Tag: Design Studio

28
Feb

MCR Pathways – Changing Perspectives

Right, this is my first blog post so go easy. I talk about the most inspiring three hours of my short design career so far – so here goes..

I arrived at work last Friday feeling rather different. The last time I walked into our studio feeling this nervous I was clutching onto my portfolio and CV, prepared to beg Benedetto for a job.

But why was I so nervous? Was there a 9am meeting I wasn’t prepared for? An impending deadline at my desk? Had trainer Jamie from Puregym made me want to vomit before work? No, not this time. In fact, today we’re ignoring our deadlines, meetings as well as Jamie and opening our door to four young students into our office for a ‘Talent Taster’.

This ‘Talent Taster’ was organised by MCR Pathways, a Glasgow based organisation that ensures young kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, remain inspired and confident about their future. These talent tasters are organised for secondary school students to learn more about the jobs they think they might want when they’re older. Which means a big part of what they do is help young people discover what skills and capabilities they have up their sleeves.

So back to that cold morning..

After a quick breakfast with the guys (becoming a Loft tradition), we had a team talk on how the morning would pan-out. I was still apprehensive about the idea, but I guess what excited me most about this opportunity, was the prospect of a young person leaving our little studio in Merchant City, on the right path, ready to take on the big design world.

Before I knew it, the team talk was over and the kids were arriving. One by one they hesitantly walked through the studio door. What I was looking at was four future Creative Directors, all be it slightly shorter than Benedetto (Only slightly), clutching onto their bags, lunch boxes and jackets.

After a brief introduction we dived from the highest springboard into the deep-end, head first. Each member of the team was paired with a student. I was picked last, something I remember all to well from the gym hall at high school.

My partner in crime’s name was Callum, a curious chap. Before I could show him some of my work for the loft he asks for a business card, obviously after some credentials – this young man means business.

Callum instantly comes out of his shell as soon as we start chatting and interacting. I guess this is what MCR Pathways is all about: Giving young people that confidence, especially when they get one to one attention from someone who cares.

We slowly make our way around the room as I show him some of our most recent projects. Callum seems not only enthralled but inquisitive. He kept me on my toes by asking loads of questions on concepts and design choices, which to be honest, I wasn’t expecting. This no longer seems like a Talent Taster experience but more like a discussion from designer to designer. It was lovely to have someone who not only wanted to hear what I do day-to-day, but to actually question it and offer opinions and ideas.

I turn to Callum and question his age, my jaw almost hits the floor when he replies with: ‘Fourteen’.

We grab a chair (I definitely needed one) and start the exercise I prepared on the bus into work. Our idea was to replicate the creative process, with one of the hardest briefs a designer ever has to face: Personal Branding.
It starts with a mind map where the creatives had to fill in the blanks. What’s your name? Hobbies? Your favourite colour? What’s special about you? What memorable logos can you think of?

Immediately after filling in the gaps Callum lifts his pencil case out and begins to sketch ideas, explaining his ideas as he does so. It feels like he understands the creative process back to front. I try to fuel his mind with some ideas to build on, but I see he’s in his own world so I let him be and grab a pen and paper myself. I glance over every so often, and see an intense look of concentration, matched with a smile.

What I remember most about this experience is being astounded by Callum’s sketching abilities, and how fast he was bringing his ideas to life.

With a dozen possible routes we head over to my Mac – we fire up Illustrator and after a very brief demonstration, get to work. This part of the process is where I’m needed most. Callum explains to me that his school doesn’t have a Adobe software such as Illustrator or Photoshop and he doesn’t have access to a computer at home.

My heart sinks a little.

With such a creative mind and with so much potential, I offer some advice on where he may be able to match his creativity with useful skills that could develop his ideas and take them to the next level.

You can see a light in his eyes as he watches me closely whip up some of his designs. There was an air of excitement in the room. Callum commented on how he loved how his design was coming to life and I explained to him that’s what I loved most about this job: that ‘buzz’. How our ideas start from a quick sketch and develop into finished brands, campaigns etc.

Before we know it, the experience is over and we’re saying our goodbyes. Callum and the other young creatives have something valuable to take back with them – a brand – but more importantly, a realistic view of what it really means to be a designer.

Reflecting back, I really got the feeling that some perspectives on life may have changed for the better that morning. Not just for the young creatives, but for ourselves as designers. It certainly made me stop and think. Think about the opportunities I’ve been given over the years, but think more about how incredibly lucky I am to be doing something I love each day – and earning a living from it.

