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Blog
The Worst Experience is Your Best Friend
There’s a folder in your company full of customers telling you exactly what’s wrong, and almost none of it gets fixed. Not because anyone’s careless, but because the feedback arrives in a form nobody can act on. Here’s why the worst moment never reaches you, and the five words that recover it.
Jul 20, 2026
Blog
The Art of Being a Karen
Nobody wants to be called a Karen. The term has become shorthand for unreasonable entitlement, the customer who demands a manager over a slightly cold coffee. Social media loves a Karen. Here is the uncomfortable truth: Karen is the most valuable customer you have. An unhappy customer will tell you, with remarkable precision, exactly what is wrong with your business. A happy customer tells you nothing useful. Karen has a detailed brief ready, delivered free of charge. Most businesses respond by rolling their eyes. That is an expensive mistake.
Jul 9, 2026
Blog
Augment First. Optimise Later.
There is a version of the AI conversation that most businesses are having right now, and it goes roughly like this. AI can do X. X currently costs us Y. Therefore AI saves us Y. Implement AI. It is a reasonable argument. It is also the wrong starting point.
Jun 26, 2026
Blog
The pudding. And the proof.
The new Acoustic website was designed and built entirely by us, using AI-augmented development. Next.js for the framework, Sanity as a headless CMS, and the same approach we now bring to every client project. It is faster, more robust, and more cost-efficient than anything we could have delivered two years ago on WordPress.
Jun 24, 2026
Blog
Three reasons why you should never become a tech founder (and maybe one or two reasons why you should).
Tech startups are the holy grail for many people. Creating a company from scratch based on an idea you’ve come up with and refined together with your co-founders is a dream that many aspire to. Perhaps fewer people right now than in recent years, but still it’s cool, it’s exciting and it’s rewarding – or […]
Feb 23, 2024
Blog
The Future is Unwritten
“The future ain’t what it used to be”, Yogi Berra, baseball coach The Promise of the Future What is the future? Is it simply whatever happens next in a linear timeline, or is it the idea of what is to come? Is it a dream, or is it a reality that has yet to have […]
Jan 29, 2024
Blog
To AI or not to AI? It’s not even a question.
The advent of generative AI, such as Chat GPT 3.5 and 4, Bard and others, has taken the world by storm. It’s literally changing our lives. For professionals, it’s a challenge to know when it’s ok to use AI, and when it’s not. Many companies have restricted the use for now until we know more. […]
Oct 26, 2023
Blog
Waking the Fallen
Between January 2015 and February 2017, I, Erik Ingvoldstad through my (now personal) company Acoustic group wrote a regular blog on digital transformation, marketing, media and strategy. At some point it all got lost, and the blog has been dead for years. Well, as of today, I have brought it back from the dead. I […]
Jan 17, 2023
Blog
Innovating at the Speed of Life
Most companies are pretty good at developing their products and services to offer new features and new ways to engage the customer. But innovation on a grander level seems to be more complicated, and rarely gets the funding, the manpower and the senior management attention it deserves. Very few are able to change their business […]
May 24, 2018
Blog
Burn, baby, burn!
Hitting the reset button on the ad industry. The self-proclaimed “creative industry” is shaking at its foundation. Everything is changing around them, but the advertising agencies themselves seem to refuse to take any part in the transformation that is going on. Clients are challenging them to be more efficient, more accountable and more creative – […]
Dec 11, 2017
Blog
Fewer reports, more problem-solving ideas
Many people and companies get a bit uncomfortable with the ideas of management consultants and other business development consultancies. It’s understandable. I mean, most consultants produce reports, not actual solutions. That may have been a great thing in the last millennium, but in the current age, we don’t need just analysis and potential scenarios. We […]
Dec 6, 2017
Blog
Independence Day
The big consultancies are gathering more and more power. They have quickly branched out from the core business of management consulting, IT consulting, accounting etc., to take on Digital Transformation, customer experience and now even creative communication services. And at first glance, this can sound like a good idea for clients. They can get everything […]
Nov 17, 2017
Blog
Stop Storytelling. Start “Story-listening”.
