10 questions with... Josh Valman, CEO of RPD International
The Drum speaks to people across the global media and marketing sector who are bringing something a little different to the industry and talks to them about what little insights they can offer the rest of us. This week's 10 Questions With... features Josh Valman, founder of the ground breaking product development and manufacturing company RPD talks connectivity, Spielberg and business lunch attire.
Josh Valman
What was your first ever job?
I was made redundant from my paper round aged 13. The £12 a month funded my 3D printing experiments.
Why did you get into the marketing sector?
Marketing is changing, it’s no longer about targeted noise.
I’m in a great universe where marketing meets engineering. It’s now about creating experiences - and this is where physical and connected products become marketing. The strongest marketing campaigns now, add value to a customer’s life, as a tool or an adventure.
Which industry event do you look forward to each year and why?
CES is a strange thing.
We see a year of careful planning to get products working, manufactured and shipped before Christmas.
The last week before the holidays, every delivery is a prototype of five year visions, for some of the world’s most exciting companies.
Regardless of that, I still don’t like Vegas!
Who do you find most interesting to follow on social media?
I keep my eye on the Kickstarter feeds. I’m a serial backer of ridiculous things.
What marketing technology or innovation excites you?
I am intrigued by how connected we’ve become - it’s made us incredibly judgmental of products, services and experiences. This has put extreme pressure on understanding customers, and building very localised offerings.
In this vicious world of super-connected consumers, we need to know exactly what happens so that we can develop and localisedesigns for certain behaviours. We’re creating sensors for testing products to do just this. It’s incredible the number of people eat ‘family sharing’ bars of chocolate, like a sandwich. But you’ll never see that with a two-way mirror and a focus group.
If you could ban one buzzword or piece of jargon what would it be?
The word ‘Innovation’ concerns me. We use it a lot, the world uses it a lot. But nobody ever defines it. I want to see the word innovation left behind - call it execution. Innovation is the process of executing ideas – finding out what does, and (more importantly) doesn’t work.
If you could take one person in the world for a drink to talk about their thoughts and their career who would you choose and why?
Steven Spielberg. I want to know what on earth was happening when he came up with 'Pinky and the Brain’ - and how can I get some of that?
What is your favourite social media platform?
The speed at which interesting things/news/ideas spread across Twitter continues to fascinates me.
You're meeting your biggest client for a casual lunch - what do you choose to wear?
Business cowboy is always appropriate.
What's the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Be clear about what you want, and take the time to work how to help other people get what they need.