Things I heard in the 4th edition of Rethink the Basis of Communication

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A few days ago the 4th edition of Rethink the Basis of Communication ended, but until a few seconds ago I was not able to sit down and write my impressions. The first and most obvious: it is stimulating to see a lecture hall with capacity for more than 300 people full of communication and branding professionals interested in surviving the crisis with imagination and talent. The first guru I was able to listen to was Tim Pethick, the person responsible for making Nudie what it is today (one of the three most influential brands in Australia, only behind Lonely Planet and Qantas). His recipe seems simple but it works: you have to create brands with personality and you have to create emotional commitments with consumers (especially in the current international market). Pethick spoke from the perspective of creativity, but the other leg of the forum was talent. In fact, Steve Hatch stated that talent is a combination of natural ability and experience that allows one to act more effectively. That is, it is an essential remedy in times of crisis.

For his part, Kjell Nordström referred to the ability to adapt in a world in complex transformation: in this environment those who adapt are the ones who will survive. Other things that were heard have to do with credibility: Martin Oetting advanced the latest trends in word-of-mouth under the premise that this behavior "is part of our genetic code." Oetting dared to come up with some very revealing figures: no less than 15% of the conversations we have are about brands or products (and 70% of purchasing decisions in the automotive field depend on this issue). His conclusion: »buying is a social Industry Email List process». A final example is Xing. Sönke Martens, country manager of this professional social network in Spain, came to speak. Martens spoke about the importance of networking strategies in the current economic context. His premise: a good network of contacts avoids major disasters. I promise more information. For those eager, Tallerd3 has published a good summary (too bad we didn't meetI am convinced that times like these (of economic difficulties in much of Europe) require new ideas to be put into practice.



In this context, Infonomía held a fair on innovation in Barcelona these days under the name Ifest'08. After the successes of previous years in the Renacer format, the event that was held from last Thursday until today in the Forum building in Barcelona  has presented ideas and projects in the field of innovation . Innovation is a key variable of prosperity, although in our country we are still a little behind. In fact, spending on R&D has grown by 50% in a decade, but is still far from the EU average, according to the 2008 Report on Technology and Innovation in Spain by the Cotec Foundation. Between 1995 and 2006, investment in R&D has gone from representing 0.79% to 1.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2006, the latest official data available, spending amounted to 11,815 million. What are the keys? Talent, socialization, innovation... The future happens here, and it could be seen in Barcelona with heterogeneous conferences like these: Nadja Schnetzler will explain to us how normal people develop differential ideas, based on her 20 years of experience as founder of the Swiss company Brainstore.