I would urge any professional to get involved in MCR Pathways. I challenge you to find any other experience so moving and uplifting that will make you or your team feel this inspired. Good luck, you’ll need it.

Charlie

ext-2

Charlie is one of the new-generation of designers – equally at home online/offline. He has a wonderful imagination and is at his best when dreaming up brave, bright and beautiful ideas in the many sketch-books that he keeps.

A great conceptual thinker, with a special ability to solve challenging problems. Charlie is a real team-player too and most recently the brains behind ‘The Loft-Social.’

28
Feb

Bridge to The Future – ‘A Magical Evening at The Kelvingrove’

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I arrived at Kelvingrove Museum representing our team for the MCR Pathways event ‘Bridge to the Future’. Once registered, I made my way up the marble staircase to the museums main hall. The building was immense, but it had nothing on the positive atmosphere created by the hundreds of attendees raring to listen to the events talks.

MCR Pathways is an organisation designed to give a helping hand to disadvantaged young people starting out in life. They believe that having a role-model is incredibly important, and the mentors within the organisation fill this position perfectly, taking time out of their busy lives to help the young people fulfil their potential. I feel that it is the connection to a mature adult that the young people really appreciate the most.

It is a belief that all of us at the loft share, and we were delighted to strengthen our bond with the charity by joining other businesses who have supported the ‘Talent-Taster’ sessions which give young people an insight into the world of work.

As the event began; the crowd was quick to hush as the night was going to be predominantly hosted by the young people themselves. I would say that I am a confident person for the most part, but seeing the young people up on stage with hundreds of eyes watching them, I felt I had a lot to learn. Being that age talking in front of 10 people would be intimidating, so I was very impressed with the calmness, maturity and professional approach that the young people took whilst standing on the stage.

Multiple mentors were invited up for an interview, being questioned on how they have found the process, their best moments and why they decided to mentor in the first place. It was easy to see how much they have enjoyed the programs, with their passion shinning through genuine smiles that was spread across their faces.

Performances by the young people then took place, every piece symbolising different aspects of the organisation that had made a positive impact on their lives. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed by the confidence up on stage. It was clear that the MCR Pathways experience has had a massive impact on the young people and I could see that first hand.

Artist Gerard M. Burns gave a small talk on his piece titled ‘Bridge to the Future’ (of which the events name spawned from). The painting involved two young adults linked arm in arm, both reaching out in opposite directions, almost beckoning on the outside world, stronger united. I felt that it really summarised what MCR Pathways is trying to do for the young people of Scotland; build meaningful relationships to better themselves and their confidence in preparation for life after high-school.

As the talks came to an end, an opera singer and pianist took to the stage with beautiful performance. It was very fitting within the grandeur of the museum. An exhibition opened, showcasing featured work from our very own talent taster sessions that the young people had been a part of. We are extremely happy to have our work placed up on the wall, highlighting the excitement of the young people working in the studio. I felt a sense of pride for everyone attending the event, the energy in the room was profound.

We look forward to continue building a strong relationship with MCR Pathways and are delighted that we could be a part of the experience. It’s eye opening to see the difference that the charity has had on these young persons lives – one which was strengthened by the performance they gave at the Kelvingrove event.

I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Reiss

REISS

Reiss is a multi-purpose designer with a broad range of skill-sets.
He loves being a part of any creative activity — whether it’s mapping out a user experience, getting his hands dirty with some copy or even re-building bits of his motorbike.
A born people-person, Reiss is never happier when showcasing ideas from his vividly wild imagination and working with clients to see them through to completion. Once an architect, he has a keen eye for conceptual ideas and never tires of learning new things.
01
Dec

Entreprenurial Scotland Awards 2016, Inspiration Overload!

Entrepreneurial Scotland dinners should come with a health warning.

I sit writing this in a slightly-more-hyper-than-normal state. You see I was at the Entrepreneurial Scotland Annual Dinner last night for the fifth year in a row. And despite only getting around 3-4 hours sleep – this morning I feel like a man possessed with plans for the business – time for new people, time to get the website done, time for more clients, bigger clients, what more can we do for existing clients, let’s get that international studio off the drawing board and into reality – action, action, action! Procrastination is the enemy!