In the world of brands, storytelling has been one of the most important buzzwords of the 21st century. With ever-changing channel strategies, it means ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re making a TVC or producing a content piece for the internet. It’s all about telling stories.’ many would claim that storytelling is what advertising has been […]
Oct 25, 2017
Blog
The Problem With Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is on everyone’s lips these days, from cool new start-ups, to the mastodons of the corporate world. The business models of yesterday are changing, and disruption is happening in all industries, across all markets. The disruption is driven by new competitors, new ideas, new technology, new mind-sets and new cultural shifts that are making it […]
May 23, 2017
Blog
Why 2019 Won’t be Like 2019
In 1984, Ridley Scott directed the much-praised “1984” ad for Apple, referencing George Orwell’s famous 1948 novel by the same name. The payoff line in the ad goes: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’” A truly ground-breaking commercial that helped launch a computer that […]
May 3, 2017
Blog
How to Win, Keep or Lose Customers
In the past couple of weeks, there have been some world-famous PR disasters. Pepsi’s embarrassing appropriation of counterculture, multi-ethnicity and grassroots demonstrations was one. United Airline’s violent enforcement of ridiculous procedures was another. And finally, last week an American Airlines’ flight attendant yelled at a crying mother and hit her with her stroller, narrowly missing the baby in her arms. These […]
Apr 24, 2017
Blog
“I’m the king of the world!” (…moments later, …hits iceberg).
Banks. Can’t live with them. Can’t blow them up (apparently). Few companies are so disliked as the major banks, historically and currently. Now there is a reason for that. And it’s not all the banks fault. The service they offer can have huge impact on people’s lives, and people will get really disappointed when they don’t […]
Apr 6, 2017
Blog
The Six Pillars of Innovation
Innovation is quickly becoming the most overused word in the English language, a trend that has not escaped the satirical masterminds over at The Onion, who claimed that the word “innovate” was used 8.2 timers per second at SxSW 2017. But as much as we can dismiss the use of buzzwords, it is a fact that with […]
Apr 5, 2017
Blog
“When You Change Yourself, You Change the World”*
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about “Why I Left Advertising”, which gained quite a lot of attention globally – perhaps specifically because I called out some problems with advertising, and what i believe is a more efficient way to achieve your goals. It can be summed up in one sentence; “Less talk, more action.” […]
Mar 21, 2017
Blog
Your life as a technologist
Do you see yourself as a technologist? Probably not, unless you work in software development, digital production, UX, UI, hardware development or other true tech roles. But being a technologist should be for more than just coders and IT specialists. In some small way, we all have to be technologists. We live in an age of […]
Mar 15, 2017
Blog
Why I Left Advertising
A couple of days ago, my friend Matt Eastwood, who is the Global Chief Creative Officer at J Walter Thompson (you can’t get much higher than that in creative roles in advertising), was interviewed by Indian website Live Mint. In the interview, he proclaimed that “it is the best time to be working in advertising”, because “now, you […]
Feb 15, 2017
Blog
Shame is Transforming TV as we Know It
You may not have heard of “Skam” (Norwegian for “Shame”) yet, but trust me, you will hear a lot about in the future. Or at least, your kids will. Shame is a drama TV series, that is transforming the way people consume content. Showing that even traditional TV station can create content that resonates, and […]
Feb 13, 2017
Blog
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (It’s already happening on Facebook Live)
You may have noticed that your friends on Facebook, and especially media outlets have started going live on Facebook (Instagram recently launched a similar feature). It’s becoming the new way of covering live events – big and small. Linear TV is, as we all know, dying a slow and rather painful death. Entertaining or informative […]
Feb 9, 2017
Blog
Forget “Futurism”, Embrace “Nowism”.
“Futurism”. Think about that word. Sounds pretty cool, no? The idea of predicting the future and telling others what is likely to happen appeals to us. I think anyone would find it quite interesting to call themselves a “futurist”. And the best part is, that by the time “the future” arrives, no one can truly […]
Jan 9, 2017
Blog
Stairway to (business) Heaven
What is your plan? I don’t mean just your plan for the next three months, or even the year. But what is your plan to ensure the future growth of your business? Are you just going to continue doing what you’ve always done, or are you planning for increased disruption and competition? New players, creative […]
Jan 5, 2017
Blog
What’s Your Problem?
