HOW JOHAN FRIEDNER'S CURIOSITY LED TO THE EVOLUTION OF THE BIGGEST BRANDS IN THE WORLD

PSFK Labs Johan Friedner is the wunderkid of some of the world's biggest and most recognized brands.

  Johan Friedner has always been a very curious person, sometimes to the point of being a little annoying to his friends with this trait. Devil’s advocate seems a constant preoccupation for him; always dissecting and reassembling each varied perspective. While this facet of his personality could have proven adversarial, Johan has instead fashioned it into a benevolent quality for his profession as an advertising strategist at PSFK Labs. As a core member of the team, Friedner has been a force in directing many of the world’s most well-known and forward thinking brands. Helping these international entities to anticipate the needs and desires of their customers requires someone who is part scientist and part fortune teller, someone exactly like Johan Friedner. While the template is tried and true with decades of success vetting the role of a strategist, Johan exemplifies the new generation whose understanding of and immersion in the world of tech enables him with state of the art faculties. Consumers will always be looking for a better product; as the new generation of consumers look for products that enhance and enable their lifestyle, Johan will perennially be several steps ahead in order to keep things running smoothly for all involved parties.

  For those unfamiliar with PSFK Labs and what they do, think of them as a personal trainer. They look at some of the world’s biggest brands and assess what type of “shape” they are in. This is where the analogy gets somewhat radical. PSFK looks at the goals these brands want to attain as well as where the trends are headed in the future. Think in terms of slender body shapes versus bulk muscle/body builder physiques or vegan diet versus the Atkins diet. PSFK Labs not only helps companies make gains but it advises them as to how to steer their entire approach. PSFK helps companies stay relevant by tracking changes happening in society. As an example, a large technology company might ask, “What do we need to think about if we want to open up a physical store? PSFK will research what is happening in the retail space and provide the company with a roadmap on how to think about retail in the next 3-7 years. Rather than simply observing trends, in a way PSFK also drives them. As the Advertising Strategist at PSFK, Friedner uses trends research as a framework for understanding change, identifying opportunities and creating actionable strategies for implementation. These can manifest through concepts, use-case scenarios, infographics, and workshops. While a strategist indeed looks at ideas already manifesting, those ideas are exemplifying what movements and changes are happening in society. Brands and agencies can leverage this information and build new ideas around it. A strategist usually hands off their research to a creative department for them to come up with exciting campaigns built on our insights. Johan’s talent and knowledge base have him performing numerous duties in these roles including: collaborating with clients to develop and disseminate thought leadership to internal and external audiences (through talks, events, editorial content and video), managing a team of consultants and freelancers across multiple client projects (to ensure timelines, budget and quality of work), sharing PSFK’s thinking with a wider audience through speaking engagements at organizations and major conferences (in North America, Europe, and Asia - such as NRF, Shop.org, CES), and acting as the primary point person for communicating key milestones and final outputs with clients. Johan is the keystone that links PSFK Labs and their clients.

  PSFK’s Scott Lachut professes, “Johan’s research, writing, and analysis are essential for producing our client work, as well as PSFK's thought leadership reports such as Future of Work, Future of Retail, and the Sports Debrief. These industry-leading reports are being used by top brands such as Nike, Red Bull, Google, and Verizon to spark innovation in their portfolio. Johan is an exceptional colleague at PSFK who helped us retain existing clients and cultivate new business in our pipeline.” When asked about his perspective and involvement in this work, Friedner enthusiastically responds, “For me, the most wonderful thing is to be around all these thought leaders and experts that are in the PSFK network. I’ll have face-to-face conversations with a company executive who I’m also a huge fan off and can learn from. I love the trips were we go out and interview experts and help each other learn. The work can be stressful, in great part because everyone involved is excited and motivated…which is a good kind of stress. Hard deadlines and several projects are often running simultaneously, not to mention the monthly PSFK reports we are pumping out. Even if we look at trends in a 3-7 year perspective, clients want to get to work fast. This gives us a limited section of time to take a snapshot of the trends and changes going on and present it to the client. Contrary to stock analysis, we do not use much technical analysis of graphs and such but mainly rely on people, and how they act. For example, what types of companies people are starting, how people feel about certain topics, and what groups and subcultures they’re a part of. This is constantly changing and we need to stay on top of it. We deal with this stress by organization, organization, and more organization; keeping data points in a database, using spreadsheets, and constant consumption of daily news content to stay in touch with the changing landscape that we’re working with.”

  There are many people in the world who seek out those who can predict the future, whether it is through a crystal ball or on Wall Street. What Johan Friedner and PSFK Labs presents is something more akin to a doctor or health professional who assesses your current state and (for example) how to look great on your wedding day (and night). In this scenario, Johan is the advertising strategist who causes everyone to be amazed at both your appearance and the hard work you have done to become so alluring. When you think about it, brands are similar to people in many ways. They want to become better, more attractive, living a long and happy life. Johan Friedner is the modern form of the right person to help them get there.