Known Unknown, The Importance of Design, with James Sommerville, Former VP of Global Design- CocaCola, Ep #80
On this episode of Coming Clean Podcast, we have guest James Sommerville. He is the former Co-Founder of ATTIK and former VP of Global Design at the Coca-Cola Company. James is now the founder of Known Unꓘnown, a creative agency that is disruptive and ready to make some changes across the world. Join us as James shares his wisdom and experiences and a little about his current project.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...
Where James started [1:48]
Designers… not just the hands [5:06]
Challenges in rebranding a company [9:37]
Imposter syndrome [13:42]
Oak trees from acorns [16:43]
James’ current project, Known Unꓘnown [19:43]
Greatest impact James made at Coca-Cola [25:04]
What’s next for James? [27:03]
Designers… not just a pair of hands but the brain as well
James has found that over the last 10 years, certainly the last five years, the designer has moved all the way up the food chain. They're involved in the ideation of the product, the strategic positioning of a brand, and of course at the end, they'll do the aesthetic as well. The role of a designer has expanded from just the visualization of something and making it look nice— which we all appreciate— to being what James calls not just a pair of hands, but also a brain that's involved in the entire development of a brand or a product.
Why is it that designers have moved from the end of the process to the beginning?
Is it because we are bombarded with 60 billion spikes of information every single day?
Is it because design helps us integrate ourselves with the product that we are consuming?
James says that designers have a common personality trait. He thinks designers have been pulled down the funnel because their empathetic skills are very strong. From a strategic standpoint or a product development standpoint, empathy is important, and understanding the mindset of the consumer and how it will play a role in their life is a valuable asset to start with. They can ideate very quickly and scribble things out. That's another reason why designers have been so introduced to project development at a much earlier stage.
Mass intimacy
Micro connections such as a like on social media or small conversations in Clubhouse can turn into relationships and from that small acorn comes an oak tree. That relationship can turn into something financially motivated, some kind of personal or professional growth, a business exchange, or just a great relationship where people help each other in smaller ways.
When James left Coca-Cola he didn't have a business plan. He just needed some time off but one of the things James said to himself as he was closing this chapter was that he wanted to meet 365 people— not at Coca-Cola— in the next 365 days. James forced himself to interact with new communities and check-in with organizations. He says that was an opportunity for him to build new relationships that would lead to new stories. In the first year, it took the whole year to meet 365 people. However, in year 3 he can meet 365 people in one month. That’s a mass of people that James has connected with on a more intimate level.
Connecting creators all over the world both known and unknown
Before Coca-Cola, James was always chasing clients. Pitching and trying to survive as an agency with Attik. Then he was on the client-side on the opposite side of the table. He was seeing agencies come through, great agencies of all size small to large, but he was viewing them through a previous lens.
James felt like a poacher turned gamekeeper but he was observing the agency model and realized it hadn’t changed in a very long time. When he left Coca-Cola he founded this project called Known Unꓘnown. The name, for James, meant that everybody has something that they know and can share. We are all lifelong learners and everybody is looking for something that maybe another person can teach them. We all have known and unknown embedded in us every day. He said has this idea of creating a community where people all over the world can help each other. The oldest in his network is in his 80s and the youngest is 18 so there’s this generational shift as well and it’s about how they can both help each other.
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