{"id":42159,"date":"2023-10-20T15:19:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-google-zoo-combines-tech-professionals-and-creatives-to-make-unimaginable-solutions-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:19:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:19:10","slug":"how-google-zoo-combines-tech-professionals-and-creatives-to-make-unimaginable-solutions-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-google-zoo-combines-tech-professionals-and-creatives-to-make-unimaginable-solutions-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How Google Zoo combines tech professionals and creatives to make \u201cunimaginable\u201d solutions &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"332\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/pausefest1-640x332.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"pausefest1\"><\/div>\n<p>Combining tech and creative professionals can result in unimaginable product solutions, a Google creative director says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Iain Nealie manages the Asia Pacific wing of Google Zoo creative teams in Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo and speaking at the <em>Pause Fest<\/em> tech conference, he says many people don\u2019t even know about this wing of the global tech corporation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While Google Zoo\u2019s concept has been evolving, Nealie says it is a \u201cthink tank for brands and agencies\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I see that I think what the fuck does that mean?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The organisation explores creative uses of Google and come up with new ways for consumers to interact with brands.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe try to tell a story through a product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With a mix of technology and a lot of creative brainpower, they\u2019ve been able to develop highly innovative ways to do this and this approach to advertising has resulted in far more meaningful product solutions for their clients and their consumers, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost 50% of creative jobs available today are not at agencies,\u201d Nealie said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The magic of creative-tech collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nealie said one of their recent projects looked at resolving the issue of finding lost pets.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pedigree Found, an app released last year, uses GIS mapping technology to reconnect lost dogs with their owners by alerting people in the area via Google\u2019s digital ad network.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0w3C9BaLzdA\" width=\"660\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Through this integrated approach between the creative and tech worlds, while working at Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, Nealie helped develop an interactive storybook<br \/>                         &nbsp;<br \/>                         Penny the Pirate for OPSM.<br \/>                         <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/psHObU_MeWw\" width=\"660\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Through collaboration with the University of Melbourne and illustrator Kevin Waldron, they created a book that screens children\u2019s eyesight while they read to help parent\u2019s get a better understanding of their eye health.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nealie said one of the key reasons tech companies look to creatives is their approach to problem solving.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the ability to look at a problem and figure out the core hole,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For body wash Lux Sekura Dream, Google Zoo\u2019s Tokyo team designed an app employing the same technology used to visualise cities if all the ice caps melted to make users see their streets with newly planted cherry blossoms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How do they do this?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At Google Zoo, Nealie and his team have a \u201ctriage process\u201d that helps them filter problems they want to work on and clients they want to work with.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to clients, he says it\u2019s a 50-50 blend of brands they approach and those who come to them, and they\u2019re extremely selective.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re pretty ruthless so we don\u2019t make a lot of friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The three-part process comprises a huge problem, breakthrough technology and radical solutions, starting with finding an opportunity in an issue that is worth tackling.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a really in-depth filter,\u201d Nealie said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then they work on \u201cradical\u201d ways to solve that problem.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Simply throwing a lot of technology into a tiny device without really considering how consumers will engage with that technology is not the best approach, Nealie said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you augmenting or complicating the process?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After finding an innovative solution and product concept, they must sell their idea to the client.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before this they work on proof-of-concept videos based on detailed research of how their product could work and how a minimal viable product performs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrototyping, pre-totyping, pretzel-typing &#8211; I don\u2019t like terms like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to do a prototype every time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Next, they take it to client and start delivering.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve done a good job of managing expectations with clients up to this point they\u2019ll be on board with development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>&nbsp;Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Combining tech and creative professionals can result in unimaginable product solutions, a Google creative director says. &nbsp; Iain Nealie manages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}