Monthly Archives: November 2009
I’m generally not tracking the “post ads to your social networks” movement, be it sponsored blog posts or tweeting ads to your followers on Twitter. There is one aspect to it that I think is most important: disclosure. Robert Scoble has a post up, More thoughts on in-Tweet advertising, where he notes that he unfollowed people on Twitter who were running ads:So, I unfollowed and won’t be looking back. Actually I unfollowed Pirillo too. I don’t think he’s disclosed everything clearly or explained where his ads were coming from and until he does I’ll stay away.His perspective reminded me of an experience I had years ago in the late 90s when I worked as an investment banker for Bank of America. It taught me the right way to disclose unsavory facts.Selling a Superfund Deal: The Wrong WayYou know what the Superfund is? It’s the federal government’s program to clean up … Continue reading
by Kevin RobertsI’ve been amazed by the global enthusiasm for the iPhone apps that continue to proliferate around the world. Creating an app is as simple as thinking of something useful. It’s the modern day inventor’s route to riches, and the modern day consumer’s lifestyle compressed onto a small device. The creativity just keeps on coming, and it has the consumer at the heart of every decision.The Urban Spoon app lets you define the parameters of what you want to eat. Anything you’d like to leave to chance, just solve with a shake of the phone. Is That Gluten Free? will tell you what you’re eating while you are at the restaurant. The World Factbook ’09 can solve discussions over dinner. Then GymGoal can help you work it off. And on it goes.These apps are the ultimate conversation starter. “Have you got this app?” The power of the idea is … Continue reading
This is the fifth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘What is the most dangerous current misconception in innovation?’. Now, here is Hutch Carpenter’s perspective:Most Dangerous Innovation Misperception: The Silver Bullet Approachby Hutch CarpenterWhen companies think every innovation has to be a shooting star, their innovation efforts aren’t going to get very farA recent Accenture survey of 630 executives from large firms in the U.S. and U.K. found this alarming stat regarding innovation inside enterprises:58% believe their organization is looking for the next silver bullet rather than pursuing a portfolio of opportunitiesTaking this view is a dangerous misperception about innovation. It’s dangerous for two reasons:It relegates smaller innovations to second class statusIt negatively impacts the innovation cultureLet’s examine those two issues more fully.The Go Big or Go Home SyndromeThere is a popular philosophy in the world of business … Continue reading
Out and About Marketingby Mike BrownThe Baskin Robbins Double Header Cone screams, “I came out of an innovation session!”That’s okay though because it appears from the outside-looking-in to have a solid customer experience-based strategic foundation.An ice cream cone allowing multiple flavors and formats side by side lets customers preferring cones experience them in a new, fun way. Who can beat two different ice cream flavors and formats (soft serve and scoop) the way YOU want to combine them, instead of randomly (mashed scoops), sequentially (scoops on top of each other), or in a forced swirl (for soft serve)?It’s fun for kids (who seemed to be the primary audience the day we were in Baskin Robbins) and probably makes a parent’s life a little saner (since it helps more easily please a kid wanting multiple flavors). For Baskin Robbins, it creates some near term buzz and introduces a new, slightly higher … Continue reading
Mobility is a good thing. As mobility increases, so does our standard of living. Mobility expands job opportunities, enriches our personal life, and boosts prosperity. For nations, mobility expands trade, creates wealth, and makes countries more competitive. Mobility even helps us live longer. For hundreds of years, life expectancies hovered around 40 years. During the 1800s they began to shoot up when road transport improved. Today life expectancies in many advanced societies approach 80 years thanks to improved mobility in transportation, communications, and network computing.How can we use structured innovation to create more of it? How can we make the products and services we use every day more mobile? For this month’s LAB, we will use the Division Template. We begin by listing the product’s (or service’s) internal components. Then we divide one or more of the components in one of three ways: Functional (divide along functional roles)Physical (cut …
A journalist recently asked me how companies should get started with open innovation. I replied as below:First ask this question: Why do we want open innovation? Many people believe open innovation is the Holy Grail and they just jump aboard without asking why open innovation is relevant to them.An answer to the why question should show an understanding of how open innovation can be an important part of the general innovation strategy which in turn needs to be highly aligned with the overall corporate strategy. Many companies mess up here. They simply do not have an innovation strategy.The benefit of having an innovation strategy is that it sets a direction for your efforts. This also allows you to better define open innovation in the terms of the company. Innovation – and even more so – open innovation can be defined in so many different ways. Companies need to find their … Continue reading
