Yesterday was the start of module 2 which will run for one week. We were split into small groups and were given our first proper task; to create a new online business. We will pitch our idea to a panel on Monday morning and we have to submit 4 back up ideas tomorrow.
The challenge is to:
- Research business opportunities in the digital landscape
- Identify a business idea
- Conceptualise it
- Connect it to a revenue model
- Describe it in a concept book
- Convince a panel that they should invest in you
The aim is to:
- Gain a holistic view of their industry
- Understand what it takes to start a successful business
- Understand their role in business
- Create something new and innovative
- Turn technologies into business opportunities
- Understand competitor analysis
- Be given freedom to work with something they feel passionate about
- Develop strong presentation skills
The outcomes are to:
- Identify potential problems or conflicts and choose appropriate tools and methods for their resolution
- Adopt roles within a team and contribute to the effective collaboration
- Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the shifting relationship between producers and consumers
- Demonstrate a systematic and critical understanding of emerging trends and the implications they have on businesses
- Autonomously assess and make recommendations on the use and integration of existing open systems and tools
- Demonstrate an awareness of the constantly changing nature of the industry
- Demonstrate a detailed and critical understanding of a variety of digital
channels, their individual intrinsic characteristics and function within a larger digital eco-system
- Discuss the role of mobile and the implications of related transformative technologies
We will be assessed on the following:
1. Competence:
– The participants ability to apply her/his skills and/or knowledge in context
2. Attitude:
– Self leadership and the participant’s willingness and ability to adapt to change and collaborate
3. Creativity:
– The participant s ability to be innovative and relevant
After being put into our groups we had a lecture and workshop on creativity and idea generation from Harry Davies (Head of Solutions Strategy, Google UK). This was really interesting; Harry talked about celebrating differences between people and proposed that 'there is no right answer, instead there are lots of right answers'. Harry used the analogy of Holmes and Watson to demonstrate how differences don't necessarily mean that people can't work well together and be successful.
The exercise that followed was really effective; we were asked to get into groups of 2, one person left the room and was told that when they came back in the room, they had to explain to the other person their idea for an outdoor campaign to promote the Olympics. Meanwhile, the other person (me) was briefed to break down and criticise every point they made. Although it was hard for me to do and I felt really bad, it was a good way of highlighting the need to respect others' ideas and 'build don't break'.
The rest of the day was allocated to working in our groups ('Team Bjorn Again' see pic below). In preparation for the assessment, we were encouraged to think about what we use the internet for and what assumptions/insights we can make about human attitudes and behaviours as a result. This exercise helped us to think about what we could offer consumers in our new online business and where there was a lack of something.
For example:
Use: I use the internet to find the best deals and discounts on products/restaurants/holidays/days out
Assumption/Insight: I expect value for money, I am not prepared to pay full price, I want to feel satisfied that I have got a good deal
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| Steve & James hard at work |
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| Lizzy deep in thought or feeling the pressure? |
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| Team 'Bjorn Again' on Monday morning |
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| So happy with my new Chromebook |
So that was yesterday... Today has been spent developing our ideas and challenging each other to explore deeper into how our ideas would be executed etc. It's been a productive day; we all have our own idea that we really believe in so today has worked really well with everyone putting in lots of effort!
Tomorrow we submit our one leading idea and 4 back up ideas. Before I go to sleep, I will leave you with what was supposed to be a one pager summarising my idea from today, bookmeaholiday.com. Although I'm really passionate about it and think it would be great if it existed, there are one or two others which I think might get the vote mainly due to their originality, I will keep you posted on this...
bookmeaholiday.com
The insight
The internet is cluttered with travel sites offering flights, hotels/accommodation, travel insurance etc.
Speaking from personal experience, looking for holidays is a timely and repetitive task, which can be highly frustrating and ironically very unenjoyable. I find myself filling in the same criteria on every tour operator’s website in hope of finding the perfect deal for me; with reasonable flight times and with flights departing from a local airport. Too often I have felt let down by what I think is the perfect holiday, only to realise the flight departs from the other end of the country!
The idea
We need a one stop shop for researching and booking all types of holidays/breaks/traveling including all adds on and the option to buy holiday essentials.
The execution
Consumers build a personal profile which details all relevant information which can help bookmeaholiday.com tailor holidays that appeal to them. The more information the consumer provides, the more personalised/filtered and thus appropriate suggestions can be made. Information will include age, marital status, number and ages of children, interests, past holiday experiences, location etc.
Once the profile has been created it will be saved for the consumer and can be edited for future holiday searches that may be of a different kind e.g. consumer may have previously searched for a sun holiday and next time they may be looking for a ski holiday (yet many of their circumstances are likely to remain the same i.e. size of family/number of children/departing airport).
To get maximum information for a consumer profile, consumers can fill in surveys which help them to articulate their ideal holiday.
The one stop shop will incorporate various social media platforms to help consumers their perfect holiday; twitter feeds down the side which displays any travel related trends, ‘pinterest’ tab (to document desirable destinations), travel blogs. Some additional features are a ‘what’s hot’ tab (new places to visit/popular places now), ‘review’ tab which can only be contributed to by previous bookmeaholiday.com customers (to maintain accuracy).
There is also the opportunity to partner with retailers; a ‘holiday essentials’ tab will direct consumers to Boots/Superdrug to buy their holiday toiletries etc. The ‘scrub up’ tab will direct consumers to local beauty salons /nail bars who will offer deals on pre-holiday treatments e.g. waxing/spray tanning.
Revenue stream
The tour operators will pay an annual fee to appear on bookmeaholiday.com. The added incentive is that they will not have to adapt their websites at all; bookmeaholiday.com will automatically populate the criteria on individual tour operators’ site using the information from the consumers existing personal profile; time saving for the consumer and no effort required from the tour operators.
Advertisers also have the opportunity to pay extra for banner ads that match the requirements of certain consumers to advertise a particular deal/promotion. This encourages advertisers to compete on offering the best deals and therefore provides value for money for consumers.
Good night all! x
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