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The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. The emergence of generative AI and digital transformation has redefined customer-company relationships, empowering consumers like never before. As argued in a previous article I wrote, today’s customer is no longer a mere segment or target consumer, but a brand seeking vendors to help create their unique identity. Companies must now redefine their value propositions to meet these evolving expectations. In recent years, we’ve seen digital platforms like NikeID and physical innovations like Coca-Cola Freestyle allow consumers to customize products within company-defined parameters. This trend towards bespoke experiences is expanding, with companies offering customers greater control in exchange for premium pricing and individualized experiences. Droz: A case study in radical co-creation During a recent visit to Switzerland, I witnessed a remarkable example of customer-company co-creation at Jaquet Droz, a luxury watchmaker established in 1738. Now part of the Swatch Group, this Maison has embarked on a radical journey embracing customer collaboration. Led by CEO Alain Delamuraz, Jaquet Droz launched the “JD 8.0: A Disruptive Legacy” strategy, focusing on creating unique pieces in partnership with customers. The company took the bold step of dismantling its retailer network to work directly with clients. Jaquet Droz built specialized collaboration studios where customers can discuss their desired pieces with artisans. These state-of-the-art facilities allow for real-time interaction and step-by-step follow-up throughout the production process, even down to selecting specific colors for the timepiece. This collaboration may last as long as a year to ensure that the customers exact vision is captured to the level of a shade of a color. While the customer is not an expert on watchmakingthis is what Jaquet Droz brings to the tablehe is the ultimate expert on his preferences and wishes. For such a storied brand to be willing to collaborate so deeply with its customers and enable their dreams requires a great deal of humility and a clarity of the customers role in their existence. High-profile collaborations When Bon Jovi wanted to commemorate the bands 40th anniversary, it was the unique co-creation collaboration with Jaquet Droz team that resulted in Tourbillon Skelet Red GoldBon Jovi. When a Canadian customer and a Rolling Stones fan wanted to ensure that his love for the music is alive every day, The Rolling Stones AutomatonExile on Main Street was created especially for them. For a brand that started its journey in music by crafting special chirping bird clocks for European elite, crafting music-related timepieces was a natural continuation of its legacy. But their co-creation does not stop with music. From nature-related timepieces to top of the line Tourbillon complications , the company is fully dedicated to fulfilling its customers dreams. The courage to innovate Jaquet Droz’s decision to cease working with retailers and boutiques in favor of direct customer engagement was both courageous and risky. This move provided the freedom to focus entirely on individual client needs, setting a new standard in the luxury watch industry. While some may argue that this level of collaboration is a privilege reserved for the wealthy, the example set by Jaquet Droz is likely to inspire other companies to find ways to democratize the customer co-creation model. How can you start a co-creation process with your customers? Here are few steps to consider: Mindset first: Adapt to the fact that your customers are brand owners with district opinions, not just consumers of your end products. Curious listening: Redesign your discovery process to ask different questions and seek design guidance. Transform to a tool kit: Consider your expertise and skills as part of a toolbox available to craft solutions with your customers not for them. Design collaborative space: Like Jaquet Droz, create dedicated spaces that will foster collaboration and reciprocal dialogue. Joint journey management: Include your customer input throughout the creation journey. Adapt as needed based on feedback. One-of-a-kind creations: Focus on creating solutions that will reflect not just the customer needs, but their brand as well. Share credit: Ensure that your customers contribution to the creation is respected and expressed in the final product. Ongoing support: The sales are never over as you keep on updating the solution as technology evolves and the customers expectations shift. Charge accordingly: Co-creation does not mean you need to lose money. It should lead to a perfect solution at a premium price over the one-size-fits-all sold today. One-of-a-kind story: While your deep knowledge of the processes and production are evident, respect that your customers will know best what they desire and what story they want to craft for themselves. Those stories reflect their identity and therefore will always be one of a kind. Customer co-creation is here to stay. As more manufacturers explore bespoke offerings, Jaquet Droz’s commitment to collaborationevidenced by their new studios and direct-to-consumer approachestablishes a path forward for the industry. The bold steps taken by this watchmaker demonstrate that sometimes, to move forward, companies must take risks and reimagine their entire business model. As this trend continues, we can expect to see more innovative approaches to customer collaboration across various industries, potentially making co-creation accessible to a broader audience. Lior Arussy is a global transformation expert and the author of Dare to Author!