You see the magnificent stories of Mike Loggie of Saltire Energy Group talking about dominating his space and ‘increasing CapEx when everybody else is retreating,’ seeing Chris Gauld win his richly deserved award for the magnificent work with Spark Energy and hearing the amazing straight talk from the main winner of the night Jim Milne CBE of The Balmoral Group. A man who can’t wait to get back to work after 3 days of holiday like (and I think this is a quote) ‘ an absolute lion being let out a cage,’  alongside chat with some equally amazing peers has left me feeling absolutely ready to take on the world.

Real Inspiration Overload. Thank you Entrepreneurial Scotland.

I’m off to light a few more fires…

Benedetto

Ps, I was so so happy to see Kylie Forrest receive the very first #LifeTimeMembership of the organisation. She is absolutely amazing. Well done…

BB

Benedetto is a creative entrepreneur.

‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.

He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.

His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder of the loft, a design and branding studio based in Glasgow.

He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.

 

 

18
Nov

Alan Meldrum, A Frictionless Experience In a Disruptive World, #GYPSeminarSeries Part-3

 

Part 3, It Starts with Product (or Service.)

In the third part of Alan Meldrum’s talk, ‘Frictionless Experience in a Disruptive World.’ Alan emphasises the absolute need for a strong product or service in delivering great service. “If the product is poor, you are on a hiding to nothing in getting good customer satisfaction.” Later in his talk, Alan advocates the need for a joined-up approach putting the stakeholder front and their needs front and centre of the journey.

#GYPSeminarSeries ‘Frictionless Experience in a Disruptive World.’
Several months ago, Alan Meldrum, Global Vice-President for Strategy and Client Services of Percepta shared some thoughtful insights with the GYP crowd about why – in an increasingly disruptive world it’s never been more important for businesses to deliver a frictionless stakeholder experience. It was the 4th part of a fabulous #GYPSeminarSeries hosted at SocietyM and Alan was terrific in sharing his views in how to create great customer and staff experiences. We were so happy with Alan that we asked him to do a follow-up in front of the camera and that camera was very kindly provided by Gylen of Boardman Media.

What you are now watching is the third part of a new video series taking Alan Meldrum’s #GYPSeminarSeries online.

Huge thanks to everybody involved – The GYP team, Boardman Media, The Loft Team, The Percepta Team and most of all Alan Meldrum for his time and for giving us such a wonderful insight into how to create successful user-experiences.

With thanks,

You can check out all the people who helped to make this clip below…

Alan Meldrum, Percepta, Creating Customer Loyalty
https://www.facebook.com/PerceptaUK/

Boardman Media, Video Production
http://www.boardmanmedia.com

The Loft, Design & Branding
https://theloft.co

The GYP Team
http://glasgowyp.co.uk

03
Nov

Alan Meldrum, A Frictionless Experience In a Disruptive World, #GYPSeminarSeries Part-2


 
Part 2, No Hiding Place with Social Media

In the second part of Alan Meldrum’s talk, ‘Frictionless Experience in a Disruptive World.’ Alan speaks about social media and how it’s changing the entire business landscape. He discusses the importance of companies being authentic and focussed on community building over targeted marketing. He goes on to explain why the companies that are most open, authentic and comfortably willing to ‘engage customers regardless of the other 34 million people in the room’ are those that are most likely to succeed with social media.

#GYPSeminarSeries ‘Frictionless Experience in a Disruptive World.’

Several months ago, Alan Meldrum, Global Vice-President for Strategy and Client Services of Percepta shared some wonderful ideas with the Glasgow Young Professionals audience about why – in an increasingly disruptive world it’s never been more important for businesses to deliver a frictionless stakeholder experience. It was the 4th part of a fabulous #GYPSeminarSeries hosted at SocietyM and Alan, as expected, was absolutely terrific in sharing his views in creating great customer and staff experiences. We were so happy with Alan that we asked him to do a follow-up talk in front of the camera and that camera was very kindly provided by Gylen of Boardman Media. At the loft, we share many of Alan’s values and we are definitely bought into his ideas in this series which we are delighted to support – huge thank you also to Gylen of Boardman Media for his exceptional production work.

What you are now watching is the first part of a new video series taking Alan Meldrum’s #GYPSeminarSeries online.

Huge thanks to everybody involved – The GYP team, Boardman Media, The Loft Team, The Percepta Team and most of all Alan Meldrum for his time and giving us such a wonderful insight into successful user-experiences.

