Day one of the main DCM Europe conference opened with a keynote panel discussing ‘Disrupt or sustain? Developing a sustainable business model in an innovation-led sector’. David Naylor of Field Fisher Waterhouse moderated the panel and set expectations high by saying: “We live in wildly interesting times. Eastman Kodak, which could be viewed as the inventor of digital photography, is rumoured to be preparing to file for bankruptcy.” That, he said, is “A sign that even big companies are struggling with this rapidly changing landscape.”
Disruption and flexibility are key to staying in business in today’s changing digital landscape, and creativity shouldn’t be stifled, was the consensus. According to panellist MB Christie, Online Project Management Director, ft.com: “We have to keep disrupting our own selves in order to sustain growth.”
John Clark, Managing Director, UK for SEGA, combined the view of traditional packaged goods, with digital distribution, and his belief was that the paradigm shift has been from linear consumption to multiple devices. “Games companies for the first time are trying to catch up with the consumer,” he said. SEGA has acquired UK studios and the innovators in the company need to be supported to keep up with technology and continue creativity.
Peter Briffett, of LivingSocial, was very much of the view that creative elements need the corporate and financial backing of large companies but should very much be “separate from the mother ship”. He spoke from the point of view of someone in the enviable position of having sold a company to Microsoft but still being allowed to keep some autonomy.” Particularly good, he pointed out, as “Microsoft has a great history of killing anything they acquire but they are getting better at that.” Harking back to Naylor’s opening comment, he added: “Kodak never understood the digital space and didn’t innovate there.”
The conversation also turned to failure and how to cope with that. According to Christie, a standard question for her with interviews was “What was your biggest mistake and how did you recover from it?” - Her company, she added, believed in ‘test, test, test’ but still sometimes that wasn’t a guarantee of success. “Sometimes we release a great product but the public didn’t want it. If works it’s not a failure in itself,” she stressed, giving the example of book publishing where some authors spend years getting a book publlished. “Then a later book becomes a bestseller so their first book that wasn’t well received succeeds. Persistence and optimism are crucial.”
