The Internet of Things

Welcome to the November?issue of the Flumeletter??

In this Flumeletter we chat about? 'The Internet of Things' in relation to a project we did on kitchen appliances and shine a light on another team member in our ‘Team Spotlights’

Enjoy!

An article in a recent issue of The Week has caused some debate in the Flume office. A commentator was suggesting that ‘The Internet of Things is still not a thing’, despite McKinsey suggesting the total value for the Internet of Things(IoT)?ecosystem will reach ￡12.6trn by 2030.?

Around 10 years ago, we did some research on The Internet of Things, and its application in kitchen appliances – fridges that told you what you needed to stock up, washing machines with an app to monitor their progress and so on. It’s safe to say much of this was met with incredulity by respondents, but despite this, it’s now safe to say that the IoT has indeed found its way into everyday life – whether we like it or not. Over half of UK households have a smart speaker, 1 in 5 has a video doorbell and smart watches are an ever more present fixture on many wrists. And we’re seeing the idea of connectivity, even if not labelled the IoT by consumers, working its way to the forefront when it comes to consumer-generated NPD ideas – some of it in obvious categories such as electronics, but FMCG is certainly not immune to it.

Mark Twain?is credited with saying, "There is no such thing as an original idea" – the notion that people are constantly building on what came before them, and that new ideas are often created by combining old ideas in new ways. Clearly at some point in the past 10 years, the IoT went from being a ‘no way, not for me’ notion to one which is actually an ‘old idea’ manifesting itself in new ways.

There are a number of principles underpinning our approach to ideation, one of them being that new ideas are actually novel combinations of existing knowledge – as per Mark Twain’s thinking. There is, of course, plenty more to it than that!

If you’re toying with new ways of coming up with NPD for your brand, we’d love to share our thoughts with you and help you on the journey. ??For more information,?contact us at?[email protected]

Team Spotlight

In our second edition of Team Spotlights - where we catchup on what our team has been up to, watching and thinking about - we’d like to feature our amazing Business Development Manager, Lauren.

Reading

Miriam Margolyes, This Much Is True. It was a panic buy at the airport when I had too much time to kill. I knew I’d be guaranteed a laugh from it but I didn’t know much about her beyond Professor Sprout from the Harry Potter series. She has an abundance of hilarious stories to tell from school to being told to be quiet by the Queen.??

Although If I’m being really truthful here, I have all the supermarket Christmas catalogues and the latest edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. Surely I’m not still the only one buying and reading that?!?

Listening

I’ve got so many female-led podcasts on the go so picking one is always going to be difficult, but Spill and My Therapist Ghosted Me, both led by 2 best friends. It lets me feel like I’m just having a chat with the girls. Spill is candidly about navigating relationships, careers, friendships and self-worth to humorously tackle some, at times, difficult subjects. My Therapist Ghosted Me offers unqualified and unsolicited advice, both leave me howling!?

Watching

Rivals! Indulging in 80s culture with a stellar cast, ridiculous innuendo’s, sultry glances between characters who should know better and a hark back to the fashion and food. It has been the perfect escape whilst dark and grey outside. Absolutely ready for the (as yet uncommissioned) season 2!?