You can check out all the people who helped to make this clip below…

With thanks,

Alan Meldrum, Percepta, Creating Customer Loyalty
https://www.facebook.com/PerceptaUK/

Boardman Media, Video Production
http://www.boardmanmedia.com

The Loft, Design & Branding
https://theloft.co

The GYP Team
http://glasgowyp.co.uk

28
Oct

‘Your Brand Squared’

In recent months, we’ve been working with clients who are at that interesting point in the business journey – the point just before hiring their first marketing staff in-house – lots of activities, lots needing done and all hands on-deck for the time-being. In the interim, as long-term suppliers, we’ve been helping them draft their short-term plans and define activities during a crucial period. Most of the time, detailed marketing strategies have value in defining who to target, how to connect, the link between product, pricing and the messages to use.

We created ‘Your Brand²’ a couple of years ago to give organisations a framework to create quick, action-based marketing strategies that help build momentum and in recent times we’ve referred back to it in helping existing clients.

‘Your Brand²’s’ beauty is that it allows you to work on much smaller actions that create momentum, get quicker results and build confidence before moving to larger set-piece projects.

It’s a 7-step process , it can be carried out by pretty-much anybody and it gives you a fool-proof method to de-risk working on activities that may be ineffective or waste time. To carry out the process to its best effect we recommend using the help sheets with the bottom of this mail, post-it notes are tremendously helpful and working quickly on multiple strategies at once then comparing best plans at the end helps to overcome procrastination.

Most company owners and marketing directors instinctively know what they need to do and ‘Your Brand²’ is the best possible method to draw that information out.

1. Define your Commercial Goal

Every single activity, action, modification or amendment must be weighed against a commercial goal. Your Brand must serve the commercial objective and not vice-versa. Write out a couple of commercial goals and go for detail. This really helps in framing the brief for what you are trying to do.

We want to increase the sales of a particular product by 30% over 12 months within our current marketplace with existing clients.

is much better than…

Double the company turnover.

What products/services do you want to increase? When do you want to do it? Are you doing it in new markets or existing markets?

The more specific the better.

Goals can also be emotive or commercial – sometimes you have to do stuff that just feels right. If brand-building is all about capturing the spirit of the organisation – then it is critical that there is some spirit in the business in the first place.

2. People and Relationships

The (number of) and strength of personal relationships between your business and stakeholders is going to define the quality of your brand presence and its ability to help you achieve your commercial goals. We have to define who are the people that your brand should be building relationships with? Existing customers or new customers?

Both have value.

What sector? Tell us more about them? Old? Young? What are their interests in your product or service? What are their interests full stop? Again, the better able you are to define the people that you want to build relationships with – the better able you are to target them with the correct messages or CTAs (Call-to-actions) to achieve the desired result.

3. Big Idea

These can be big and global. Apple – Think Different, Nike – Just Do It, The Loft – Design With Soul, (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.) These are the ideas that bind your company or brand with the stakeholder (person with whom you have a relationship.)

For most companies, set-piece tag lines give way to something a little more practical and benefits-based.

Examples include…

‘Software tools that improve productivity and increase efficiency’
‘A company that wholeheartedly believes in sustainability of production’
‘A professional services company that believes in fast, round-the-clock service.’

Have some fun thinking about the various ideas or benefits of your product or service that your customers buy into. Knowing these will help you align the right messages to the right people. You will usually find that you have multiple big ideas that you will share with your audience.

Write them all down!

4. Channels

Once you know what you want to do, who you need to build relationships with, the main benefits of your service (and therefore what messages should go to different stakeholders.) It is time to think very rationally about which channels are most likely to reach the people that you want them to reach.

– Trade Shows
– Digital Mailshots
– Personal Relationships & On-going dialogues
– Printed Mailshots
– Google AdWords
– Printed Ads
– LinkedIn Groups

These are just some examples.

We highly recommend for this type of quick and dirty marketing campaign – building on existing channels, working what you have in a creative way as opposed to doing anything too new. Of course if the people you are targeting can be found in a new way then go ahead but 95% of the time, we find that people can do a lot more with what they have as opposed to doing new stuff.

5. Little Ideas

Now is the time to get creative. You will have mapped out a pathway (Goal > People & Relationships > Ideas/Messages > Channels.) You should now know exactly what kind of activity you are going to do and who you are targeting. Now is the time to get creative! Get the pen and some blank paper out and start thinking about some ideas that will really make an impact!

