Digitalist Design Forum 2017
Tennispalatsi, Helsinki 16.11.2017

An event for designers, producers and buyers to increase insights of design thinking and brand experiences

I attended the event with high hopes to get insights of design and holistic customer experiences. I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed when most of the talks focused on branding. I decided to make the most of the day and learn everything I could on branding, a somewhat unfamiliar topic to me.

For starters we learned that Finland has a huge potential on being a design superpower but has failed terribly in using its potential. Petteri Kolinen (CEO, Design Forum Finland) and Ville Tolvanen (CEO, Digitalist Group) pointed out that there is a lack of a holistic view in finnish design and too much focus on the outcome or product. The lack of a holistic ensemble and an identity results in incoherent results.

The trick is to pull everything together
– Andreas Rosenlew

Andreas Rosenlew (Executive brand advisor & Managing Partner, Grow Partners) carried out with the same theme reminding us that there are a lot of brand evangelists and service designers running around. Rosenlew pointed out that the trick to survive in the competition is to be able to pull everything together to form a valuable and cumulative process. A successful designer truly understands the process of value creation and the different dimensions of value for the customer, such as financial, functional, social and experimental aspects of value creation.

Päivi Svens (Head of Marketing, Fazer Lifestyle goods) also pointed out the importance of values. Svens argued that when concentrating on value creation for the customer the customer sees the brand as more valuable which in turn increases commitment to the brand. Svens described a situation where the designing and branding was very fragmented in the Fazer Makeiset unit, a situation that led to mistakes when bringing new products to the market. The company took a huge effort in dissolving and rebuilding all the processes, reconstructing the tasks of employees and creating a coherent branding around the products. Svens said she had to learn a lot of new things on simplifying and making things visible but that effort paid off in the form of prizes and gaining trust and valuation within the company.

Simplify to Amplify
– Päivi Svens

Heidi Rantala (Co-owner, Chief Marketing Officer, Yepzon) had an important angle on branding from a growing business point of view. Her point was that it is not always the almighty brand that enables growth but growth that enables a brand to develop. Rantala pointed out that you need patience to build a brand and meanwhile you owe to the customers who invested in you and your company. Sometimes you need to make profit and grow first to enable an experience of a successful brand to customers.

Alexander Matt (Chief Marketing Officer, Fiskars Group) entertained us with a fictional clip of a graphic designer obsessed with the papyrus font in the Avatar movie logo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ and some heroic stories of well known brands such as Levi’s jeans and Adidas sneakers. The formula of a successful brand is that it is universal, holistic and aesthetic. It is consistent and it speaks the language of the customers.

Written by: Mira Grönlund