What's missing? What's the. . .
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 12:00PM 
About two months ago we were on a telecon with one of our clients who is part of a neighborhood development project here in Washington DC. We are initiating a brand strategy program for a local community looking to re-capture 125 million dollars of annual loss revenue due to a lack of sufficient retail and small businesses outlets in the neighborhood.
During the conversation we were sharing out approach on how cities, communities and organizations need to re-orient themselves in light of today's marketplace realities. One of the individuals on the call mentioned that he wanted to talk with us (in the upcoming weeks) about some other potential client work that we may be interested in.
About a week ago we got a call from the gentleman wanting to share with us the projects he spoke about during our meeting a couple of months back. We spoke for a few minutes in greater detail about our approach and shared with him some pertinent blog posts of ours. We hung up the phone and said he'd be back in touch with us. A day later he said he said he's very much interested in moving forward. Here's part of the email he sent:
"There is a lot of room in the nonprofit market for a firm with the skills you market to find the new or evolved value paradigm in a changing economic, demographic and technology environment. Many of my clients still devote the vast majority of their resources to an effort to remain relevant in a shrinking, legacy market. It is not sustainable. The smart ones see that, but even their visions are limited to better web sites and social media pushing the old value proposition."
When he sent us this email its like he nailed it square on the head. Not just non-profits, but many across the board aren't really able to get the right handle on what's hapenning. It's going to take more than social media first aid kits to fix the gash wounds to businesses and repair the bone fractures in the economy.
The gap in exploration and the void in many discussions, is design thinking in a digital world. What are the new models for value creation in the networked economy? How does the billion channel universe merge with our physical and abstract spaces? In an environment where information is getting commoditized across our digital platforms, the opportunties lay waiting, right there, at that synthesis. Right at that place that's ripe for re-intepreting old ideas in a modern context, seeing famliar language in a new light and re-invigorating old thoughts in a contemporary space.
At the intersection of design and digital you are on the verge, at the threshold of what was and what is about to be. Why not push open the door, walk through the entrance and enter into a room that allows for creative solutions, imaginative product design and the chance to create your own category. Here you're exploring the void - working and playing - in an empty space - where most others simply aren't.
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