We don’t like to talk about problems. We usually try to escape them altogether, or if we absolutely can’t avoid them, we re-label them, so they don’t sound so scary. We call them challenges or barriers. Never problems. But here’s the thing; Problems are important. Problems are good. Problems are catalysts for change. When humans […]
Nov 24, 2016
Blog
Future is Now. Acoustic 2017 and beyond.
At Acoustic, we’ve always encouraged companies and industries to innovate and change their business model in order to capitalise on the opportunities in a disrupted marketplace. Today, we can announce that we are taking our own medicine. We are changing our business model, and morphing into a strategic consultancy that focuses on Digital Transformation and […]
Nov 24, 2016
Blog
Easy Money
The Fine Art of Customer Experience Creation Most companies spend a lot of money on branding and marketing activities. Doing advertising and branding in the right channels at the right time is a great thing to do for improving your brand performance and ROI. Many companies even invest large sums in CRM systems to improve […]
Aug 17, 2016
Blog
The Culture of Digital
In most business today, we talk about getting ready for a new future through digital transformation. And in these discussions, a key challenge is to develop the technology of digital. The technology of digital requires tech competency, it requires an organisation that can attract and retain tech talent, it requires leadership, and the hardware and […]
Aug 11, 2016
Blog
Generation TL;DR
Ok, I will make this one short. There was a time, not so many years ago, that people made informed decisions based on several credible sources. They would read books, magazines, newspapers, and way the pros and cons of their decision. Those days are long gone. Today, people certainly do research, and check multiple sources., […]
Jun 21, 2016
Blog
No One Cares About Your Brand!
Ok, those are some pretty harsh words, I know, but hear me out. There is a widespread misunderstanding amongst many marketers, as they seem to believe that people walk around thinking about brands (and their brand specifically). That “top of mind” means that human beings actually go around thinking about specific product categories and brands […]
May 23, 2016
Blog
Disruption is Dead. Long Live Disruption!
For decades, the advertising industry has talked about disruption as a way of getting the attention of the consumer. Disruption, in the sense of breaking into people’s lives and frame of mind, almost rocking them out of their day, delivering a punchy message, and expecting that message to be understood and liked – because it […]
Mar 14, 2016
Blog
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”
Relax, no one is going to off anyone. When William Shakespeare wrote this line in Henry VI, back in 1591, he was merely stating that the best way to create chaos and disorder was to get rid of the lawyers (who would uphold law and order in society). But in 2016, in marketing, lawyers have […]
Mar 7, 2016
Blog
O Captain, My Captain! An Open Letter to the 5 Advertising Chiefs.
Dear Sir Martin, John, Maurice, Michael, and Ishii-san I don’t know any of you personally, and you certainly don’t know me. But as our industry’s leading captains, I am calling on you to lead. Because something in ad land has to change, and you have to take the responsibility to do something. Now, there are a […]
Feb 18, 2016
Blog
The Benefit of Having Balls
Some people have them, others don’t. And I’m not talking about men vs. women here. We are talking the metaphorical ones. The ones that separate you from a grey blob in the universe. The ones that give you super powers. The ones that bring you a sense of purpose and a place in the record […]
Feb 16, 2016
Blog
Transformation is no Monkey Business
The global financial climate is rather nervous these days, and companies are trying to understand what that means to their business. They are racing to find out how they can come out as a winner, rather than being dragged down by a slowing China, plummeting oil prices and increased currency volatility. Businesses may not be […]
Feb 1, 2016
Blog
Are You Useful or Useless?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how entertainment is one of the two proven content strategies. In our last post of 2015, I will address the other one, which is simply to be useful. Whether we call it Brand Utilities, Customer Utilities or just tools, offering value to your audience is one of the […]
Dec 22, 2015
Blog
Here We are Now, Entertain Us!
