For many growing up in the 1970s and 80s, the concept of the Pepsi Challenge was part of our daily TV viewing habit; consumers would be given a blind taste test and asked which they preferred of two non-branded fizzy drinks.

This was a very rough and ready form of consumer testing, and I'm happy to say that fast forward to 2012 and we've come a long way in finding out just what our consumers want and it is testament to our changing  world that consumer insight was one of the running themes of this year's Futurebook conference. Read more »

Stephen Page, Faber c.e.o., has been named as the most inspiring digital publishing person at this year's FutureBook Innovation Awards, which also saw recognition for Bardowl and author Naomi Alderman. Page accepted the prize this afternoon (3rd December) at the awards, held as part of the FutureBook Conference in central London and now in their third year. Read more »

Publishing has long been a bastion of prestige and influence, smoke and mirrors protecting what was sacred to those inside. Then along came Amazon, ebooks, digital and the rise of self-publishing. Now the old approach is hurting publishing, because this new world moves so fast that only the agile can hope to keep up. So what’s the answer? 

(1) Transparency in experimentation, failure and success Read more »

This is my final push to encourage you to book onto the conference. The process of putting this conference together has been challenging to say the least. It’s almost become a cliché to say that the publishing industry is at a pivotal moment, but change and disruption seem to be the only constants this year. Read more »