The art of Holisticism: Designing for exceptional experiences

Room 2 | 1:45 pm - 2:15 pm | Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Our industry often talks about ‘consumers,’ ‘shoppers’ or ‘customers’ but what we really mean is ‘people’ – people that experience brands, products and services holistically. From the moment they think about our offering, through their research, purchase, delivery, experience, disposal – we must ensure that every single touchpoint and interaction communicates the same thing: a consistent user experience.

The challenge to achieving this is that companies frequently work in silos; this means we design in silos. We research in silos. We deliver in silos…and when you’re designing for superiority, this creates tensions. These may be small, but if there is misalignment at a key moment – if something doesn’t quite meet expectations set by another element you fail. You hand the competitive advantage to someone else. They win in the real world.

Unilever knows a thing or two about designing for superiority and what it really takes to do it – the need to take a step back, and review end-to-end performance of products, deep diving into the edges that make or break a brand. They know how to bring the many functions within R&D and marketing into absolute alignment.

In this session, Unilever and Blue Yonder share core principles of their holistic approach to designing for superiority. We’ll talk through case studies from multiple categories and sectors, giving examples of holistic wins and fails. We’ll showcase practical tips on how to design objectives, research programs and methodologies to ensure that every part of your product or service ladders up holistically to deliver a magnificent, category-leading whole.

Key takeaways:

1. Inspiration to think differently across all sectors: consideration of end-to-end touchpoints and delivery mechanisms which impact on total perception.
2. Learn the core principles of innovative methodologies designed to find your edge by showing specifically where and how to focus.
3. Learn how to set objectives for individual teams, whilst retaining total holistic integrity.