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WrestleMania Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I'm thinking about what students, could you all, meter each other. appreciate that. Thank you. in the center of digital transformation and in digital communication. So we have leaders from digital agencies as well as representing Denmark's largest consultancy company to give some of their perspectives of how you can keep this human in the center while making this digital shift. So our first panelist that is going to introduce himself for this session is Mats Frederiksen, who is building brands across businesses at AKQA. He has a self-declared obsession with the opportunities that are born through the exponential technologies of the 21st century. And I guess the sky's the limit. He is fueled by a passion for creating contagious communications. He is an expert in digital transformation, simple solution, and authentic brands. Please welcome Mats Frederiksen. Thank you very much. I was told to bring the chair, so I did. All right. You can choose to use it. Actually I prefer not to. Wow, was that me? That was amazing. So thank you guys. Thank you online. Just a quick introduction of AKQA. For those of you who don't know us, we are a, I'm actually excited to see when I click, a global digital agency. We've been around for 25 years. We live and breathe everything design, aesthetics, and technology. I sit with our senior leadership team here in Denmark. We're about 140 people, globally a bit more. I also lead our partnerships and everything related to cross-border collaboration. Great. So this is the one slide that we always use. Sounds a bit theatrical maybe, but this is who we are. We exist to create a better future. We always have been with our clients through the imaginative application of art and science. So, with us, it's always trying to look ahead and set a vision, a shared vision with the companies and brands that we work for. These are some of them. trying to put it into, oh, this is such a boring slide, but essentially it's also what we do, right? Transformation technology, communication, branding, and so on. These are some of the brands that we work for globally. And I think, as you said, with COVID and everything, it's just sort of enhanced the ability to work remote anywhere, anytime, basically, across studios. So we're kind of used to that. So we've basically just strengthened that muscle for the last few years as well. That means, so out of Copenhagen, for instance, we get to work on some amazing brands around the world, some spoiled brands as well sometimes. But we also make sure to balance this with our Danish local presence, which is super important to us. So we do platforms. Integrations, mobile applications. We do all of the design around it, obviously. Commerce is a big part. It's actually a huge part of what we do, both small scale and enterprise. And then we try to infuse all of this with some sort of storytelling, which I think is essential to what we'll talk about today as well. Without having a story, you don't really have much to offer. So I think that's key to what we see. Working with a lot of these different brands. And it's not all of them who actually do know exactly what their story is or their identity. But anyway, so that's what we work on. We also do a lot of branding. And I had to write AI these days. So I replaced NFT with AI. You get it. Some fascinating brands. This is us in a nutshell. We're about 35 studios globally. Two and a half thousand people, I think, and counting. And as you can see from our beautiful studios, just like here, we take great pride in opening up to our guests, whoever they are. And the moment they enter our doors, it should be an experience in itself. And we don't have a reception at AKQA. So what you meet is people. Ooh, crazy. Yeah. So whoever you are in our company, if the door or the doorbell rings, it's your responsibility to open and greet these people. Because essentially that's what they'll be dealing with and working with, right? And Lord knows, there's tons of systems and platforms you can put in place to become better at what you do and have a better process. But all projects are a dynamic thing. And you can't always predict what's gonna happen. So that's why having the people in the room, together is absolutely essential to what we do. And how do you do that on a video? Interesting. That's another talk. Stop me by the way, because I can keep going. So this is what we usually say, right? One studio with many doors around the world. The strength of AKQA is definitely the sum of all of these different studios. So for instance, in Paris, we're really strong on luxury brands. We work with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and the likes. Very strong within creative and design. In Amsterdam, we're very focused on brand campaigns, communication, but also startups, established startups and so on. And so we try to sort of put all of these ingredients together to work and bring in the right people at the right time. Super exciting, super great to do this and be able to do this. And video is obviously in that sense, a central piece of the pie. This is the bragging slide. Got to have that. Essentially it tells you something about the clients that we've had for many, many years. We have a long list of different clients. And as I said initially, what is the most important to us is actually not the logo itself. It's whether they're ambitious or not. So we are best when working with ambitious companies. That's for sure. That's also why setting a vision for what we do together is absolutely critical. Absolutely essential. And these are some of them, both Danish and local and outside of DK that we work with. I think the next slide might be a showreel. Let's see if the audio works and everything. I have to pass this showreel now. Turn on notifications and on bell notifications. See you then. Bye bye. Through the hard times and the good I have to praise you I have to praise you Like a shirt I don't know why but I can suddenly see the ball Let's see who's here I know We've come a long, long way together Through the hard times and the good I have to celebrate you, baby I have to meet you again I have to praise you I have to praise you Like a shirt I have to praise you Like a shirt Like a shirt transition they make. She is a partner at Implement Consulting Group, where she and a thousand colleagues work globally with management teams on projects of all shapes and sizes. She's a change activist, she's a communication nerd, and she's passionate about change communication. Please welcome Onyx. I would like you just to remember the real Demesha, because I'm going to get to that in a second. Uh-oh. My introduction is very short. I'm Onyx, I'm a nerd, I love communication, I work with humanizing language, I take very complex information and I translate that to very simple, clear things, and that's what we do at Implement Consulting Group. I'm part of a team called Change Communication, and Change Communication was born around nine years ago, because there was a need out there when organizations, we're going these big transformations that we hear at the tip of everybody's tongue, digital transformation, sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Well, there was a need to actually digest or take those complex information and make it simple for people to understand, because if I don't understand what is happening, if I don't understand the change, then why would I ever buy into it? And that is sort of where I do, and that's what I do, right? And it comes off with the idea that, how do we do this? Well, a lot of companies out there, marketing companies, or just big organizations, they hire great agencies like ADQA, and they come in and they do amazing insights driven communication, targeted around their target group that they want to inspire to buy something or do something differently. All right? And they really care about the emotional lives of their target audience. but what we typically see when we flip that logic and we look at organizations that are undergoing change we just assume that the people that are part of the organization will inherently buy into whatever change and they do not put the people at the center of their communication so what we do is we do great stuff like that internally because we believe that we're all humans so if you need to engage to do something different tomorrow then you are you know you should be also put at the center of your communication in organizations and that's what we do in change communication and we also work with a lot of different companies and we do at Implement try to be the best transformation partner we are a small Scandinavian that grew enormously in the last 10 years we are now in all over Europe and we are also in the States and we work with all sorts of companies, cultures, organizations and big transformations that are happening right now and that are relevant for today's organizations. Yeah, that's me. Also, video is one of the tools that we use. It is the one tool that can scale and especially now when we talk about sustainability being on everybody's agenda, then what better way to reach out with one simple video that can reach many. So it's a really great tool. I'm happy to talk about it today. And we are, yes, give her a round of applause. We are excited to hear you talk about it. Next up, if you click one, you have a slide of your own. Yes, there he is. Luca Rasmussen, who is partner and strategic director on Arcus, an independent brand studio that's worked with a range of briefs for the likes of IKEA, Mercedes-Benz, Space 10 and Acne Studios. He is currently taking the lead on expanding Arcus into new markets, including Norway, which happens to be my home country. Welcome, Luca. Give him a hand. Yeah, I just came back yesterday and it was raining. I'm all depressed. I am moving to Norway from 1st of August with my family because my wife is Norwegian. So we want to take our two children up the mountains for a few years. And it fitted quite well with opening up a third office for Arcus. So that's exciting. So I'm right in the midst of that. That's like very much ingrained at the moment. So nice to see you. Likewise. Arcus, we are an independent creative company with offices Copenhagen, Stockholm, very soon Oslo. We imagine and realize clear ideas within the fields of strategy, design, communication and digital. It is what it is, as the others also said. That is like the boring stuff. But there's a few things that are important for us here that I'm going to double down on. One is that we are independent. I'm going to get back to us being around 30 people. So not the sizes of the two over here and not owned by anybody. We do whatever the fuck we want. We do whatever we want. We invest in the companies we want. We build the companies we want. We work with the partners that we want and also say no to the partners we don't want to work with. That's an important thing. Secondly, we are not a studio or an agency. These days we are more of a company because we also build our own things and that's as much a part of our DNA as possible. And then it's also an easy way to get away or kind of claim that we don't have an agency-client relationship. We are collaborators, all of us. We kind of still have the other thing, but it's like a cheesy way just to be transparent. Then we work with clarity. I think it's a nice word in English. I think it's a very nice word in Danish. Klarhet. To see something clearly. Do I go ja klart igennem, you can say in Danish, which I think is a very beautiful term. And it comes down to not necessarily simplicity or Scandinavian minimalism or anything like that. It just comes down to for us that it is true. It is authentic. It is what just kind of naturally should be. And that's what we strive to do. And now I remember that I didn't put on the text, but I found it because normally we have a text. I'll just read it out loud because I think it resonates really well with the conversation today about video. So, clarity for us. Clarity makes narratives easy to understand, yet impactful and characteristic. Clarity