All entrepreneurs know how tough it is to stay ahead of the pack, especially in the middle of an unexpected, global pandemic. In light of a challenging 2020, this year’s G Summit puts the spotlight on diskarte, with esteemed local and international speakers like Google’s Flo Yeow, Taxumo’s Ginger Arboleda, and New York Times bestselling author Josh Linkner sharing best practices for resiliency during adversity.
Globe myBusiness and CIA Bootleg Manila are also here to help your journey to discover your diskarte through the free-to-download Diskarte Kit. It is a comprehensive guide to reflect, generate, and implement new strategies for your business.
Packed with tips and thought-provoking questions from Aaron Palileo, co-founder of Philippine and Tokyo-based CIA Bootleg Manila and G Summit Moderator, the Diskarte Kit is designed to push entrepreneurs out of the box and tap their innate creativity and resourcefulness. Read on and watch Palileo’s explainers to get the right idea and get the idea right, and know when to:
A quick chat with a handful of your customers can reveal a lot about their needs and wants. Besides asking what they like about your product or service, what do they think are Missing, Annoying, or Disappointing (or MAD)?
A product does more than its basic purpose. For example, a lawnmower doesn’t just cut grass; it makes a lawn beautiful while lessening maintenance time. If somebody just wanted to cut grass, they can just buy garden shears. But what customers really want – the self-serving goal – is convenience. The kit guides you with three common self-serving goals and questions to frame your thoughts:
Diskarte Tips one and two will help you find the right ideas.
The Diskarte Kit challenges your business to think broadly and ask you to explore what you see outside, and what you can apply to your business.
You may find new and profitable directions for your business without the need for massive capital by exploring possibilities.
After brainstorming, you may find that some product or service features should get more limelight to attract new market segments, tap different self-serving goals, or show how much better you address inconveniences than competitors.
Likewise, reduce attention to features found to be less valuable for your customers, phase out slow-moving SKUs to focus on bestsellers, or literally shrink your products by “sacheting” it into single-use quantities or chopping up your service scope.
Now, let’s look closer at your product or service and examine what else you can do. Can you tweak a few things so the product or service can be used differently? Will you be able to create other types of products from the materials that you have? Is the service applicable to other ways?
With Diskarte Tips three to five, discover a desirable and feasible new product line, just under your nose!
A branded product or service must stand for two things: its functional benefits, or what your products or services enable users to achieve, and its emotional benefits, or how your products or services make customers feel. It’s also best to craft it in a way that is compelling and unique from your competitors.
Make your customers truly experience your brand promise by consistently showcasing it in words and actions every time you interact with them – may it be in your shop, consignees, distributors, or online store. Excite every sense and make sure that your customers will see, hear, smell, or feel the same either inside your store or the smallest shelf you may be renting at a department store or grocery.
Complete the brand experience by actively engaging your customers. Determine the different channels, communications, and interactions your business utilizes.
Match up your list of new opportunities and ideas to your resources, and see if you need to consider the 4 Ps: people, physical assets, partners, and peso.
Through Diskarte Tips six to nine, you’ll be able to adapt your business plan to the times with a concrete to-do list.
Besides a capable team and wise yet gutsy leadership, businesses today must learn how to pivot. Being driven can go a long way when paired with solid strategies. The Diskarte Kit, a co-creation between Globe myBusiness and CIA Bootleg Manila, hopes to help entrepreneurial minds to turn their many ideas into engaging solutions. Click here for a full copy of the Diskarte Kit and more G Summit Insights.
Filipino artists have played a big role in the global animation industry for decades, turning imagination into reality in some of the world’s most prominent computer-animated films and games.
Little do most people know, Pinoy animators were among the artists behind popular animated films like Inside Out, Monsters University, Wall-E, Zootopia, and Big Hero 6. Filipino artists were even able to provide graphics for global video game firms like Sega and Nintendo.
The animation business has existed in the Philippines for decades. Notwithstanding the growth of technology today, the industry is thriving more than ever before.
The need to embrace digital transformation is now evident as technology has revolutionized how entertainment is consumed.
Local schools such as the Cordillera School of Digital Arts (CSDA) in Baguio City aim to produce graduates who can use their talents in digital arts to serve the Filipino public.
CSDA offers training programs in digital animation, creative web design, and game development, among others. With a digitized training school and studio, CSDA is able to expose its students to the digital animation industry.
“Growing this talent is really a great fruit from our whole program as a school,” said Raul Boncan Jr., Founder and President of CSDA. “The training school is our manner of bringing in talent into the picture so they can have a career. The studio is the output where the students can now move into the pipeline for work.”
Running a training school and a studio in the animation industry is a profitable venture, Raul said, emphasizing the vast career options and various business opportunities available for animation graduates.
“Animation is not a very easy business. It’s a high barrier-to-entry business, (but) it’s now a very lucrative career for people, and also a lucrative business for individuals or entrepreneurs who wish to venture into animation as a studio or even as a school,” he said.
Success does not come easy in starting a business in animation, but Raul shared some essential tips on how to succeed in the local animation industry.
For Raul, succeeding in the animation industry is all about competency. Making the most out of animation school can greatly help animators, he said, noting the importance of practical activities while in school.
“I think it’s really about the competency, [namely] spending a lot of time doing the work that is required, hitting that level of requirement, and [understanding] the demands of the client [from this industry],” he said.
Enthusiasm is essential in learning animation. To be well-trained in using digital tools to create animation, the learner must take the initiative to learn and practice the art.
“I think you just have to keep on going and pushing yourself. Just challenge yourself to learn more,” he said.
It is also important for young animators to learn from and collaborate with their peers, Raul said. He highlights the country’s alliance of animation institutions—the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI)—which banded together to ensure the growth of the industry.
“ACPI is our key representative who sees that our interests are met within the industry, so that as the industry grows we can bring in more graduates into the pipeline for work,” he said.
“In a small way, we do a lot of collaboration amongst ourselves; like in the past, an animation studio [would] send outsourced work to us in Baguio… so that our new graduates could work already,” he noted. “Everybody needs to collaborate; everybody needs to learn from everybody; everybody needs to share.”
Communication and collaboration—this is how the rapid advancement of technology helped animators across the world create stunning design.
It is not just the tools and software, but also the connection that has helped animators share creative ideas, collaborate with each other, and produce good animation.
Starting a business in animation can be worthwhile, but running and managing the operations makes it challenging.
But, with technology helping the animation industry, Raul sees limitless possibilities. “As an artist, I think there is no limit. I think you just have to keep on going and pushing yourself, and just challenge yourself to learn more,” he added.
In addition, cutting-edge digital solutions made for animation allows your business to create worry-free operations that can help you stay ahead of the game.
To learn more about starting a business in animation, sign up to Globe myBusiness Academy today for free!
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