Welcome to Zapien.
Headed by Jeremiah (brand strategy and corporate anthropology) & Mitch (IT & business analysis). Two business professionals from different disciplines who are done playing the corporate salesy game of slick answers and posturing, as if our individual skillsets have all the answers to a client’s needs.
Separately We have skills which hold value in the commercial market; we are experts in our field, and dreamers of a better tomorrow. But, when our powers combine, as a brand, as Zapien, we are no longer dreamers, we are doers.
We’re not a movement, a consultancy firm, life coaches or a magical voodoo Zen-type business. We are not a business in the traditional sense; we don’t have any products or services we are trying to sell.
So what exactly are we trying to do?
We are trying to answer the question; what would happen if skilled individuals from different industries came together to explore & solve societal and commercial problems?
We get it. It’s not too convincing or reassuring for us to use the word trying in our pitch, but to be honest, that’s exactly what we’re doing…trying.
We’re trying something different because from our perspectives, whatever business as usual has been for the most part hasn’t worked for us.
To understand why it hasn’t worked for us Ineed to circle back and tell you our story for any of this to make sense…well, here we go.
Meet Jeremiah.
“I don’t believe a brand is a substitute for sound business acumen and a client’s unwavering passion, ownership and commitment to their product, service or idea.” – ME.
You know the song and dance, right?
For me, the brand guy, it went something like this.
Enter Client.
The “We need a website” Client:
“What you have there is a communications problem and we solve that through a brand or as we like to call it a communications strategy…(insert tailored analogy that captures the hearts, minds and imaginations of your audience… I mean the client)”
The “We’re about to change the world with our new business and we need a logo/brand to look like we’ve been is business for a long time” Client:
“Well what you have there is a communications problem and we solve that through a brand or as we like to call it a communications strategy…(insert tailored analogy that captures the hearts, minds and imaginations of your audience… I mean the client)”
The “We need higher quality leads” Client:
“Well what you have there is a communications problem and we solve that through a brand or as we like to call it a communications strategy …(insert tailored analogy that captures the hearts, minds and imaginations of your audience… I mean the client)”
The “We wanna look like sexy like Apple” Client:
“Well what you have there is a communications problem and we solve that through a brand or as we like to call it a communications strategy…(insert tailored analogy that captures the hearts, minds and imaginations of your audience… I mean the client)”
The “We changed leadership or direction and we need a new brand” Client:
“Well what you have there is a communications problem andwe solve that through a brand or as we like to call it a communications strategy…(insert tailored analogy that captures the hearts, minds and imaginations of your audience… I mean the client)”
I could keep going but I won’t bore you. The moral of the story is, it didn’t matter what needs a client presented, the answer was always a brand communications strategy because that’s what I happened to sell.
And boy did I know how to sell it.
Now it’s not like I was putting lipstick on a pig, there was actual hardwired value baked into the brand strategies that I would deliver for clients.
Now it’s not like I was putting lipstick on a pig, there was actual hardwired value baked into the brand strategies that I would deliver for clients.
On presentation day, I saw the full array of clients’ positive emotions from tears of joy to standing ovations, to bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked fans.
It would be high fived all around on presentation day, but fast forward two weeks, three months, six months, and it was a completely different story.
Sure, maybe their business had a spike for the first few weeks after implementation.
Their brand would definitely make sense now to the market, because of the strategy and story that was put in place.
But for the most part, not much would change.
Now I have to go on the record with this; I wholeheartedly believe in the power of branding and effective contextualised communications to convey the value that is understood on psychological, logical and emotional levels, wholeheartedly.
But I don’t believe a brand is a substitute for sound business acumen and a client’s unwavering passion, ownership and commitment to their product, service or idea.
In the same way that you can’t outsource intimacy in a relationship to Hallmark, you can’t outsource your brand and expect a healthy relationship with your customers.
So, what went wrong?
I didn’t ask questions.
I didn’t know their business model.
I didn’t see their data.
I didn’t know their business objectives.
Why didn’t I?
Because I didn’t need to do any of that to sell them a brand strategy.
Clients would walk into a 45-minute pitch, thinking a brand is just cosmetic surgery. By the end of it, they’d walk out believing in it wholeheartedly. As if they just received the 10 Commandments on Mt Sinai (I had my pitch down pat, and in a previous life I was a paid to deliver keynotes so yeah.)
Then they’d religiously apply the brand like a new lick of paint to their Toyota Yaris, puff their chest out and try and race in the F1 Melbourne Grand Prix.
Now, I didn’t do anything malicious, because nowhere in the process did I say a brand strategy would solve all of their needs. I didn’t need to because that’s what they already wanted to hear.
Why else would they pay the outlandish amounts that I would charge them?
So here we are.
The same song and dance gets played out in so many different consulting based relationships.
Maybe you’re a business analyst.
A change management expert.
Or maybe you’re a software developer.
How about a personal trainer?
All you’re doing is doing your job exceptionally well and selling your services to people who want it.
But here’s the rub of it, we just happen to be selling it a little too good and they just happen to be looking for a silver bullet solution a little too much.
We all want to live the best version of lives, but don’t want to have to work with a nutritionist, a GP, a Physio, a personal trainer, a therapist and sleep 8 hours a day.
We’d rather the one-size-fits-all version.
The slick consultant dressed up as a guru who happens to know everything about everything and looks the part too.
AKA – the silver bullet solution.
So, as I said at the beginning, I’m done with playing the corporate salesy game of posturing as if my individual skillset and services have all the answers to a client’s needs.
I don’t.
People are complicated, and businesses are even more complex.
So, what exactly are we trying to do again?
Well, we’re trying to start an open conversation.
An open conversation that invites skilled practitioners from divergent disciplines who happen to be done like us and are searching for a better way to deliver more holistic value to societal and commercial problems.
This is the makings of such a conversation.
Before you get too excited, we have to say there’s no study, New York Times best-selling book, trademarked approach. TED Talk or Podcast.
All we have right now is our experiences, our skillsets and our crazy obsession about what would happen if skilled practitioners from different spheres came together to explore societal and commercial patterns?
Who knows what this will lead to? Maybe a study will be in the mix or a tangible product? But to be honest, whatever it is, we’ll be happy as long it’s better than whatever business, as usual, is passing for at the moment.
Welcome to Zapien.