understands context, blends naturally, or breaks it. Clarity cuts through clutter and directly resonates with people. Clarity works across formats, cultures, and continents, but always with the It's a consistent core but a thousand expressions. Clarity is hard work and basically Clarity is the beauty of a great idea and and for us, that's why we do stuff. And I think it really really desperately needs such a good video communication, kind of the saying. And then we work in this space between imagination and realization, and it's also, Dan Ryan guyADRIA.io and I think and us students fait richem sens no an We are very much entrepreneurs by DNA. That's where we come from. We do that ourselves. But it's important for us to acknowledge the imaginative space that we can be in. It's extremely important for us that we are data-driven, that we are quantitative and qualitative research-based, and all that stuff, of course. But sometimes it just feels right or wrong. And that's also an argument. And I think that's a super, super important thing where you can't put your finger on why it's better or worse. Or maybe you can find some data that tells you. But you can just feel it deep down that this just feels fucking right. And that's extremely important for us. And secondly, it's extremely important for us not to be the classic consultants. And I really don't feel that either one of you and your companies are either. But this notion of coming in, da-da-da-da, there you go, see you, deal with that. Like, we really like to make things real and kind of build a relationship down the line because it's so easy to be a consultant if you act like that. So we want to move between those two fields. And that's what we try to do all the time. Yes, we do strategy, design, communication, digital. Basically, what we do is we define kind of creative strategy. We define the position for brands, either new brands or existing, that want to pivot or need to pivot. Then we build their expressions. We communicate that in nice ways or hopefully nice ways. And then often or 99% of the times, it has a digital expression. As well, just as it some years ago, maybe more also had a physical expression. How does it look in magazine or whatever it is? So that's the fields that we work within. And of course, I'm more over here than over here. Yeah. Then we do branding as a whole. And I assume we all kind of agree to this, but I also think it's important in the conversation of today, which is for us. This is not revolutionary. It's every time I think you must think like something smart will come, but it's not going to be super smart. I think it's pretty basic. It is just that branding is everything. And that's why it's really hard. It's a really hard thing to work with because you come in as an agency and then you kind of claim that we can build your brand. But we can't alone because it's like, yes, you can have a beautiful website or yes, you can do an amazing above the line campaign. But if I call the customer service and they tell me to fuck off, then that's the brand. Or if I walk in the door and the secretary doesn't look me in the eye or whatever it can be like, that's the brand. So everything, every single touch point across everything is the sum of its parts becomes the brand. And that's, of course, a bit hard if you didn't say you work with branding because you can't be experts in all of that. So therefore, it's extremely important that the company follows along and are part of the journey because we can't be experts on all of that. Yes. And I think we're going to have to follow up on some of those topics. Yes. 30 seconds and I'm done. Yes. Okay. We work with a few clients, very few in Denmark, to be honest. Here's just a few of the things that we're working on, something that's actually not live at the moment. Rebranded Marshall coming out soon. We didn't change the logo because that would be completely crazy. We have been doing strategic communication with IKEA for years, our first client. Everything from what goes on the cover of magazines to design philosophies globally. We rebranded Trustpilot, Dance Film School, just did a new, yeah, everything digital for Glossier that just launched a few weeks ago. Very nice. And then recently also did Aken Studios' new website and their digital presence, which was also a very fun, fun project. Hi. And this is who we are. I'm not going to say the names, but maybe you know somebody there, maybe not. We have 25 50-50 split men and women, which is important for us. And as I said, entrepreneurs, most of them by heart. And we very much encourage that and would like people to do their own things. Yes. Yes. Yes. So that's us and that's me. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Luca, for not introducing every single team member of Barkas. That's much appreciated. I want to welcome the panelists to take their chairs and bring them in front of the TV screens so that we can dive into our panel discussion. We are running a little bit behind schedule. And I am going to be hung out as a bad guy who tried to limit all of the video content for you guys. I apologize for that. I'm very happy that we got to show it in the end because I think it's going to underline a lot of the points that we're going to get to during the panel discussion on how video can actually function as a tool. Amazing. Oh, I'm sitting on this side this time. Thank you. Great. So in the introduction of the session, first of all, thank you so much for showing the video clips. It was very important. And like I mentioned in the introduction, like society has been going through this change where we are so much consuming video and we are interacting with video. And I would like to start by asking Monique, because you work, you know, in a consultancy firm. And you guys have already taken this mature step to kind of address the issues of change. And how to. How to interact with that. Can I just be very frank and ask why, in your opinion, do you think businesses and organizations are so far behind when it comes to this video trend that we're seeing? And why are