Content, content, content. It’s all we marketing people seem to talk about these days. But “content” is such a cold word, and it doesn’t say anything about how the human beings consuming the “content” feel afterwards. In fact, content can be used to describe “any information published (and for most parts online, but it certainly […]
Dec 4, 2015
Blog
The End of “Digital”
Through the past 20 years, digital media has played a bigger and bigger role in marketing communication. But for those twenty years, we’ve treated it as something different than everything else. We’ve had digital agencies, digital experts, digital this and digtal that. I myself have worked in digital agencies as much as I have worked […]
Nov 27, 2015
Blog
9 Ways to Take Advantage of The New Marketing Paradigm
Anyone who’s been following the Acoustic blog or met with us, will have heard how marketing is changing almost by the day, how digital transformation (and disruption) is coming your way, and how convergence is redefining the marketing communications industry (hint: it’s not just about advertising). But we do understand that some of these processes […]
Nov 13, 2015
Blog
The Gentle Art of Being Nimble
Process, process, process. It seems to be all agencies talk about these days – including us here at Acoustic. And yes, the bigger picture approach of (digital) transformation, business development and creating connections through ground-breaking communications is important. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right answer for every problem. It could be the opposite. Sometimes […]
Nov 4, 2015
Blog
From Slowdown to Fast-track
Some economist have predicted another slowdown in the coming years, or even worse, a recession. Even if that doesn’t happen, most industries are grappling with globalisation and technological disruption, where old jobs are disappearing and it’s taking time to replace them with new. Troubling, indeed. But wherever there is adversity, there is hope. Wherever there […]
Oct 27, 2015
Blog
The Untitled TV Title Piece
I like branding exercises where you get to demonstrate the success rate of brand names. My favourite game is to project success rates of TV shows based on their title in relevance to their (perceived) quality. What does this have to do with branding, you ask? Everything. First and foremost, a TV franchise is a […]
Oct 15, 2015
Blog
The 5 New Competitors to Watch Out For
Back in the day, knowing who your competitors were, was easy. If you sold paint, your competitors were other companies who sold paint. If you sold accounting services, other accountants would be your competitors. But the world isn’t that simple anymore. Sure, your main competitor will still be from your core industry, but there will […]
Oct 13, 2015
Blog
Marketing for Startups
A startup can be a magical place. The energy, the enthusiasm, the creativity and the sense of changing the world makes it a very exciting place to be. But as anyone who’s ever worked at a startup knows, it can be bloody hard work. Customers aren’t queueing up outside your business to buy your product […]
Oct 9, 2015
Blog
Did Anyone Order a Startup?
The traditional client-agency/consultancy relationship, which has been in place since the dawn of the marketing industry, has many benefits. It makes for a manageable and controlled relationship, where the client provides a brief, and the agency executes. It works well for campaign based activities as well as predetermined and/or finite projects. But what if your […]
Sep 10, 2015
Blog
How to Fix Customer Service
Every time I experience (or read about) a bad customer service experience, I am baffled. Not because I and other customers should get whatever they want, but because businesses don’t seem to understand the consequences of bad customer experiences. They don’t seem to grasp that whatever happens at the customer service centre or on the […]
Sep 3, 2015
Blog
The Age of Authenticity
I’m not going to pretend to be a political commentator or an election expert. However, I do find it interesting what seems to be happening in politics on a global scale, and it reminds me of what is happening in branding. In politics, we are seeing a rise of candidates whose only contribution is being […]
Aug 4, 2015
Blog
How to Connect with Communities
How many people in Asia are interested in, say, gardening? Not that many? How about politics? Or cars? Airplanes? Music? Cooking? A few? Thousands? Millions? Maybe even billions? Let’s just agree that there are more people interested in specific arts, cultures and hobbies than one would think. Thanks largely to the internet, smaller communities can […]
Jul 30, 2015
Blog
5 Ways to go from “Digital Passive” to “Digital Active”
The simple banner ad has created a lot of success online. But also a lot of misery. Today, most users avoid banner ads, pre-rolls and other passive display media as the plague. Ad-blockers are becoming increasingly more popular, even Apple are opening up for ad-block features in Safari on iOS 9. Ad skipping (TrueView) has been […]
Jul 24, 2015
Blog
9 Mistakes Marketers Keep Making
We all make mistakes. Some of us more than others, it is a natural and human thing to do. Most mistakes are easy to identify, some are easily rectified and others are just to be ignored. The most important thing is to learn from those mistakes, and move forward. But there are some mistakes that […]
Jul 16, 2015
Blog
Netizens are People Too!
“Netizens”, a constructed noun that describes the online citizen. A person who has an opinion about something that is posted online. It’s a word that is primarily used by the traditional press in Asia (especially in Singapore and China). But the question is, who are these “netizens”? Are they internet trolls? Are they anarchists? Are […]
Jul 8, 2015
Blog
Syntax Error. The Failure of Traditional Integration.