Trade shows are big for you? How about more people on your stand or a promotion for people that attend the show only. What more can you give away?

Networking is your thing to win new business? Then you should have the best business card in the room – it will give you a talking point with everybody else there.

Professional firm with lots of clients working in a rapidly evolving landscape for your subject? How about some E-newsletter sharing helpful, targeted, byte-size information with complimentary blog posts?

Google AdWords? Then how good is your ad? How about a punchy image-ad that really shows your product off to great effect. How about a GIF-advert?

Sales based mainly on professional relationships? How about some very informative visual information that can be bespoke’d for different clients.

Most of the time, you would engage a professional or an agency at this stage but you might want to have a little fun yourself. Once you start coming up with ideas, they will keep on-coming. This is a great feeling and opens up new possibilities for you and your business.

6. Measure

Whatever you do – measure its effectiveness! You don’t need to get too carried away with data if it isn’t your thing but digital activities in particular should have measures in places to gauge effectiveness.

7. Action

Our favourite word here at the loft.

Action!!

Just do something. Even if you do something and it doesn’t give you any immediate success – you will have learned something new and that has value. We highly recommend doing multiple versions of everything – instead of one plan – do 3 and that way you won’t be too precious. Preciousness and procrastination are the biggest enemies here against starting new activities. This whole post and guide is about reducing the size of unknown actions required, de-risking the amount of energy required and just helping you to get going.

Go for it!!

And have fun…

Download the help sheets >>>

Or contact us if you need a hand>>>

Benedetto

BB

Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.

‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.

He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.

His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder of the loft, a design and branding studio based in Glasgow.

He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.

28
Oct

MCR Pathways ‘Talent Taster’

We always say at the loft, to ‘design-with-soul,’ you have to have a soul so we were absolutely delighted, humbled, honoured, all-of-the-above to have some of the incredibly gifted students from MCR Pathways join us for a Talent Taster. MCR Pathways are one of the organisations that we love helping the most at the loft and it was a real privilege to work with their young students this morning as part of a ‘Talent Taster.’ MCR Pathways are an amazing charity doing great work at a phenomenal pace for the kids of Glasgow and beyond. We highly recommend getting involved, there are details at the bottom of this post.

Just in case, you don’t know…

Who are MCR Pathways?

MCR Pathways are predominantly a Glasgow-based organisation. They acknowledge that there is amazing potential and talent in young people. Varied, unique and inspiring. Is every single one. But for many, that potential has yet to be discovered. Life experience has knocked the confidence out of some, firmly locking away those seeds of flair and hope. It is their aim to uncover, nurture, develop and help to realise the skills and capabilities in looked after young people. They know that each person has a specific set of abilities and passions and they want to see them flourish in the arena that is right for them. MCR Pathways support looked after young people practically. Guiding them on pathways to education, employment and fulfilling lives.

What’s A Talent Taster?

Talent Tasters provide a unique opportunity to experience the world of work in a way that is more engaging and inspiring for young people, and sustainable for the organisation and staff delivering it. The tasters are designed to motivate the young people and help them make positive choices about their future careers.

Think of Talent Tasters as concentrated, high quality work experience. Three hours to get to know more about a company and a particular job it offers. There are 2 other levels to see what a manager does and even time with the boss.

Perhaps it will be the defining moment in a young person’s life. The moment when they say: “I could do this”.

Talent Taster

Wendy Jordan, Project Co-Ordinator extraordinaire for MCR Pathways wrote a blog post this morning. One that is going to appear on the MCR Pathways website later today but we thought we’d steal a march, pinch her words and get it out there as a guest-blog post first. I am sure she won’t mind.

Over to you Wendy…

It’s a clear autumn morning in October. I’m waiting outside South Block, an artist’s collective based in Osborne Street near Glasgow’s Merchant City, for today’s Talent Taster students.

The four young people are from secondary schools across Glasgow. All have an interest in art and creative industries. They’re here for a ‘Design / Web design’ session at The Loft run by creative entrepreneur Benedetto Bordone. Benedetto is going to help the young people design their own personal brand. This is going to be great!

Talent Tasters, by MCR Pathways, are two to three hour sessions for secondary school students who want to learn more about the jobs they think they might want when they’re adults. The Talent Taster team is working with organisations like Wheatley Group, the Citizens Theatre, The Loft and many, many more to deliver these sessions. The aim is to create a spark in the young people that will make them want to stay on in school, gain qualifications and get the job (and life) of their dreams.

