Kevin is Chief Digital and Innovation Officer and a member of the global Executive Board for HH Global. He is responsible for technology, driving innovation, digital brand control programs, and digital strategy for HH Global. Kevin is also responsible for two HH Global Financial Services customers and digital transformation projects for HH Global’s client base. Kevin moderates the HH Global innovations group, HH Labs, which he formed in 2009, as well as being the Executive Board sponsor for HH Global’s Sustainability and corporate social responsibility programmes.

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Key Insights from our Conversation

The things that gets Kevin most out of bed everyday morning is the disruption that we are seeing in technology and how this can fire and streamline processes with clients and make solutions better. There’s just so much stuff you can do which will make things better and this gives him so many opportunities to do great things.

Technology is one of Kevin’s passions and where you can see something which can make a process efficient, add value or can improve an experience, you have to seize that – and that is what Kevin is currently doing.

HH Global is a global marketing execution company. They are in the outsourcing business and they support their clients below their creative master agencies. Typically, big brands have a master agency which creates conceptual items and HH Global is there to help execute that. They do this across three core channels: marketing print, secondary packaging, and cross-creative production. They save their clients’ money and simplify workflows.

As Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Kevin was originally focused on all things digital until they have formed an innovation group called HH Labs. It gained so much traction and interest from clients that he was asked to focus more on this. His role now is to talk to clients how to disrupt and improve what they are doing and add to their business more than those three core channels to advance them to get ahead of the curve in their particular sector.

HH Labs goes out and finds various solutions and what sprung this investment and what caused it to grow to what it is now is the passion of people who have day jobs in their business. Nearly 25% of their workforce are members of the community and effectively are digital talent scouts who are either listening to their clients for what is keeping them awake and feed this back to the group; or they are actively looking in trade shows, listening to podcasts, or subscribing in digital newsletters. They get fired up by all of this as this gives another dimension to their job and their role, and ultimately, they find it satisfying to help solve a problem for a client.

Some of the cool things they are doing right now surround digital signage and proximity and point of sale. It’s like a mash up of clever Google technology at traditional point of sale and proximity beaconing. An example of this would be a case study of Coca Cola ads in a mall where it will show you customize ads as you walk through. It uses mobile handset data to serve customize ads so as you walk down the aisle it will recognize that you are male, location, buying habits, your last interaction with Coke, etc. and it will serve an ad which is contextual to you.

Rapid Fire Questions

• What is your definition of innovation?

Innovation is the practical translation of ideas to a tangible outcome to improve products, services or processes.

• Would you put more emphasis on the idea or the execution? How would you weigh each of them and why?

In my experience, execution is key and I would put 70% on this and only 30% in the idea because if you can’t make it happen, your idea doesn’t really amount to much.

• What is your biggest learning lesson on your journey so far?

Trust your gut feeling and intuition.

If you keep doing the right thing consistently, you get better outcomes so there is no shortcut. You got to work hard, be open and honest and treat people properly. You will get setbacks but if you keep sticking to these rules, you will tend to get good outcomes.

• What is your favorite business book?

Elon Musk Biography by Ashlee Vance

Disruptive Technologies by Paul Armstrong

• What is your favorite digital resource?

Prof. Scott Galloway | L2

Here/Forth by Paul Armstrong

• What is your favorite app and why?

Vivino