Innovation Week in Review: February 12, 2011

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Gary R Schirr

Innovation articles or postings of interest this week:  

Several articles or blog postings this week about risks to innovation… Is innovation at risk and how do we get more Steve Jobs…

Innovation: Are our best days behind us? The pace of innovation has slowed in rich countries BestBehindUS in @TheEconomist

The Seven Deadly Sins That Choke Out Innovation: 7Deadly (via @fastcodesign) in @fastcompany  

Innovation dying? Healthcare Investment;The Hidden Crisis HealthInnovation WSJ-OP

“What the Startup World Needs is More Steve Jobs”MoreSteve . See his secrets to innovation. Via @benbreen RT @StartupPro

Co-creation

Forrester Research Outlines Co-Creation Market of 2011 CoCreation via @destinationcrm

Three reasons co-creation should be part of a new product process CoCreationDesign 

Getting Disruptive! (Christensen…)

I and two twitter/bloggers I follow wrote posts related to Christensen’s disruptive innovation:

Continue reading →

Posted in Co-creation or User collaboration, Innovation Week | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Innovation Week in Review – February 5, 2011

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Gary R Schirr

Design Thinking

What is Design Thinking, Really?:DesignThinking by @VenessaMiemis

Why Design Thinking Won’t Save You NotSaveByDesign RT @HarvardBiz

Innovation

Innovate like a Kindergartner AllILearned RT @BusinessChat

RT @kurtulusdemirel Can a Big Company Innovate Like a Start-Up? – Ron Ashkenas – Intrapreneurship

What’s Wrong With How We Innovate? – WhatsWrong from @zhaaazhoooy

Seven terrific ways to innovate LifeIsGood via @PaulSloane

Why Are some Incremental Innovations Considered Game Changers?: IncrementalLove  Blog by @DavidAaker

Effective product innovation requires concurrent efforts from participants AllAtOnce

“Innovation happens when people work w/in constraints & they figure out how to do it anyway.” – @webb on @care2frogloop Constraints via @amyrsward

Check this video out — How To Build a Better Brain http://t.co/5YH3IWT via @youtube #CMU

Social Media and innovation

RT @Hoovers and @B2Bbuzz: Startup uses tweets to predict purchases: SMPredictions (via @Mashable) via @KentHuffman

Is Social Media Creating A Digital Tipping Point? ItsTipping via @jeffbullas

#Conan: Most Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign Ever? ConanTheTwitterMan via @jeffbullas

18 Best Tools To Analyze Your Twitter Hotness – MirrorMirrorOnTheWall via @Minervity

Posted in Innovation Week | 1 Comment

It’s hard to be a Cannibal!

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Gary R Schirr

I strongly recommend David Aaker’s blog post on the importance of TIMING to the success of Apple’s iPod, “Why wasn’t the iPod a Sony brand?”: WhyNotSony

As David relates, Sony had launched two digit players two years earlier, but the technology was not yet right. Apple launched when affordable flash memory was available.

A follow-up question is why wasn’t Sony still trying? The company had been built on successful waves of portable, personal music: (1) the transistor radio, (2) radio Walkman, (3) cassette Walkman, (4) CD Walkman. Sony knew that the digital flash player was inevitable, had been willing to change to new technologies before, and must have viewed personal portable music as a core business: shouldn’t Sony have continued incremental improvements (ala Microsoft) until they finally had a decent offering?

Continue reading →

Posted in experiential innovation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Innovation Week in Review: January 22, 2011

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Gary R Schirr

Again, Happy New Year to all!!!

Question of the week: Is Apple’s premium pricing and margin on the iPhone sustainable in the face of competition from Android, etc?

This question was based on a WSJ article which argued that “Apple Should Be Paranoid About Android” WatchOut4Droid An interesting (certainly to me..) discussion ensued between @rossahall, @DrGustafsson (famous researcher in service innovation – the power of twitter!), @createtheinno, and me.

@rossahall asserted that the key was brand management – sustaining a premium brand, while @DrGustafsson said that continuing innovation was key to sustaining that image.

As in most such discussions the most interesting takeaways are questions… Brands such as BMW and Rolex were cited, which led to my question:

Q1: Part of the allure of the brands of BMW and Rolex are their assumed manufacturing quality – German & Swiss craftmanship. Can an enduring  premium be sustained in a product (iPhone) slapped together in a Foxconn northern Chinese sweatshop?

[Part of this dilemma is shown in a posting from @peterklamka Green group accuses Apple of lax supplier oversight DoLessEvil ]

A question was raised by @DrGustafsson:

Q2: Is it more difficult for a pure service firm to maintain a premium brand?

Other questions that arose:

Q3: What is the difference between fashion and brand image?

Q4: Does outsourcing production hinder innovation? Do you need to more personal touch for service image [American Airlines current fight might be instructive SabreRattling ]

The discussion continues… join in if you have thoughts. Thanks to @rossahall, @DrGustafsson, and @createtheinno !

Innovation Highlights

Innovation with Strangers–it has its advantages: StrangersIASL 

What Cardiovascular Marketers Can Learn From the Grateful Dead TieDying via  @JulieRobinsonKW

Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation Week | 1 Comment

Innovation Week in Review: December 18, 2010

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

Cool new job title for the week:

Social Media Marketing: Interview with Kodak’s Chief Listening Officer Kodak via @MktgExperiments

Innovation articles or postings of interest this week:

Retailing death star! – Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike Fear Into Retailers Death Star #WSJ  

The Good Fight: How Conflict Can Help Your Idea – Fight on via @MarketReading #Harvard

The Year’s Most Creative Advertising Ideas:Creative /via @scottfrog @forbes @jenhohn

Social Media Marketing

Beware of social media mavens bearing gifts… Marketing: Why Groupon Could Own Your Brand’s Future Groupon Takes over the world via @adage @LaurelSchirr

Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation Week, Social Media Marketing | Leave a comment

Innovation: Week in Review Dec 11, 2010

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

This Friday’s Question:

Do you tweet during sporting events, TV and breaking news? Does twitter really make everything interactive?

