219 – Rebekah Lundberg and Sara Berenice of Valtech – Technology First

When you think of digital agencies you think of marketing and media. But what about a digital agency that puts technology first? Rebekah Lundberg (Marketing Director, North America) and Sara Berenice (Chief of Staff) for Valtech (a global digital agency focused on business transformation) joins Pavan Bahl and Rob Sanchez on location at Valtech’s Innovation Lab during NRF 2018 in New York. Powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: How Valtech started in 1993 in France, came to US a few years later, and now in 30 cities on 5 continents How Valtech believes in experimenting and tinkering before rolling things out, and how the Innovation Lab allows people to see and feel products and consider possibilities Why Valtech likes to collaborate with startups, help beakthroughs in ideas happen, design thinking -- trying, failing, learning, and restart Staying embedded in startups, bringing them into Valtech’s universe, showing how the startups can be relevant to clients, and pushing clients to adopt design thinking methodology Valtech is a 16,000 company wide organization Providing an experience for NRF attendees to come to the Innovation Lab and how that developed Facilitating people from all over the world in one space Helping to spot interesting technologies to bring in The focus at NRF as “Omnichannel 3.0” Virtual reality and in-store space Innovations of companies including Decathlon, Brickwork, and Perch How virtual reality should be used in-store, not to replace a store, to make the in store experience more immersive Working with L’Oreal How Valtech is a tech incubator, but not just that. Working with big clients, and how the presence of Valtech in many countries and being present in many countries allows for collaboration there Travel with and without a strict itinerary