Writing’s on thewall forembarrassing digital strategy
OPINION: A former colleague used to try and scare the living daylights out of New Zealand businesses by telling them that if they didn’t have a digital strategy, they didn’t have a business strategy.
His point was a good one. Technology opens up enormous opportunities for businesses but could also be a threat if ignored.
Businesses need to constantly look at how they might leverage evolving technology to improve, change or totally transform themselves, because their competitors certainly will be.
But every time I heard my colleague’s mantra, I’d wonder if absolutely every business needed a digital strategy.
I was reminded of that recently when I was given a Moleskine travel notebook that proudly announced on the promotional blurb that this was Moleskine going digital.
Those of you who like to carry a notebook will be familiar with Moleskine, which creates beautiful, high-end, stylish notebooks.
The company’s website boasts: ‘‘In today’s digital world, paper is as important as ever. Not only will your Moleskine notebook never run out of power, it will carry within its pages the memory of each moment of your life.’’
So, I was intrigued with how you could make a Moleskine digital. Well here’s the thing: What you do is write or draw in your notebook, take a picture of it and post it on social media. Righto.
Moleskine’s answer to digital also gives you a how-to page on how to print things and paste them in your notebook, share your travel details in a Flickr group, and turn your snapshots into a Moleskine photo book. Hi-tech it is not.
But that’s not all. The notebook also comes with a paper banner that announces ‘‘I am here’’.
So hi-tech – bear with me now – that you hold it up while someone takes a photo of you and hashtag them to connect to ‘‘the Moleskine community’’.
I wonder if being thrown out of the TajMahal is in the Moleskine risk register.
I amnot sure why anyone would do this, apart from the fact that it helps tick the digital box for Moleskine. They called this a ‘‘selfie’’ which is technically incorrect as you can’t hold the banner and take your own photo.
What was particularly amusing about this digital wonder was when I pulled the banner out at the Taj Mahal, and was instantly surrounded by staff yelling, ‘‘No banners allowed.’’ I wonder if being thrown out of the Taj is in the Moleskine risk register.
Sorry, Moleskine strategists, but I think you need to gather around your digital whiteboard and have another think. This idea is mildly ridiculous.
There’s no doubt it’s important to harness emerging digital developments, but the end goal should enhance the customer experience and that means understanding why customers liked you in the first place.
Despite the digital age, notebooks are in high demand. If you’re a genuine hipster, you’ve probably got a notebook and pencil in your back pocket to capture those random creative moments.
And while you can record those on your digital device, that’s not always convenient if you suddenly ‘‘see the light’’ while soaking in the bath, out fishing, or during an insomniac moment in the night.
And it’s still not really acceptable to be plunking away on your iPad, laptop or phone at a meeting, whereas you look quite creative if you reach for your trendy notebook and start writing furiously or even doodling.
So I suggest the Moleskine folks look again at where their digital strategy fits with their very successful and aspirational brand.
In the meantime, I shall continue to amuse my fellow travellers with my ‘‘I am here’’ banner, just in case they haven’t noticed.