Bio: Alain Thys
Alain Thys is a founding partner of Futurelab, a marketing, strategy and business model innovation boutique which helps companies identify new profit opportunities in an ever more complex world.
In this role he also edits Futurelab’s blog, which is the first step to establish a co-creative community of innovators from business, science, politics and the arts.
Alain considers himself a storyteller and agent of change. His core skill is to make complex business issues easier to understand and help senior executives translate them into strategies that inspire their customers, staff and stakeholders.
In previous lives Alain has been in charge of retail and marketing at Reebok EMEA, done pan-European advertising & research at Mexx and as a VC was involved in 30+ start-ups ranging from European mobile payment systems to Indian industrial alcohol plants. The obligatory flirt with digital adventureland included two major dot-busts, and turning down the friends and family round in an unknown outfit called Netscape.
Alain is a regular speaker, has authored a number of seminars and in addition to occasionally ranting on blogs is working on two books he still hopes to finish before they’re out of date.
He is very happily married, has a great little son, and apart from his family he most enjoys cooking, the South of France and a good glass of Malt Whiskey. Like his role model Da Vinci, he considers simplicity to be the ultimate sophistication.
Posts by Alain Thys:
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Social Media Participation is Not Optional for Brands,
25 Apr 2007 in Featured Posts
When last week I uploaded a presentation endorsing the importance social media, David Armano pointed out – tongue in cheek – that someone had forgotten to send me the memo that Web 2.0 was going down the drain. With this post on Daily Fix, I’d like…
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Seven Tips For Agency Survival,
05 Mar 2007 in Featured Posts
If advertising is so effective, why are CNN, airport billboards and business magazines free from ads in which agencies promote themselves to business audiences? I always ask this question “tongue-in-cheek,” but lately the cheekiness is waning. Ad…
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The 7 Secrets of a Good Marketing Budget,
09 Jan 2007 in Featured Posts
By now you should be close to having all of your top-line budgets approved and be heavily into the detail of spending the marketing funds you’ve just been entrusted with. Yet before you rush off to fill the pockets of agency wizards and media-moguls,…
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Are You a “One-Night Brand”?,
04 Jan 2007 in Featured Posts
Imagine the following situation. A man sees an attractive woman at a party. They talk and decide to have a few dates. After giving all the right signals for being a loyal, caring, trustworthy and relationship-oriented guy, he convinces her to spend…
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I Want to Be in Advertising: The Video,
21 Nov 2006 in Featured Posts
I’m preparing for a speech I’ll be giving at the Marketing 3 conference in the Netherlands where I’ll be “über-coolly” flanked by Chris Anderson, Stefan Engeseth and Ilya Vedrashko (makes me wonder what they were smoking when they called me
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The Eight Truths of Real Innovators,
25 Sep 2006 in Featured Posts& General Management
When I’m in a cynical mood, I sometimes like to compare corporate innovation to teenage sex….
Everyone talks about it, yet at the moment of truth the earth doesn’t really move. When I’m really cynical, I think the +90% failure rate in innovations…
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Is Your Brand “BlogSafe” ?,
30 Aug 2006 in Blogging& Branding& Customer Relationships& Featured Posts
What would you do if someone (say a known blogger) picks up your advertising campaign because he thinks you’ve done a good job, puts it on YouTube and spreads your message to his audience ? Would you send him a box of chocolates or a letter from your…
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The Consumer Isn’t a Moron, She’s Your Mum,
23 Aug 2006 in Customer Behavior& Featured Posts
Why do traditional marketers & media always think that it’s the “young” who make up the digital space and the “old” ones who watch TV…?
That’s why I decided to check for a moment whether the surf, game and PVR behaviour of my parents and in-laws …
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Uncomfortable Truths (Part Two),
15 Aug 2006 in Featured Posts
Writing the second part of this post was hard. Not because I didn’t know what I wanted to say, yet because the need to summarize it into a readable blogpost meant leaving out important nuances….
Still, I’ve tried to highlight how marketing as a f…
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Uncomfortable Truths (Part One),
08 Aug 2006 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& General Management& Marketing Strategy
These days, it’s very fashionable to talk about things like Net Promoter Scores, Touchpoint Marketing and Employees that Live the Brand….
After all, we’re — once again — finding out that it’s the employees of the organization that ultimately de…
