LG GW620 Blogger Workshop

Day 1 – The Dilemma of Packing
Despite all my experience with international travel I still wonder how best to prepare especially when travelling to Korea. Do I stay up a little later each night leading up to my departure? Shall I modify my diet and follow methods as prescribed by UN officials and pilots? Uh… it’s 10:33pm and I still have all my expenses from CES to claim (sigh).
I raise the collar of my jacket to find some relief from the bitter cold as the wind sweeps across the parking lot. A quick wave to the security guard and I find some solace as I dive into my car. Oooh! where did I put those gloves?

It’s another late dinner, a brief call with my parents and an opportunity to chat with my wife before I tackle the ordeal of packing. I love packing, I’m quite good at it but I just spend too much time doing it. And sure enough, a quick glance at the clock and I realize it’s going to be all-nighter. Upload a few movies to the LG Eve and soon I find myself driving to the airport.
We have 32 bloggers representing 7 countries on this trip and the ambition is to go beyond merely showcasing our first Android phone. It’s an exciting opportunity to gain direct insight as they have been using the GW620 for over a month, completing tasks and sharing their experiences through their social sites.
Stay tuned for more updates as our guest of bloggers fall upon Seoul armed with LG GW620s.

Day 2 – Having the right tools
The main program for today was to put the GW620 to the test, experience life in Seoul while getting to know the other participants through a series of missions similar to those you would find on an episode of “The Amazing Race”. While using the various features of the LG GW620 the missions required teams to locate landmarks like the statue of King Sejong, sing at “Su Noraebang” in Hongdae and find out what is playing at the LG Arts Center.
With my camera bag in tow we ventured out onto the streets of Seoul.

During our first subway ride, I suddenly recalled how uneasy I was at the start of this trip. In my previous blog I shared how good I was at packing and I just didn’t have the time to really think through what I needed to bring along on this trip. More importantly, I mentioned I spend too much time packing. I asked myself why as I noticed how almost everyone had a camera on this trip. I guess like anyone else I want to make sure I had everything I needed. I too brought along my DSLR with an extra lens and flash. Guess what? I never used it once! For two days I carried it with me and it was nothing but dead weight. I even had a smaller point & shoot camera I didn’t use either.

Why did I even bother to bring along my cameras when I knew the local MC marketing team would be documenting the whole experience themselves? Then it hit me. Overcompensation sometimes is the product of fear rather than trying to be prepared. I’m afraid or worried that I will miss out if I don’t have the right equipment, clothes or gear. I realized this is incorrect. Yes, I need to be prepared and prudent but as we took on each challenge I realized our success to complete the tasks were more dependent on our ability to be fluid and adaptive.
Chang Hoon suddenly sends us a surprise text, “Using the LG GW620 take a group photo with 2 attractive Korean women.” Uh, no amount of advance planning could have anticipated this requirement.

What’s the insight from this experience? Simple. Sometimes we rely too much on past success, and put too much faith in the tools we believe made those achievements possible. Rather than focusing on the right “offensive” tools we equip ourselves with familiar “defensive” tools which often are burdensome, outdated or like I said earlier, just dead weight.
There are parallels here with true examples of “Best Practices” in LG. They usually took an unconventional approach, authored by those that may not upon initial review would be considered the most qualified and the members possessed a measure of humility to be in a posture to ask questions, listen and learn.

I shouldered my camera bag for the last leg of today’s missions relieved in knowing that I’ll be leaving it behind in my hotel room tomorrow. We enjoy coffee at a local Starbuck’s and following the military principle of OSP (on-site procurement) we approach 2 young women surfing on their LG Netbook armed with our caffè lattes.
Mission complete.

Day 3 – Staying connected
The comment made by Rannie Turingan resonated with everyone in the room, “What we want to see are all the features and services of the phone working and working well.” This was one of the most sobering comments made by our guest bloggers. They had just completed an afternoon of walking through a simulation of how a product is developed and were now presenting their own concepts of the next generation of smartphones.

 “Based on fact”, what is the opportunity the very need of the consumer the next phone could fulfill? This was the overriding challenge and direction provided to us. The night before we had the pleasure of dining at Samchunggak where Gregory Huh also stressed the importance of being able to adapt to the ever-evolving preferences of consumers. Some teams focused on ramping up the technical capabilities of the phone while others honed in on the social impact the technology could make. Different approaches inspired by a single ambition, to enable people to interact, access and share through their network of friends and contacts.

As we looked towards the next generation smartphone the opinion was shared how technology was suppose to connect us but at times we feel even more disconnected than before. Is this possible? Personally I’m actually more aware of the comings and goings of my friends and I’m even being reunited with people from my past. But am I “connected” versus just simply informed as a passive observer? Am I merely collecting “phone numbers” but never calling? Could these near future smartphones promote a tangible sense of community?

An observation made by one of the bloggers reminded me of the profound role of relationships. It was noted how some local Koreans would give up their seats on the subway for the elderly, children or women. It was said it was nice to see these examples of courtesy and respect still in existence in a metropolis like Seoul. At the same time we also watched other commuters gazing into their DMB-equipped phones. They were present but absent at the same time.
We can chat, tweet and post with hundreds of friends in an instance but we fumble or shy away from saying hello to the person sitting beside us. What is it people ultimately want? To love and be loved; isn’t this it?

Rannie’s comment was less a criticism but an encouragement to see LG’s full potential become realized. Hone in on the distinctive features of the next smartphone based on the insights we have of our consumers. LG is well poised to take leadership in this category.
I’m reading a book by David Gibbons where he cites a study conducted by Dr. Richard Nesbitt in which he shows Americans and Asians pictures of a cow, a chicken and hay. They were asked which of the pictures go together, Americans usually pointed out the cow and chicken, while Asians grouped the cow and hay together. Dr. Nesbitt proposes Americans see categories while Asians see relationships. I believe through the on-going market research and product development there is something distinct LG as a Korean company may be able to offer by way of our products beyond just innovative technology.

Well this will be the last of my posts for next little while as I return to Canada to attend to our local initiatives.

Cheers.