Back to the Loft…

We all make our way upstairs to the airy, bright studio where Benedetto and his team work. They work with organisations like Alexander Dennis, Percepta, worldwide software companies, whisky distillers and global automotive companies on their brands, websites, publications and videos. The team of 5 does the work of 20 but they’ve set aside the whole morning to work with our Young Glasgow Talent to help them find, grow and use their talent. We can’t thank them enough.

Benedetto first takes the group of young people on a tour of South Block, showing the youngsters what a creative work space is like. It’s an amazing place – there’s even a ping pong table.

Then he pairs each of the young people up with one of his designers: Reiss, Aiste, Charlie and Adèle. They’re given an introduction to the creative process from mood boards to finished products.

It’s amazing to watch. The young people come out of their shells, start chatting, interacting, engaging, having fun. This is what we at MCR Pathways have always known. Young people just blossom when they get one to one attention from someone who cares. That’s why mentoring works.

The personal branding exercise starts with a questionnaire. What’s your name? What’s your favourite colour? What’s special about you? What logos can you think of? What are your hobbies? This is followed by a creative exercise as the young people start to design their logos based on who they are. Suddenly the room is quiet. You can hear the scratching of pencils. Quiet laughing. Intense discussions between the designers and young people. Everyone is smiling.

It’s time to fire up the Macs – we’re going to use Adobe Illustrator to make the young people’s sketches real. There’s some amazing, really inspired work here. We’ve got one young man whose personal brand is his glasses and hairline. It looks amazing. A young woman on the Taster has created a flowing, stylised version of her first initial – K – cutting through a bevelled rectangle. It’s really beautiful. The designers scan in the sketches by the young people and start work on making the finished, professionally-designed product.

You can see a light in the young people’s eyes – they’re watching the designers closely, taking it all in. It’s such a buzz for everyone. Their designs are becoming real.

And all too quickly, it’s over, but the young people have something great to take back with them – their own personal brand – and a more realistic view of what it means to be a designer.  You get the feeling some lives might have been changed for the better today.

1297035

Wendy Jordan is a Project Co-Ordinator for MCR Pathways. She has the best job in the world, helping Glasgow’s talented young people find their purpose in life, raise their aspirations and create an amazing life for themselves.

www.mcrpathways.org
info@mcrpathways.com
0141 221 6642

Get Involved!!

25
Oct

Frictionless Experience In a Disruptive World by Alan Meldrum #GYPSeminarSeries


 
At the loft, we get involved in so many different things in and around of design, branding and business and one of those things is ‘Professional Development.’ Growth is actually one of our values and everybody in our company is a learner in one way or another! We love learning and one of the most fun things that we’ve been involved in the last 12 months has been the Glasgow Young Professionals #GYPSeminarSeries which the loft helped to start-up, organise and assist with creative support.

One of our favourite events was several months ago – Alan Meldrum, Global Vice-President for Strategy and Client Services for Percepta, shared some wonderful ideas with the GYP audience about why – in an increasingly disruptive world it’s never been more important for businesses to deliver a frictionless stakeholder experience. It was the 4th part of a fabulous #GYPSeminarSeries at SocietyM and Alan was terrific in sharing his views of a great customer and staff experience. We were so happy with Alan that we asked him to do a follow-up in front of the camera and that camera was very kindly provided by Gylen of Boardman Media. What you are now watching is the first part of a new video series of Alan Meldrum’s #GYPSeminarSeries.

We are delighted to be involved with The GYP team, Boardman Media, The Percepta Team and most of all Alan Meldrum who gave his time and also some brilliant insights into modern-day customer-experience.

Part 1, Vision – At the Heart of ‘Frictionless’

We were very careful to use the word ‘stakeholder’ above as Alan says that empowering and engaging employees is every bit as important as engaging the customers themselves in creating a frictionless customer-experience. He speaks of the need for companies to have a vision with everybody buying in and contributing to that vision. Alan talks about empowering staff and goes as far as saying that sometimes admitting that you got it wrong as a provider and looking to right that wrong goes a long way to building long-term relationships with a brand.

For anybody that is truly interested in any part of the brand/staff/user/stakeholder/customer experience, this is well worth a look and keep an eye out next week for the follow-up in the series.

You can also check out the people who helped to make this clip below…

With thanks,

The Loft Team

Alan Meldrum of Percepta >>>

Boardman Media >>>

GYP >>>