What is Swiss Army Tofu?
Late in 2008 I presented a technology theme that I named as Swiss Army Tofu to a pitch audience. The blank expressions that met me before I explained what this meant are probably similar to the thoughts in your mind right now. Put simply Swiss Army Tofu is the future of devices in the digital world, or rather the death of them.
I know that sounds very grand and very pompous (and a sweeping statement), but its valid, not wholly unique and not just me that thinks it. There is plenty of others proposing similar view and will have a variety of titles to explain the same proposition: that technology is advancing so fast and, given Moore’s Law and others, so rapidly that its eventual destination is to probably not exist.
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Some background
The pitch was for a global Telco client, during a busy time it became a three or four man effort. We collectively took the decision to do something different and to provide a digital brand vision, an objective and opportunity for them to be different in a remarkably unremarkable market. By this point, it was a third meeting and they wanted to see our creativity. So we took a risk, threw caution to the wind and set out to define their perception of us and of the digital world. They wanted a strategic partner, and we wanted to be it.
The full story of this pitch is for another time (when I get some time to write the thing up, it will probably be far too long), but the main point I want to write about was the concept I developed of Swiss Army Tofu. We created a series of statements that we believe defined the world we live in and are moving towards. I thought about the way the mobile phone had advanced over time, from a brick sized lump with battery in wheelbarrow, towards smaller and more usable handsets, and to the multi-use iPhone with its applications and plethora of built in features and the dangers of featuritis. Most technology devices follow this development, the camera, the radio, the watch and so on.
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Introducing Swiss Army Tofu
The advent of Cloud Computing has freed up technology from physical objects, the idea of pulling content from the ether and not from a hard drive is with us increasingly. The natural conclusion is for these two themes to converge, for a device to contain nothing, blank and personality free, but to bring content to me and have multiple uses when I ask for it. To become what I want it to be when I need it, whatever that is. Put basically, to become Swiss Army Tofu.
All your contacts, photos, diary, video, music, curtain remote control, pulled through when the user wants it, and for the bland tofu host device to become what is needed based upon this want.
And its not just handsets, computers in offices, the home, in your car, on planes, deep under water, on a dogs collar – they all will become just screens, canvases for whatever your need is, where ever it is. Your profile will bring what you need and what you own, no downloading or buying Photoshop or Office as a cd and box, its loaded up and ready when you need it. An iPhone Apps Store for all parts of your life, shifting, delivering and nudging to meet the needs of its users.
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And White Bicycles?
Take this to another step, if these things are empty until they are recognised and told what to do, they why own them? Why not just borrow one, pick it up and tell it what you want to do, then put it back down and walk away. If they become part of the landscape then why own your own, like the White Bicycles of Amsterdam, use it and leave it for someone else, pick another up later. Yes, we know that human nature is different and we like to own and personalise smaller objects, but for these large screens – why not?
Sharing has become physical, we all see how devices like Microsoft Surface can ‘talk’ to and sync with objects placed on it, so can these devices share by touching and linking, like Lego for content and sharing.
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What happened next?
Lots. We won and are delivering the vision we painted, part of which was the idea of Swiss Army Tofu. Now we are engaged in creating a vision for the future with a very progressive client, and this idea of blank technology is closer to becoming a reality. It’s a phrase that became a symbol for the excitement of our work together. And in a fiercely changing and challenging market, where now corporations such as Google are starting to play, it acts as one of the objectives for the brand and the opportunities before us.
