That’s exactly what a successful genteleman recently told me when we were discussing about careers and job performance in general. What a great advice, don’t you think? But although it makes absolute sense I am not sure we are all following it wisely. We instead try to have as many mentors, supporters, followers, fans and friends as possible in a way to probably feel more confident through our large network or popularity. The hypothesis we make is: ‘The more people I know the more I can rely on getting them recognizing and support my outstanding work.’

Well there is a great flaw into that hypothesis. Yes, there are a lot more opportunities within a larger network, but is it quantity or quality that counts more in this case?  Think of this for a minute. How many people have given you a really great push in your career, were really empathetic in helping you for a personal matter or offered you some sort of invaluable advice that changed your life. It shouldn’t be that many, I assume. And I also hope that you have just realized that indeed there a few people among all those mentors, supporters, followers, fans or friends of yours that you should be treating a bit differently.

Think of them as your ‘life sponsors’; the people who will actually have an impact in these aspects of life they really matter; whether is that senior manager who always help you get that promotion, the professor who keeps guiding and advising you beyond college or even the beloved one you have chosen to partner in life. So, make sure you put that extra effort required to always make them feel there was a good reason for which you deserved their attention and support. And of course never forget this is a take-and-give game…

When I first heard the term gamification, I thought it was some sort of a catchy way to describe the dull practice of adding a game on your website or facebook fan page to increase engagement. I guess I was not alone on that thinking as I have indeed see many brands trying to add some sort of engaging and entertaining features on their digital assets by simply putting a game on it.

On its very best form this was a game that (at least) was quite relevant to the brand, so for example if you were a restaurant you may had a restaurant simulation game there. Sometimes it was an irrelevant one, however still fun and engaging. The worst case scenario was when brands were trying to be abnoxiously creative coming up with ideals like; a Battle Star Gallactica game where the fighting spaceship were throwing that brand’s soups to each other (!)

I have before written about the fun theory and how being fun even in business can be really impactful, however I feel really lucky I was recently immersed properly on this concept of gamification by one of its best  thought-leaders, Gabe Zichermann. Gabe talked about how games and game mechanics can help changing people’s behaviour in an engaging and entertaining way, making clear that gamification is not about gamifying  an activity or process for the shake of it but using some game thinking in order to educate the user to change a bevaviour towards an intended vision.

Ironically enough one of the great examples the Gabe used to bring this concept to life was indeed one of the fun theory competition nominees; the Speed Camera Lottery. Watch this video and you will immediately understand yourself what gamification is all about; the right way!

BONUS: Take a look on the PhygitAlien for another awesome phygital gamification initative from Contrex

I don’t mind introducing myself, but I think it is enough for me to say that I am a business professional sharing similar interests with Kyriakos, who was kind enough to allow me publishing my thoughts and experiences on Business Epigram. Despite the fact that I am coming from a different and more rigid business realm, Kyriakos keeps my entrepreneurship spirit motivated and hungry as Steve (Jobs) suggested we should do.

I am sure that it’s been almost a week now that you read about Steve and how he transformed Apple and how he changed the world. There is no need to add anything to this. However, I am willing to express my concern, and raise a question: Who is going to replace Steve as the next great industrialist? In the 90s it was Bill Gates, and in the 80s I would vote for Jack Welch. This is going to be an exciting one and I hope it won’t be a banker or a technocrat in Brussels; I am quite concerned about the latter.

Back in the 80s Peter Drucker raised the issue of innovation and quoted that there has been no significant innovation since the semiconductor that will push the economy forward and raise production per employee and GDPs around the world. The Internet has changed our lives but again this was part of the semiconductor revolution. Steve’s role began as part of the same revolution, but he raised it to the next level: the Product Revolution where each product is unique, a new industry, a new market creating jobs and developing new skills. And this is only the beginning…

By Ioannis Politis

Then you get phygital! Phygital is a new concept in technology, very much used in marketing initiatives, where physical elements mix with digital to provide unigue interactive experiences for the user.

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned Sixth Sense, which is one of the technologies that have concluded to come up with this new concept. Some more like QR codes, Augmented Reality, 3D projections etc. that now have become more mainstream are some other typical ways to develop phygital marketing projects. My personal passion about this new concept has made me to start a 2nd blog which I ask you to visit today, hoping that you will really enjoy: Go to the ‘PhygitAlien‘

Here is a taste of what you can expect from that blog – one of the most exciting phygital initiatives in eCommerce:

If you are interested to stay on top of the latest phygital marketing trends, don’t hesitate to subscribe to the RSS feeds. A new initiative will be showcased every week!