There is always light
Need a few predictions for this unpredictable year? Find ours on our brand new website (oh my)! We’re feeling pretty good - so far, we’ve kicked off exciting work with new clients, hired some great new talent and promoted the brilliant Sandra Steving Villegas to Partner. And it’s still only January.
In this edition, we interview ITV’s Director of On Demand Rufus Radcliffe, who chats about new agencies, challenges and our partnership on Studio 55 Ventures. I’ll stop here but there’s so much more - you know where to find us!
Happy New Year,
Rob & the Founders Intelligence Team
📸Please meet…Rufus Radcliffe📸
We’re working with some very clever people driving innovation at leading corporates - and we’re talking with them about the good, the bad and the ugly. This month, we caught up with Rufus Radcliffe at ITV, who launched ITV’s Studio 55 Ventures in partnership with us.
Tell us more about you:
I have recently taken on a new role at ITV, as MD of our on-demand business. This includes ITV Hub, our ad-funded product, subscription services Hub + and BritBox as well as our interactive business. Prior to that, I was ITV’s Chief Marketing Officer. I have spent all my career in the creative industries, starting out as a terrible account man in advertising, followed by 10 years at Channel 4.
What are your biggest learnings from running the Studio 55 incubator?
It has been a fantastic learning curve for me over the past few months. Firstly, there is such incredible talent out there (it was really hard to shortlist the ideas because there were so many good ones). Secondly, the power of partnership. Germs of ideas, when swarmed around by the right people can grow exponentially – and thirdly, you can find value and growth opportunities in areas where least expected.
What’s an interesting idea or start up you are interested in your industry
A great former colleague of mine, Will Worsdell, set up a brand-new experiential agency just months before live events were banned because of the pandemic. His agency, The Park has held its nerve and has now won a string of awards. I would also like to give a shout out to ITV’s creative agency, Uncommon Creative Studio, who we have been working with since they were in full start up mode – three founders in an attic, producing fantastic award-winning creative work. And I am very hopeful that whoever gets through to the final stage in Studio 55 Ventures will be on this list too!
What are the biggest challenges you and your team face this year?
Where to begin?! Operationally, we are geared up to working remotely but I think we all need to recognise the difficult set ups that lots of people have at home and need to be mindful that everyone copes differently with the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in.
In 2020, I think a lot of viewers recognised the value of public service broadcasting…both as a source of news and also entertainment. We saw record levels of viewing but we also saw viewers discover new ways of watching content beyond linear TV which has accelerated viewing change. This means we need to be accelerating our on-demand ambitions, putting the viewer at the heart of our decision making as we build compelling digital products -which is my new job!
Thank you, Rufus!
🗞 What's grabbed our attention this month 🗞
Brought to you by Ezra Konvitz & Hendrik Jandel
Hey, big shot – Tech companies are jumping in to help get COVID vaccines distributed in record time: IBM offering governments and companies access to supply chain management software and open blockchain technology, Eventbrite helping schedule vaccination appointments, Uber and Lyft offering to drive people to get their shots, and Microsoft and Oracle are partnering with the Mayo Clinic on creating digital vaccination passports. Even BrewDog is getting in on it, in talks with the UK government to offer their disused venues (and fridges) as vaccination centres - and throwing in a commemorative beer to any takers.
So what? OK so humanity created multiple vaccines at a previosuly unimaginable pace, now what? Rapidly getting them into people might be the biggest operational and logistical challenge humanity’s ever seen. Companies pursuing public private partnerships, cooptition and collaboration aren’t just winning on PR - they’re exposing their products to new buyers, upskilling themselves and investing in pushing their capabilities to be ahead of the curve when things return to some semblance of normalcy (and good business too, if it speeds that up). Amazon’s selflessly offered help to the new Biden administration in return for getting their 800,000 essential workers vaccinated ‘at the earliest appropriate time’. Now let’s see if we can keep up this spirit to tackle that pesky climate crisis..
Driving innovation – Apple is reportedly getting serious about the Apple Car, a (presumably fancy) self-driving EV, and is looking to stick to what they know and focus on design while finding a manufacturing partner - similar to their iPhone business. They’re currently in talks with potential partners who are looking to become the Foxconn of the automotive industry (including Foxconn). Meanwhile, Chinese tech giant Baidu is moving ahead in a similar setup with Volvo’s parent company Geely and Didi, China’s largest ride-hailing company, unveiled an EV in November (eat that, Uber). And Microsoft, a little late to the party, just invested in GM’s $30bn self-driving unit Cruise.
So what? Assembling the best tech and finishing the product by designing a brilliant UX made Apple the first trillion dollar company. Why not apply the same strategy to other industries, especially if they’re undergoing some existential angst? If it works, expect more brands to follow and incumbents’ value chains to be fundamentally disrupted; as with other consumer industries, it’s safe to assume the mid-market is not the place to invest. As mobility UX and business models undergo a fundamental shift, car makers either need to rethink their place in the value chain or reorganise to capitalise.
Not so safe Haven – Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway announced the end of their non-profit joint healthcare venture ‘Haven’, after less than three years of trying to tackle excessive costs in the healthcare sector together. Meanwhile, Amazon is pressing ahead with their own healthcare ambitions, looking to scale their internal service Amazon Care to other companies, while rolling out their online pharmacy and launching Amazon HealthLake, a data service unit for healthcare organisations.
So what? While it’s easy to see many reasons for discontinuing this JV (management failure, geographic challenges, lack of strategy), having one partner aggressively pursuing their own ambitions on the side might not have been helpful. We were impressed, excited and a little bit confused when this JV was announced - wow, but could it really work? What was each partner really bringing to the table - and for that matter, what kind of table was it? Truly disrupting healthcare will require collaboration and data sharing, and companies should continue to seek strategic partnerships to tackle this beast.
Fun & Games – Gaming’s consolidating its position as a mainstream communication channel across industries - luxury fashion house Balenciaga launched a video game to promote their futuristic 2021 collection, promising to offer a glimpse into the future ‘in which it is intended to be worn’. Last year, Burberry opened London Fashion Week on Twitch, but Biden’s island got banned on Animal Crossing (Nintendo ruled they want to keep the politics out of the game - though AOC’s island could stay, since she apparently wasn’t using it to campaign). Oh, and child-friendly gaming-unicorn Roblox is about to go public. Fun times.
So what? Consumer-facing industries are getting into the gaming game (so to speak) as a way to stay close to the yoof as they increasingly abandon Instagram et al. After all, games are where they hang out and spend their pocket money - plus you can build a much more complete brand universe. But we have questions: are these a fad that users will quickly abandon or are network effects significant enough? Will users switch between different platforms? Are they going to date horribly? And if Trump could rule by Twitter for 4 years, why can’t we let Joe Biden have fun with his Switch?
That’s all, folks. If you enjoyed reading this, why not share the joy with your nearest and dearest & your remote colleagues.
PS: We’re also contributing insights to Founders News, a new personalised tech newsletter with info on your network and lots of this content too hatched out of Founders Forum - subscribe here!
PPS: Founders Forum are looking for an experienced lead to own the Climate Tech events series for 2021, to galvanize the FF community in the fight against climate change. Intrigued? Learn more here.