Mergers and acquisitions have been the building blocks of the modern agency networks. In the past decade, it has mostly been about catching up with the digital age, and therefore trying to secure the best digital agencies out there. Personally, I seem to go through several stages of feelings about these acquisitions when they happen. […]
Jul 1, 2015
Blog
What’s in a Name?
Since the opening of the Acoustic office in Singapore, we have been asked “why Acoustic? Why did you choose a name from the music and sound universe?” (Or something to that effect). Most people recognise it as a great name, but are also curious why we chose a name that doesn’t sound like an agency. […]
Jun 19, 2015
Blog
You speak to millions, but you’re talking to no one*
Through the past 20 years, digital media has played a bigger and bigger role in marketing communication. But for those twenty years, we’ve treated it as something different than everything else. n principle, mass communications is a simple concept; if you have a message that you think a lot of people need to hear, you […]
Jun 15, 2015
Blog
You Compute Me
Let me start off with a confession: In my entire life, I have never used a dating app or a dating website. Of course, I am now a happily married man, but I have been single in the internet era. Yet, I never saw the appeal in meeting women online. (I did develop a very […]
Jun 5, 2015
Blog
Will the Real Singapore Please Stand Up?
“How do you like Singapore?”, “Oh it’s nice, love the food, fantastic shopping and I love/hate the weather. But I do think it’s a bit boring.” Sounds familiar? It’s pretty much what most western tourists would say about Singapore if they’re asked. Actually, even quite a few expats would describe Singapore in a similar fashion. […]
Jun 2, 2015
Blog
Taking Social Currency to the Bank
Using social media for marketing purposes can be hit or miss. If you get it right, you can attract thousands of followers, engage them in conversation, be a hero, go viral, sell lots of your product, and generally be seen as a likeable brand. But if you fail, best case scenario is that you end […]
May 27, 2015
Blog
Periscope Needs a Disaster
Live streaming video has arrived on our phones this year, with the launch of Meerkat and Periscope. Although not the first (who remembers Qik?), these two services certainly have the ease of use and social media integration on their side, plus our phones are quicker and our cameras are sharper than back in 2008. Allowing people to live broadcast […]
May 15, 2015
Blog
Beyond Agency
Today, anyone working in marketing, whether it’s a big global one, a mid-sized regional company or a small up-and-coming local brand is trying to create connections with their audience – or build excperiences. So if they are looking for a marketing partner, they will probably call a pitch for an advertising agency. It’s what is […]
May 6, 2015
Blog
The Rise of the New Creative Class
In branding and advertising, creativity is the key to differentiation. Creativity is looking at the world from a different angle, and coming up with something that people engage with. Creativity is about making something trivial interesting, creating something new or turning common beliefs upside down. It’s unexacting. It touches nerves. It evokes discussions. It makes […]
May 4, 2015
Blog
13 Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore
We talk a lot about how communication has changed from the Mad Men era until today’s digitally driven consumer interaction. But what’s next for this industry that many of us love (and a lot of us love to hate)? Here are my thoughts on the changes we will see in advertising, technology, marketing, and everything […]
Apr 29, 2015
Blog
Last Call for Digital Transformation!
In the past two decades, the digital landscape has grown from an interesting niche channel for geeks to becoming the most powerful driver of financial growth for most brands and industries. Yet, there still are many brands that haven’t been able to capitalise on the digital culture in an effective way. There could be many […]
Mar 27, 2015
Blog
Digital Centric is the New Integration
Integration has been the Holy Grail for agencies and clients alike for at least two decades now. It has been seen as the way to create a communication platform that allows all media channels to work together, and helps the agency networks facilitate cooperation between their different specialist agencies. Unfortunately, this thinking is flawed from […]
Mar 2, 2015
What to expect
Blog Topics
Innovation & Strategy
How to find real problems worth solving. Strategic thinking for product teams.
Product Development
From concept to launch. Building products people actually want to use.
Design & UX
Human-centred design principles. Making products that feel intuitive.
AI & Augmentation
Using AI as a tool for human insight. Ethics, implementation, best practices.
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