The small guy has the

power to change the world

Written by Anand Verma, illustrated by Claire Fawcett

We’re Brilliant Basics, but you can call us bb

And this is the story of us, of how and why we came to be and why we believe that the small guy has the power to change the world (and is already doing it). . . . Enjoy the journey 01

CHAPTER 1 Bigger isn’t always better

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Bigger isn’t always better

that goes for business ideas…

Not so much for things like cake (mmmmm cake)

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Sometimes big ideas can be easier to get off the ground

than smaller ones 04

because the step change is more dramatic and makes a bigger impact. 05

But often the biggest successes and the ideas that change people’s lives are much smaller.

As the saying goes, good things come in small packages.

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Big ideas aren’t the sole property of big businesses (or necessarily the product of big budgets). They can come from anywhere. Entrepreneurs are everywhere. 07

At bb we believe that the small guy has the power to change the world, with the right people and processes.

The way we work and the people we work with are testament to this. And the proof is all around us.

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When you look at the biggest successes driving change and disrupting conventional thought over the past 10 years...

It’s usually the little guy. 09

Take James Dyson, people thought he was

crazy

but would you buy a vacuum cleaner that needed a bag now? 10

Then there’s airbnb - a business that owns no real estate but is now the world’s largest accommodation provider.

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A services company with a product mentality completely changing the game.

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Who doesn’t want to be the:

of their sector?

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CHAPTER 2 Shaken and stirred: disruption as a norm

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The world has changed. People have changed. Businesses need to change to stay relevant and to really connect with today’s customer.

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Take the digital and marketing industry. The traditional agency model doesn’t work for the start-up minded entrepreneur. Or many established brands. In fact, the only people it does work for, are the ones at the top of the agency tree.

We know this because it’s where we came from. 16

Back in 2012, three seasoned agency professionals came together to create the kind of business that disrupted the traditional agency model.

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We saw an opportunity to do things smarter, quicker - and in a way that creates more value for everyone involved.

Sounds simple right? It was - brilliantly so. Which is where our name comes from. We believed (and still do) that brilliance comes from getting the basics right.

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$40 billion is spent on advertising for the top five service categories each year. And for every $20 spent on ads for services, only $1 is spent on improving that service for the customer.

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More than a travesty, we saw this as a huge opportunity to disrupt the traditional agency model, and to create the best customer experiences through improved services - fast. This is what we do. 20

CHAPTER 3 Products that make life simply better

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We think less about projects and more about products. At bb, we are in the business of products TM

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because products and services are at the heart of our clients’ (and our) success.

They make a connection between a brand and a person.

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Sometimes it’s physical.

Sometimes it’s a value exchange.

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But it’s always emotional.

By simplifying and evolving products and services, and improving the experience of using them, we deliver value to our clients and to their customers. So everybody wins.

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We’re people (sounds like an obvious statement, but really, you’d be surprised). So we look at it from that perspective fundamentally.

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Everything we do is people first.

It’s about creating experiences and connections that make life simply better.

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These may physical, digital, service, space or experience based. They may be apps, websites, wearable, spacial, events, workshops, innovation labs, culture changes, processes or tangible products. But all are customer first, immersive experiences… 28

Why? Because that’s what a brand is. It’s no longer just a promise. It’s an experience that needs to make a connection and deliver value.

Touch

The experience is everything. It’s at the heart of everything we do. 29

CHAPTER 4 The bb way

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Three is the magic number. In the sense that our business operates around three core pillars:

Consult, Create and Collaborate They are more than values, they are clear actions that help us to help customers, clients, and to build a successful business.

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CONSULT: The traditional agency ‘project’ model with a bb twist. We identify needs and challenges and find ways to answer those.

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CREATE: We create our own products; products that help us grow as a business and help us nurture entrepreneurs, which in turn helps society.

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COLLABORATE: We move beyond the traditional ‘projects’ model to a products + partnership model, working with trusted partners and clients on their ongoing journeys.

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We bring these three capabilities together: To achieve success for the company - for our people, our clients and our partners.

Collaborate

Create

Consult

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And..

We give back to society, nurturing innovation and talent and creating the next generation of entrepreneurs.

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CHAPTER 5 If you’re not fast, you’re last

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The power has shifted. People won’t tolerate mediocrity.

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Lean, nimble, agile…whatever you want to call it…

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We get to real fast. Because slow and steady doesn’t cut it in the real world.

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We think - and act - like a start-up. It’s what we were. It’s what we are. It’s what we will always be. Because it’s not just a label, it’s a mindset few businesses have.

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We strip the process back to basics.

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We take a ‘need’ - a business or customer challenge and we add entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for the human capacity of technology, to make great products that disrupt the market.

When you put technology, possibility and creativity together, you get to real

amazingly fast

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The value here lies in the three Ps. 44

Our people

(T-shaped talent with multidisciplinary skills)

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Our product Our process

(Make life simply better) (Stripped back, agile, rapid)

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It’s more than a set of values or ideals, it’s the DNA of our business.

Anyone and everyone in our business can and should innovate. We’ve created a culture that lets creativity fly and not just in the ‘traditional’ creative roles.

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Our culture of rapid design and prototyping means that what used to take weeks or months (and still does on the old model), can now be done in days.

This way of working, this culture of innovation isn’t just something we do - it’s something we take to clients and partners too. We help them develop a culture that creates, elevates and celebrates entrepreneurial thinking in their business, so they too can disrupt the market and create products that completely change the game.

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CHAPTER 6 The power of people

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ist

scient

developer

strategist

designer

We’re a talented bunch of strategists, designers, scientists, innovators, thinkers and doers.

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Our people believe in the human power of technology and they use their knowledge and experience to make the world better.

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In fact, this isn’t just true of our people, it’s true of our clients and partners - and the way we work with them.

You can’t tell people to be innovative, but can you can empower them. And when you do, great things happen. 52

Expressive

Analytical

Curious

Sensual

We invest in T-Shaped talent (not literally, it would make shopping for office chairs very tricky).

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Our people are multidisciplinary, with transferable skills, entrepreneurial spirit and the ability and desire to adapt to changes in context and technology - to look at, and do things in a different way.

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They are agile, they understand the world we live in. And together we create products that make life simply better. 55

CHAPTER 7 The journey continues

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We’re excited about the future.

We’ve come a long way. And we’re still on an amazing journey.

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From three people in a hotel room in London, to over 60 across five global locations (at the time of writing).

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Our journey continues… We follow the sun, with new locations that add more hours to every day to make great things happen.

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bb enlightenment

Collaborate

Create

Consult

Some things have changed, but the important ones have stayed the same: our beliefs, our culture and the way we work.

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Our clients and the products we continue to create with them are testament to this.

And it’s really just the start…

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CHAPTER 8 Come along for the ride

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We’re already creating the next chapters in the bb story. Follow them and see our latest creations on our website. brilliantbasics.com Better still, be part of it. We’d love to see how we can make life easier for you, your business and your customers.

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Published by Brilliant Basics™ Ltd. Registered trademarks:

Business of products™ Conversation to Creation™ Copyright © 2015 by Brilliant Basics All rights reserved. No publication (except for book reviews or short quotes) without the express permission of the publisher: Brilliant Basics, Zetland House, Scrutton Street, London, EC2A 4HJ Printed in the United Kingdom. Published 2015