Strands of Genius: Generation Shaped By Scumm , The Business Model(s) Your Bosses Don't Know But Should, A Stable Place On The Internet

Guest curated by David Carr, Director, CX & Innovation Consulting @ Publicis Sapient

Oct 17, 2024

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, DAVID CARR ::

LOCATION: London, UK

I've never 'met' Rosie/Faris but have lovingly stolen their observations and insights over the last 20-ish years while enjoying occasionally chatting online about the marketing industry, strategy and digital culture. As someone with a sporadic but less nomadic career – veering from creative, design and development in the wild west days of the internet to big agency and now big consultancy - I've appreciated their eclecticism and passion.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): Another mind we met online, through conversations and his excellent publications - see the shout link below for the most recent banger. As the industry buckles and warps into new shapes, people like David with broad discipline experiences across the value chain will be ever more useful for agencies and clients. Faris says he loves the SCUMM theory - as a big fan Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam&Max growing up and puns and passive aggression. He also loves podcasts though.

CHECK OUT COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH DISTINCT EXPERIENCE AT THE BOTTOM of this email and grab the very interesting pdf…

:: THE LINKS ::

THE BUSINESS MODEL(S) YOUR BOSSES DON’T KNOW BUT YOU SHOULD

In the world of Consultancies and Digital Transformation business case studies often form part of 'the case for change'. The challenge is avoiding the usual suspects and another workshop where someone announces, “we want to be the Apple of B2B Plumbing & Electrical Supplies”? Instead I like to pull inspiration from the UK's most successful companies and watch the C-suite grab their pearls before leaning in: Onlyfans, Games Workshop and Jellycat.

OnlyFans' 2023 financials were bonkers: Net revenue increased 20% to $1.31 billion, while the company’s pre-tax profit jumped 25% to $658 million. With an average monthly headcount of 42 employees the company made more than +$30m per employee.

Over a 20-year timeframe, Games Workshop Group PLC, results have been superb. Even ignoring dividend income, Games Workshop shares have soared by 1,255% in the past two decades with last year seeing the highest sales since it floated 29 years ago. Revenues at the Warhammer gaming miniatures group rose by 13% to £445m in the year to end-May 2023, with pre-tax profits 10% higher at £170.6m. Gross profit margins of ~70%! Operating profit margins of +38%!

And finally Jellycat. The privately owned plushie brand has been going since 1999. In 2018 the company was valued at £155m. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength. According to 2022 statements for Jellycat Limited (the brand’s UK arm), the company’s annual revenue increased by 72% to £146m.

All three companies are about about a sense of belonging (yes, even Onlyfans). About passions, collecting things, about connection and community. Research demonstrates that people who feel a sense of belonging report higher levels of self-esteem. And the revenue doesn't lie. (SBO Financial)

A STABLE PLACE ON THE INTERNET

There are not many stable places left in the internet of "Enshittification". But Dubberly Design Office's extranet of presentations - dating back to Oct 17, 2007!! - is the home of an evolving wealth of thinking that makes complex information clear and dives deep into the intellectual basis of all the trends that LinkedIn 'Thinkfluencers' like to pretend they understand ;-) (Dubberly Presentations)

GENERATION SHAPED BY SCUMM

Will Humphrey and I have theory that all strategists are Scumm. Or at least a generation of them had their brains shaped by Scumm - the games engine behind "The Secret of Monkey Island", "Manic Mansion" and other classic point and click adventures. The mind set of mousing over every scene, testing every odd object and verb combo, and then fighting your battles through passive aggressive pun-based insults rather than actual violence is at the heart of all strategy departments. ScummVM is a community based emulator that supports LucasArts, Sierra On-Line, Revolution Software, and other publishers. It's been building since 2003 and has just added the last unsupported game on the SCUMM engine. (ScummVM)

Looking for more from David? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

:: City :: London

:: Book :: Gulliver's Travels

:: Podcast :: I'll be honest - I hate Podcasts (sorry) Just give me a transcript please!

:: Song :: Sweetheart Come - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

:: HI THERE ::

:: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THRU DISTINCTIVE EXPERIENCE::

There’s a delivery and language gap that is driving a decline in customer experience and business effectiveness. The world of frontstage (Brand & Communications) and backstage (Product & Reputation) has people “using different words to mean the same thing & the same words to mean different things” which is causing silos of specialties and a sea of sameness. If we draw from the evidence-based best ideas of Brand & Communications and Product & Reputation it leads to a ‘Distinctive Experience’ approach with a simple “two stage funnel”, and a toolkit to drive choices to do fewer things, better.

Thanks for reading!
David
www.davidjcarr.com | Medium

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius