2007 conference - on film

Still looking back: Greg's and John's presentations, 2007

Here are Greg Rowland's and John Kearon's presentation from the 2007 conference:

Greg Rowland Semiotics London in Prague 2007

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John Kearon Creative Consumers London in Prague 2007

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Looking back: London in Prague, 2007

This blog is a new home for London in Prague and place where we would like to keep the history of London in Prague...Here is a post written in 2007 about the 4 great speakers at the London in Prague 1st conference: 

"It doesn't matter how exciting a new technology is if it has no human relevance. And it is human relevance and appeal to our senses that distinguishes a winning product," says Richard Seymour and it is hard to add anything to that.

Greg Rowland's work has been a great source of inspiration for me. Encountering with Greg and semiotics was a bit shocking at first to the Eastern European and researcher in me. The Eastern European part of me, conditioned to believe that there are ideas and ideals set in stone and that "eternal truths" awaits to be discovered. The researcher in me was taught to believe that if you drill deep enough into the minds of people you will eventually discover the "truth". Semiotics helped me to see people and brands interacting in a way that is fluid, ever-changing and much more colorful and inspiring than the descriptions provided by traditional market research. This clip shows Greg Rowland exploring the world of "feminine intensity ":

John Kearon is a true innovator who re-defined the way in which online market research is conducted. Instead of taking the "pen and paper" questionnaires and throwing them on the internet, John approached online research using the nature of the internet as a medium for a different kind of interaction. The surveys that John designs are engaging and interactive, enabling the respondents to tag each other's answers, long before "delicious" was came about...

Matt Hart's role is crucial in the innovation process. Matt leads teams to use  raw materials - what we might call ‘sophisticated observations’ (generated by semiotics, ethnography or online research) - and trawl for productive insight, and then use this insight as a  inspiration for creative ideas.  The film here was created to support Matt's TV show called "Sick Day".  Matt uses the same principles he uses with people on the show that he does with companies. He forces us to think out of the box to a point when one starts to worry where it is all leading. But he brings us back, in surprising and elegant way, to the box - to the category, the brand and the business.