they so hesitant to jump into it? I don't think they're hesitant to jump into it. I just think that there's too many rules and regulations and processes around how things should be done. And that kind of limits organizations to think beyond. Or to, you know, when we show some of the great cases that we have done, they're like, yeah, yeah, we want that. And then slowly when we get into the conversation, they kind of scale down. That's a bit too much. That's a bit too much. And then we go end up, you know, in a situation where we need to renegotiate. So I think it is actually the aspiration is there. But I think, you know, bureaucracy, processes, you know, organizational structures, you know, hierarchies that may. influence, you know, decisions that are being made, then tend to take a prevalence in the decision. Yeah, exactly. And I guess we can all relate to that in any, you know, business aspect, when you're trying to start a project, and you're dealing with a lot of hierarchy levels, it takes time, right? And I guess that's one of the benefits the two of you have working in agencies where you have kind of the creativity as front and center. I would like to ask, how do you ensure in your videos, that they can resonate emotionally with an audience, or a target group or your customers, when you are functioning in a digital landscape, such as now, it's not a power outage, it's just actually my boyfriend by convenience that touched the light. So it's getting hot in here. So how can we resonate emotionally through video content in such a digital landscape? And maybe I can start over here with you, Luca? That's an impossible question to answer. But it's a, but I think it's a good question. It's just that depends on who you're speaking to. Like, for me, like, it comes down to it. Like, I think that's also why it was nice that like, it was mentioned that driven in your communication. It's the same like insights is not something that is safe for the advertising agencies or for the award shows or wherever they are at and planners and so on. Like insights basically just comes down to like okay, who am I talking to? If I put myself in their shoes what would make this relevant for them? What would make it interesting? What would make them move? What would provoke them? And then that's your point of departure. So I think it's more and I think actually that's it's not to derail the conversation but I think it's an interesting conversation because I think we can very quickly get down to like do you have two mics or one mic or do I use this camera or this camera? But in reality I think it's more of a it's a way of approaching communication as a whole and it's a way of living your life which comes down to like acknowledging that you're not speaking on your own behalf for yourself you're speaking towards somebody. Like you see it so often that clients come and say okay they think the solution is let's just get the CEO in front of the camera and then he'll talk about it and everybody will love it and it's going to be great. But that's just very rarely the solution because it becomes a need that is not present with the people that need to listen to it. It becomes a need for the CEO or for some marketing person over here I think. So I think that's my answer which is a non-answer. Depends on who you're talking to. I love it. Can I add to that? Of course. I think actually at AKQA we're not good with numbers. So we're very good with emotions as people and as an organization. I think one of our KPIs is perhaps goosebumps, right? So it's about creating something that actually has a quality that evokes some sort of emotion, right? And so our conversations are very much focused around the work that we do. And you actually mentioned as well Luca, like you can have as much data to prove the case but if it doesn't fly, it doesn't fly, right? And if torture data not long enough, it'll confess. So we don't really believe in that necessarily but if we see something that hits us and strikes us, we know that we have to go with that. And that's why it's very difficult to put into a recipe as such, right? But you guys know this well when you get the goosebumps. But I appreciate both your answers and I also surprisingly appreciate that they are non-answers because I think the proof lies in the pudding, right? So just watching the video that you showed from AKQA, it's like you can't really put your finger on what it is but you know, we were all engaged in it somehow. It was all, you know, awakening for us to watch and it captured us. So it was super cheap. Which is an added bonus. I would like to address you again, Monique, and ask so when companies use video as a part of their communication and dealing with their customers especially, customers and clients, how can you maintain that like trust and loyalty when you shift to a different communication format in a digital transformation? So, okay, I would leave customers as an outside the company to these guys, but I will take the ones inside, which for me would be employees, right? And when I look at that, I would say again, don't go with a talking head. But you know, playing so authenticity can be seen in many different ways and playing with emotions in how you communicate has actually proven to have much more worth than the data and the numbers. Of course, you need to have the data and the numbers, but that's only half of the story. When we work with videos and trying to ensure that this flies in the organization, we always ask the question. So is it actually speaking to the right people? Is it actually telling the story? Is it making sense? Is it clear? And so maybe this is also a non-answer, but in reality, you know, people are scared to use emotions in a way that's not really clear. At least internally in organizations, because it makes people uncomfortable. If I'm using emotion, do I give off the sensation that I'm maybe unsure about our new strategy or our new digital transformation? Is it, you know, does it make me look too weak because I'm using humor? But actually emotion is a multiplier when you work with