Innovative Issues
Innovation Focus Inc.
September 2007
Hi!
Ahhh, fall, the season of change. While we're big fans of summer, we can't help but enjoy fall. The crisp feel in the air really invigorates us. And the leaves changing color really inspire us to change our perspectives and look at things differently. Nothing really beats putting on our favorite hoodie and laying under a tree with a few different color leaves and think about whatever pops into our minds. We encourage all of you to give it a shot sometime; you never know what you might come up with. Here's the latest....
In This Issue
Innovation Focus "Snakes" A New Employee
Bryan deBlois, inventor and designer of the wildly successful Black and Decker Snake Light®, has joined the Innovation Focus team.
Bryan's title will be Director - Discovery and Development. He will build Innovation Focus's product development capability beyond it's current business and product portfolio creation work created in an Innovation Focus Innovation Cycle program. He will lead client teams in the development of those business and product opportunities and help teams bring innovation to market.
Bryan has 21 years of experience managing advanced design and development functions for Black & Decker and Schick/Wilkinson Sword. Prior to joining Innovation Focus, Bryan founded Horizon Consulting focusing on strategic innovation initiatives for its corporate clients.
Bryan is presently settling in the Lancaster area and hopes to pick up his life long interests in fine art and woodworking. He is a passionate collector of vintage audio equipment and jazz recordings.
Bryan's bio will be up on our website soon. In the meantime, if you'd like to introduce yourself to Bryan, congratulate him, or offer to help him move, you can email him at: bdeblois@innovationfocus.com
Our Chapter In The Upcoming PDMA Toolbook 3
By the way - you can still request your exclusive copy of Anne Orban's chapter on our Slingshot process here.
10 Rules of Thumb for Driving Organic Growth from the Front End of Innovation
By Anne Orban
Companies have a hard time balancing organic growth from new products without turning existing products into commodities. Through her NPD experience, Anne Orban has identified 10 tips for driving organic growth from the front end of innovation for B2B companies.
To read Anne's tips, please click here.
Hunting for Hunting Grounds: Your Personal Journey - Part 1
By Christopher W. Miller, Ph.D.
We're taking a break from the Issues In Innovation series while we contemplate our next steps.
Instead, this month starts a new series by our Founder Chris Miller. Chris will take a look at applying our Hunting for Hunting Ground process to a person's professional life to, conceivably, find ways to continue to make meaningful contributions even after retirement.
In the first part of this series, Chris asks the question "why not?" and supports his claim with workforce trends.
To read Chris's article, click here.
Article Links
Here are some links we recommend:
A Paper Thin Battery the Size of a Postage Stamp – This is a new technology that we’re really excited about. Scientists developed a battery that is lightweight, ultra thin, completely flexible and, literally, the size of a postage stamp. It uses no chemicals to deliver the charge, making it organically safe. It can act as a high-energy battery and a supercapacitor, and can be printed just like regular paper. Lots more benefits and features are listed in the article. It’s seriously the coolest thing ever.
POV: Brands in the Dark – Ever ask for something, only to be given something different? The thing you’re given is cool…but it’s not what you asked for. Apparently, marketers are doing this with their products. Consumers want lower prices on some products, but are given fancier packaging, and vice-versa. This Adweek article discusses a study based on customers' in-store behavior conducted by Nielsen Customized Research demonstrates that marketers are missing the mark.
From Cool to Passé: Identity Signaling and Product Domains – Trends that are adopted early on by a social group are often rejected later on as other social groups and the main-stream media get a hold of them. A classic example is the LiveStrong bracelets. Hip and cool when they first came out, they are now worn by everyone, and inspired a whole new line of products. This Knowledge@Wharton article summarizes a study that gives insight into how consumers use products to signal membership in social groups, but swiftly abandon those same products when the original message is diluted as other groups co-opt the trend.
Mistakes Made on Kodak's Road to Innovation - There's no better example than Kodak of the importance of coming up with new ways of doing business -- and the difficulties of succeeding. At its peak, Kodak was an icon of American technology innovation. Now it's fighting to recover from a tech revolution that is strangling its core business. This E-Commerce News retrospective article looks at what Kodak did wrong.
Gen Y: The Innovation Generation? – This Sydney Morning Herald blog post says that new research, published on Inc.com, finds that new technologies, a proliferation of resources, and disenchantment with the corporate world are on the way to making Generation Y the most entrepreneurial in history.
Speeches and Conferences
PDMA International Conference 2007
PDMA International Conference - Innovation Connection 2007 takes place on October 1-3 at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida. Innovation Focus's own Chris Miller, Anne Orban and Diane Ray will be attending this year. Look for them at Booth #4 in the Common Ground.
Be sure to stop by! If you can't make it by the booth, try to make it to one of our seminars! Chris and Anne will be running a "Tool Story" Best Practices Session on Tuesday, October 2 from 9-9:45am. The session is titled: Turning Ideas into Concepts: Generating and Challenging Ideas.
Diane will be holding a Workshop on Wednesday, October 3rd from 8am - 4pm. The workshop is titled: Getting from Needs to Concepts: The Toolbox for Developing Needs-Based Product Concepts. Anne Orban is the Workshops Chairman.
For more information on the conference, click here. To register, click here. We hope to see you there!!!
Prepared Foods: New Products Conference
Prepared Foods: New Products Conference will be held on October 14-17th at the Naples Grand Resort in Naples, Florida.
Chris Miller, Anne Orban and Liz Heckman from Innovation Focus will be attending this event.
All 3 members of our staff will be presenting in the pre-conference workshops on Sunday, October 14th from 1pm - 5pm. Chris Miller will be presenting on "The Case for Building Your Innovation Budget ", Anne Orban will talk about "Developing New Product Concepts" and Liz will be speaking on our "The Creative U" workshop.
Keep an eye out for them wandering around aimlessly (they tend to do that) and be sure to check out their seminars!
For more information on this event, click here or to register, please click here.
Quote of the Month
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."- Michelangelo
What is your reaction to this quote? How does this month's quote affect you? Email your comments and reactions to us and your response may be published in next month's issue.
Innovative Exercise of the Month
Think of a task or a problem that needs to be solved. Now think of a famous person. It could be anyone: Thomas Jefferson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Captain Kirk, Stephen Hawking, Billy Joel - absolutely anyone. We encourage you to pick someone that you wouldn't normally think of. Problem solve from their viewpoint. What would they wish for? How would they view this problem if it was presented to them. Write all your thoughts as this person down. How can their viewpoint help you with your task or solve your problem?
Did this exercise help you solve your task? Or did you just like looking at your problem creatively? Let us know! Click here to email your thoughts or success stories to us. We'd love to hear them!