Category:
E-Commerce
A first-of-its-kind project will use a swarm of small, independent submersibles to monitor, protect and provide data on offshore artificial reefs whose purpose is to attract new marine life in otherwise barren sections of sea, officials said Monday. The small, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, hailed as the future of underwater surveillance will be equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras to give scientists at the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute a clear picture on the effectiveness of their intricate artificial reefs designed and built using 3D printing. Made of an environmentally friendly cement mixture, the artificial reefs will be embedded with a docking station at which the AUVs can recharge and transmit collected data including video, said CMMI CEO Zakarias Siokouros. The advantage of the AUVs lies in their ability to loiter underwater for as long as a month at a time and provide a continuous flow of data while protecting the reefs by alerting scientists to any disturbance in protected waters from illegal fishing and encroaching boats. Scientists would, in turn, notify local authorities. A trial run of the project, dubbed EONIOS, is currently underway off Cyprus Ayia Napa marina. Scientists plan to place the artificial reefs in waters off Cyprus southern coastal town of Limassol at a depth of around 20 meters (66 feet) where sunlight can still reach the seabed. The reefs attract everything from vegetation to large fish and for waters off Cyprus where there isnt enough food for fish, we aim to create the appropriate environment to bring such fish there, Siokouros told The Associated Press following a demonstration of the AUVs’ capabilities at the Ayia Napa Marina. EONIOS is a partnership between the CMMI, AUV makers Arkeocean of France, Cypriot tech company SignalGeneriX and French consultancy company Lanego. Siokouros said the partnership aims to market EONIOS to other countries who would want to build up their fish stocks using artificial reefs. A key selling point for the AUVs is that they can provide surveillance, 3D data collection and area protection at a significant discount compared to tethered submersibles, said Arkeocean official Tamara Brizard. Our goal is to make a system under which six of our mini-drones can do the same work for the price of one conventional drone, Brizard said. Arkeocean AUVs can currently pack a maximum 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of sensors and other gear and can operate to a depth of 300 meters (984 feet) although newer versions are being designed to reach 3,000 meters (9,842 feet). The AUVs receive commands through an attached acoustic antenna and can pinpoint their location. Battery-powered thrusters make the AUVs very stealthy and nearly undetectable, Brizard said, making them extremely useful for defense purposes such as surveillance in restricted waters. The AUVs can operate anywhere in the world thanks to an Iridium satellite antenna. The AUVs can also use undersea currents to roam, extending battery life. Another application is in the energy field where the submersibles can be used to detect seismic activity for offshore oil and gas exploration as well as finding suitable areas on which to build offshore wind and solar farms, said Brizard. Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Elon Musk is in hot water with our Canadian neighbors to the north. A parliamentary petition with 200,000 signatures and climbing is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to revoke Musks Canadian citizenship and passport for threatening Canada’s sovereignty by engaging in activities that go against the national interest.” The British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition in Canadas House of Commons, where it was sponsored by parliamentary member Charlie Angus over the weekend, as reported by the Canadian Press. Musk was born in South Africa, but obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 through his mother, Maye Musk, who was born in Saskatchewan. The SpaceX CEO and current adviser to President Trump then went on to become a U.S. citizen in 2002. Like a growing number of Americans, many Canadians have had enough of Musk’s alliance with Trump and his extreme interference at the highest levels of American government. Canadians are also angered by the continued threats to slap high tariffs on goods from our longtime trading partner and ally, along with Trump’s outrageous calls to make Canada our 51st state. The petition, launched on February 20, only needed 500 signatures for presentation to the House of Commons to garner a formal government response. It calls on Trudeau to revoke Musks Canadian citizenship status and his Canadian passport “effective immediately.
Category:
E-Commerce
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