people. So using that in your communication, what we've seen is that it creates a lot of impact. And once you have proven, you know, pilot one video like that, and whether it's a video, whether it's through actually even a summit or whatever use of video you can talk in, whatever spectrum of that, when we talk about usage of video, it has really shown to then have a really big impact. And then they just buy into it, right? Yeah. I love your keyword here for me is like authenticity. That is such a big word to really build that trust and loyalty with whoever. But yeah, no, yes, I agree. It's a... It's always a little bit weird with panels, right? Then you kind of talk, so we can talk a bit more together maybe. But it's like, I think what... There's a few things. First off, the first thing you asked into is like, why is it hard? It's very clear. It's very intimidating to stand in front of a video. Like we have all talked plenty of times on stages and done all sorts of stuff. You still get a little bit when you get up here and the cheeks and, you know, want a bit of water. That's just how it is. There is something about it that just makes it a bit more intimidating. It's extremely important to acknowledge. Because it's... It is at the moment being neglected or being done to think, well, your 11 year old is doing it. Everybody's doing it. Tick tock, ba, ba, ba. Why can't you just... And then suddenly you're standing there and it's like, it is quite a sensitive space to move into. So I think that's just really important to acknowledge. And then I think secondly, it's... I think it's very important to also be as everything in life is like, what's the purpose of the thing I'm doing? Because now we're talking about transformation and yes, we should maybe be a bit more emotionally driven. Because... I think it's also about connecting to leadership and to what's going on. But there's also nothing more annoying than when you just need a message and then somebody want to wipe it into something they experienced. And now I'm going to go through a whole journey of, you know, a theater. And it's like, I just need to know the fucking numbers. And so I think that's also an important thing to acknowledge that it doesn't all kind of end up in that like realm of, wow, it just needs to look like this thing that you showed before. Right. And so I think that's the second thing. And then lastly, for me... I was just... When you were talking, I was thinking like, so what speech do I like the most at a wedding? Right. And it's like, that's not necessarily that amazingly well-spoken person that stands up and takes you through a whole thematic journey of yada, yada, yada. Maybe it's the guy that just goes up and says, I love you. And then you can just sense it. And I think that's also an important thing. Again, back to like daring to be real. Like, it's that moment when at a conference, when the speaker goes down from stage. And just talks to you. And that's important. Or that's nice for you. But it also creates something for the rest of the group. Instead of me trying to speak to all of you all the time, then that actually gives you also something, even though I'm looking at you. And I think those moments are so strong, especially when you talk about transformational stuff, that you dare to get into that sensitive space and actually acknowledge that it's okay, that it's not perfect. And that it's not, you know... And that you should... You're the CEO, but why are you not good at this? And that actually... That actually makes people connect much more to you and so on. So basically, it's no clear topic. And at the end of the day, it comes down to that, right? And then cater to that. Exactly. And then acknowledge who you are yourself. Yeah, I was just about to say, actually, because that's another topic that we see often, right? What's your voice? Like, who are you? What's your identity as a brand? A lot of companies still struggle to try to identify that in itself. And if you don't have that in place, it's going to be very difficult, I think, to go out authentically. And promote anything. I also think it's worth mentioning that, you know, with all these big companies that we work with and the small ones, they're here to do business. Let's not forget that part. And so video is a component of that. And it's definitely a strong enabler. But it's, in my opinion, it's only, you know, when you meet the people behind the company that it becomes real. So can you augment that through video? Yes, definitely. But you need to see it as at most an extension, right, of the company. I think there's a lot to be said here also when it comes to, you know, video formats. Because we're, a lot of the common topics here are, you know, being authentic, be yourself, know who you're speaking to, address your audience. And it sounds complex, right? Because you have all these things you have to take into consideration. But I think a lot of the answer lies in simplifying it. Actually, rather than making it complex. And by stripping away some of those layers will actually allow for a little bit more of a vulnerable communication between, you know, two parties. I'm very sad to say that we are out of time. I am getting hand gestures from all over the place. And I'm like, no. But we can stay. So, yeah, it's not a problem for us to take. But it's not even a joke because I have to run off to another room in the next session. But I would encourage all of you to, I'm even sorry for saying this, to chase down these people and get some of their insights throughout the day. They're so knowledgeable. And I've been talking to them all one on one before the summit. And they have so many great insights to share with all of you. So, I'm sorry that I'm offering on your behalf. But I encourage you all outside over by the snacks and maybe some of the beverages. We'll see. I want to thank everyone who's been joining us and following on. We will continue with our next session very shortly. And for everyone here in the room, please enjoy the rest of the 23 Summit. And we'll see you very soon. Thank you. Thank you.