I am a dinosaur who still uses twitter only from a computer. So I posted this question to savvy followers. Two of the responses:

@EeeGeee responded absolutely, twitter makes TV “Very interactive, very 2.0 – I love it!”

@bobbikay said “I like to during sporting events. But I notice it seems to enhance the Glee watching experience.”

The genesis of the question was this fascinating article on how twitter is merging with TV: Twitter makes TV, sports events, & news interactive: I want my #Twitter #TV! TwitterTV FastCompany

Innovation articles or postings of interest this week:

Developing countries cellphones –> global health innovation: Cell phones RT @science4care via @market_spy

From the lab is my world to the world is my lab: General Mills Open Innovation Town Hall: G Mills via @lindegaard @EmilieLabidoire

Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation Week, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Innovation Week in Review – November 20, 2010

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

This Friday’s Question: How do YOU use SM in innovation? Does it go beyond an “electronic suggestion box”?

Keeley Wray aka @market_spy says: Use social media 4 all stages 1) identify unmet need 2) inventory competition & market 3) engage stakeholders to promote idea

I believe @market_spy is correct.

Several months ago I wrote a blog for Social Media Marketing Magazine arguing that SM should have such a role: SMMnInnovation 

I will post more in December on SM and innovation…

Innovation articles or postings of interest this week:

Open Innovation versus Open Source – Open Squared – Stefan Lindegaard – #innovation via @innovate

Best Brand Viral Videos of 2010NotJustOldSpice  via @jerryscanyours

Effectuation and causation http://nblo.gs/aD5MD via @pnschwab

The Heart of Innovation: 50 Awesome Quotes on Vision IQuotes via @Jabaldaia

Blocks to progress? 10 Tensions in #Innovation 10Tensions Address before start via @ovoinnovation @timkastelle

Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation Week | Leave a comment

Week in Innovation – November 13, 2010

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

There was no Friday question this week. If you haven’t already, please read my blog posting for the week, “Contextual Knowledge and Sticky Information” which follows this one.

Innovation articles or postings of interest this week:

Neuromarketing and politics:

Neuromarketing and the GOP, using real campaign ads and scores: SuperAds @noahr

Do No Evil – Google street-mapping teams collected and stored passwords, emails: DoNoEvil

Crisis in Crisis Management? 33% of Global CCO’s Unprepared WhoMeWorry via @ckburgess

Best Brand Viral Videos of 2010 IAmOnAHorse  @jerryscanyours

Top marketing professors on Twitter: ProfessorGaryNMore @SMMmagazine 

Principles of entrepreneurial effectuation: affordable loss, strategic partnerships, leveraging the unexpected (pdf) IActThereforeIAm  @ptrcksmth

How One Spark of an Idea Can Light Up the World >>> DebbieBoone  @BizXtreme

Social Media Marketing

comScore: Facebook Now Accounts For Nearly 1 In 4 Display Ads In The U.S. Facebook

For debate: Is social media making folks less social? ALLMyFriendsAreVirtual (some people can’t stop, even when they’re out and about…) @simasays  

Social media trends to watch for 2011 WatchOut @jbhester

Will Twitter’s new ad model work for marketers? NotJustFacebook  @jbhester

WSJ.com – A Web Pioneer Profiles Users by Name IllBeWatchingYou

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Contextual Knowledge and Sticky Information

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

One of the reasons why this blogger and many innovation researchers are skeptical of traditional market research methods, such as surveys and focus groups, is the importance of contextual knowledge and sticky information. Users sometimes fib on surveys but more importantly they don’t know what information is relevent. Hence a long history of suggested approaches that more completely involve/immerse the researcher such as site visits, ethnographic techniques, probe and learn, experimentation and effectuation.

Studies by Gabriel Szulanski, Eric von Hippel and others have shown how difficulty it is to verbally transmit key information: even within the same firm. I had personal experience with this phenomenon when I moved to Hong Kong.

Continue reading →

Posted in Co-creation or User collaboration, experiential innovation, Experiment, financial services | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Innovation Weekly Summary – Nov 6

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Gary R Schirr

Friday question:  Is #EMPOWERING (e.g. #servant) #leadership necessary for optimal innovation? www.servicecocreativon.com

This question generated NO comments – a Friday question first! Traffic to my blog was also about half of usual levels… so I guess it did not generate a lot of interest. The issue of proper leadership is important for organizational innovation. I know that many people find Servant Leadership off-putting because of presumed ties to Christianity, but I believe the moral theme is actually more universal…in any case take a look at the next posting if you are interested!

Posts/articles of interest this week

Interesting and timely! RT @Political neuromarketing: a field in its infancy, but growing in popularity Neuromarketing RT @Jabaldaia

My review of the Open Innovation Revolution by Stefan @Lindegaard OpenInn  

Can a Map Prevent the Next Financial Crisis? @geodatapolicy MappingRisk RT @soramaki

Beyond paid media: Marketing’s new vocabulary Vocabulary via @VasilyKomarov

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment