideas: The first is caring for bees – they are a crucial part of our ecosystem, responsible for pollinating around a third of all we eat in Europe and vast amounts in the States, and a potent symbol of the our symbiotic relationship with nature.

The second is connecting with your community – as the world’s population migrates to or builds cities around them (heading towards 75% urbanization by 2050), it’s often easy to forget that we still exist within communities and we can all benefit from each other, however transient or isolated we may feel.

The website tells the story of how the Honey Club has pursued these objectives in London over the last year – from bee keeping on the roof above the Regents Canal, to guerilla gardening behind St Pancras – and the plans for the future (including franchising the model to create a new Honey Club in Angel).

So, what does this have to do with Sandy? The link is not local, but universal.

Like the recent plummet in bee populations, the tropical storm has raised important questions about our ongoing damage to the environment and what consequences that may have for our lives, and our weather systems.

It has also revealed what people can achieve when they combine their efforts, emotions and resources. Whether it’s by sharing skills with young people through a Honey Club workshop in Kings Cross, or helping a neighbour clear out their flood damaged home in New Jersey, community proves to be an enduring source of strength and a motivating force for action.

The Honey Club is looking forward to its second year of hands-on bee-caring community action. Check out our new website (created by the brilliant Adam Rodgers at Remote Location) for more information and get in touch if you’d like to find a way to take part.

Amy Lee is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins New York.

Merge of the Random Penguins

By Amy Lee

It’s been a choppy few weeks in publishing. As Newsweek on this side of the Atlantic announced it will become an online-only edition called ‘Newsweek Global’ from 2013, The Guardian Newspaper in the UK was forced to deny rumours that it was “seriously discussing” ending its print edition after the claim was made by rival paper The Telegraph.

Causing the most noise however is the news (pending regulatory approval) of the merger of two of the world’s most famous publishing houses – Penguin and Random House. No doubt the staff and authors represented by both organisations are feeling a little unsure of the future right now, since in so many situations ‘merger’ is a corporate euphemism for ‘rationalisation’. And it’s no secret that publishing has been feeling the unsettling effects of the recession and digitalization more than most industries. 

For anyone who has a large place in their heart for the enduring brilliance of the Penguin Books brand – the classic literature, the elegant graphic covers, the cheeky and distinctive logo, even the worrying diaspora of merchandise – this could be a troublesome development. Apparently, the new joint company will be called Penguin Random House. I can’t help thinking that ‘Random Penguin’ would have done a better job of maintaining some of the British eccentricity we know and love.

But let’s not dwell on naming (always a sticky topic, and always easy to criticize from afar). What about the opportunities this presents for the companies as they come together? 

The merger gives them 3 key strategic advantages:

-   Scale: together they will be the largest consumer book publisher in the world with 25% market share

-   Content: a combination of current mega hits (like Random House’s Fifty Shades of Grey) and a stellar back catalogue (including George Orwell, Dickens and Virginia Woolf from Penguin)

-   Efficiency: sharing resources and cutting costs in areas such as supply chain distribution

Combined, this means negotiating power - which they need if they are to have a voice at the table with Amazon and its ilk. Not only will the new company have the potential to drive down the cost-per-copy of physical books, but also push up e-book prices (which many believe are currently so low they’re drastically under-valuing author’s achievements). According to Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson (owners of Penguin), they see this as a chance to “invest in books and new ways of deploying them” – a future-thinking focus that is long overdue in the industry. 

One of the biggest brand challenges they face is also one of their strengths. Both companies are a made up of several well-loved consumer facing brands: their imprints – like Jonathan Cape, William Heinemann or Vintage at Random House, and Penguin Classics or Viking at Penguin. Each imprint has its own individual brand equity built on editorial leadership, talented authors, committed readers and recognised visual identities. That’s a lot of cultures and agendas to align, and they’ll need a clear vision to guide them through the changes ahead. 

However unsettling, it is encouraging to see the literary establishment mobilize themselves to face the future. If Penguin Random House can harness the passion of the imprints behind a unified vision to deliver efficient innovation in publishing, they could be a force to be reckoned with.

Amy Lee is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins New York.

Making do

I've lived in Islington for about 3 years now, over which time the high street has evolved. Predictably, the number of mini-supermarkets (a depressingly familiar oxymoron) has increased. But so has the number of craft shops. In a neat reflection on the 'make do and mend' attitude that follows any recession, savvy storeowners have spotted an opportunity for a new type of consumerism. Less buy, buy buy. More do, play, make.

To give a few examples: Drink, Shop, Do – www.drinkshopdo.com – where you can drink tea, play scrabble and learn how to re-create vintage reverse hair rolls Loop - www.loopknitting.com - where you can learn to knit and crochet as you choose your yarn The Make Lounge -  www.themakelounge.com – where you can hold parties and attend workshops for everything from embroidery to cupcake decoration Ray Stitch – www.raystitch.co.uk – a haberdashery with built in café for coffee while you ponder which sewing class to sign up to Is this just a recent, N1-specific phenomenon?  Luxury goods brands the world over realise the potency of the artisan back story. The recent Valentino documentary was brought to life by seeing his expert Italian couture seamstresses at work, and the likes of Hermes have been leveraging their harness-making heritage for years.  However, certain brands are enabling the craft boom across borders. Look at the success of Etsy – the online marketplace that connects consumers with crafters, across 150 countries. In their words, they have built a 10 million strong "community of artists, creators, collectors, thinkers and doers", offering members not only a chance to buy and sell, but to meet at 'labs' (e.g. bootcamp for fledgling artisan retailers, DIY brewing workshops etc.) and contribute to forums. This is taking artisanship to a new level of customer engagement. And I believe their mission is one that is relevant to consumer-goods brands worldwide: valuing authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience. In a world where we are willing to pay £7 for a fruit salad but balk at paying full price for a paperback on Amazon, isn't it about time that we re-calibrate the value we put on creating something original? And isn't it time that influential brands (publishers, manufacturers, retailers) helped us make that shift?  In my area at least, it's the small, independent retailers that are taking the lead in making us excited about making things. (Amy Lee) 

London Honey Festival

Sunday was an exciting day for WOLO's latest venture – the Honey Club. We had a stall at the Royal Festival Hall on London's Southbank, taking part in the London Honey Festival alongside lots of other bee-keepers from in and around London. From 12-5pm, we were descended upon by enthusiastic honey-lovers, asking questions about our bees and the social enterprise. Turns out there's a lot of bee keeping lingo we need to bone up on! Sadly, we didn't win the overall tasting competition but we got lots of compliments on the light, citrusy honey our bees had created. An experienced bee-keeper told us she thought they'd been feasting on lime trees (which are in bloom at the moment). And we left smiling when we overheard someone else say to their friend "I told you they had the nicest packaging"!

The week before, we were busy preparing our leaflets and badges.

And, of course, harvesting our honey. We stole one frame from Hive 1, which was stuffed full of lovely honey, filling around 20 little pots to take to the festival. 

Huge congratulations to all those involved, in particular our fellow stall-holders from Global Generation, the local youth development charity which has co-founded the Honey Club with us.

  If you want to find out more about our work with the Honey Club, check out www.honeyclub.org.