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Marketing Innovation: The Subtraction Tool in Saint Gobain Commercials

Published date: May 20, 2013 в 10:31 am

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The Subtraction tool works by removing elements generally considered essential to the situation. The tool can be used in any marketing communications medium (television, print, and so on).  The tool works by drawing your attention to the missing component.  As a result, the ad is more memorable.

Subtraction is one of eight patterns embedded in most innovative commercials. Jacob Goldenberg and his colleagues describe these simple, well-defined design structures in their book, "Cracking the Ad Code," and provide a step-by-step approach to using them. The tools are:

1. Unification
2. Activation
3. Metaphor
4. Subtraction
5. Extreme Consequence
6. Absurd Alternative
7. Inversion
8. Extreme Effort

Here is an example from the French multinational, Saint Gobain, a manufacturer of construction, materials, and packaging products. To highlight the superiority of one of its product lines, it released  a series of commercials including this one:

What makes this example more interesting is the “fusion” of the message and product. The glass is so superior that it seems “subtracted” from the situation.  Only until we see the surprising fog on the glass do we realize the message. The commercial not only has this nice element of humor, but it also has a sense of simplicity and “ideality” – the solution appears only when needed.

To use the Subtraction tool, make a list of the components of the situation. Remove what seems to be an essential one.  Imagine telling the story without this component and test how strongly the viewer’s mind will interpret the situation with the component. Make the message, brand, and missing element fuse together into one memorable visual experience.

The Stereotypy Trap

Published date: May 14, 2013 в 6:23 am

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Struggling retailer JC Penny hired former Apple executive Ron Johnson as the CEO to save the company. Seventeen months later, he was ousted in what many consider a colossal failure. Why? Not because he failed to take action, but rather because he tried taking the same actions that worked for him at Apple. He was guilty of a managerial bias called stereotypy – the tendency to believe that what worked for you in the past will work for you in the future. From Time:

Johnson pictured coffee bars and rows of boutiques inside JC Penney stores. He wanted a bazaar-like feel to the shopping experience, and for JC Penney to be “America’s favorite place to shop.” He thought that people would show up in stores because they were fun places to hang out, and that they would buy things listed at full-but-fair price.
Essentially, Johnson wanted JC Penney and its shoppers to be something that they’re not. He wanted them to be more like the scene at Apple Stores, or even Target, when in reality, there was probably more overlap with Macy’s, or even Walmart.

And why didn’t Johnson understand what JC Penney’s core customers enjoyed? Well, one reason is that he didn’t really ask them. When Johnson floated plans for the chain’s radical makeover, he was asked about the possibility of trying the new pricing strategies on a limited test basis. Johnson reportedly shot down the idea, responding, “We didn’t test at Apple.”

In medical terms, stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place. In managerial terms, it is a blind spot caused by force fitting your current situation into past situations, causing you to believe that what worked before will work again. Consider research by Posavac, Kardes, & Brakus (2005):


“MBAs were asked to consider four marketing strategies for increasing market share for an established product: increasing advertising, cutting prices, hiring more sales representatives, and investing in research and development. The MBAs were told that, to save time, they would be asked to focus on one randomly selected strategy and to judge how likely it was that this was the best strategy. In addition to overestimating the likelihood that this randomly selected strategy was the best, they predicted that the majority of the executive board would also prefer this strategy.”

People focus too quickly on a single option, even when the option is selected randomly and there is no a priori reason for preferring this option. Worse, when we actively evaluate the situation using pseudo-diagnostic information, we make erroneous choices. We get into a new situation like Ron Johnson did. We look at the current situation to see what elements are the same or similar. Despite the differences between then and now, we convince ourselves that the new situation is close enough. We embrace a single option and fail to appreciate how different the new situation is.

For innovation practitioners, the message is clear: ignore what you have done in the past. Innovate systematically around the new situation to create combinations of strategies you never would have come up with on your own. To do that, apply a method like Systematic Inventive Thinking to give yourself strategy options that are right for the moment. Forget the business model that worked well for you in the past. Create new business models that capitalize on the situation at hand.

Innovation Sighting: Attribute Dependency in Signage

Published date: May 6, 2013 в 3:00 am

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Signs are perhaps the most ancient yet still relevant tools of marketing. According to the International Sign Association, signage is the least expensive but most effective form of advertising and can account for half of your customers.

Can sign makers use systematic methods of creativity?  Absolutely.

Here is a classic example of Attribute Dependency in signage.  Attribute Dependency is one of five techniques of the corporate innovation method called SIT (Systematic Inventive Thinking).  It differs from the other techniques in that it uses attributes (variables) of the situation rather than components. Start with an attribute list, then construct a matrix of these, pairing each against the others. Each cell represents a potential dependency (or potential break in an existing dependency) that forms a Virtual Product. Using Function Follows Form, we work backwards and envision a potential benefit or problem that this hypothetical solution solves.

In this example, the sign’s message is dependent on the height (therefore, age) of the viewer. That is the hallmark of Attribute Dependency – as one thing changes, another thing changes.  I always think of transition sunglasses as an example.

For an interesting history of signs, visit the American Sign Museum located here in Cincinnati.  Special thanks to my co-author, Dr. Jacob Goldenberg, for sharing this with me.

Innovating in Human Resources

Published date: April 29, 2013 в 3:00 am

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Systematic Inventive Thinking is not only for inventing new products and services.  You can apply it to a variety of functions and processes. SIT is based on the idea that mankind has used distinct patterns when creating new solutions or innovations.  These patterns are embedded into the products and services you see around you.  The SIT method structures your thinking and channels your ideation to take advantage of these patterns by re-applying them to something else.

Consider the human resources function of an organization.  Here are suggestions of which SIT technique to apply in a variety of HR activities:

  • Process innovation: HR departments support every other department with a host of processes
    like recruiting, staffing, compensation, succession planning, and
    performance management.  The DIVISION technique is ideal for innovating these processes.  Division has a tendency to break “structural fixedness,” the tendency to overlook new arrangements and configurations.  To use Division, start by listing the process steps, in order, and place them on a wall using PostIt notes.  Select a step and place it somewhere else in the process arbitrarily.  Using Function Follows Form, try to envision new benefits or opportunities.
  • Organization Design:  Restructuring is a way of life in the corporate world.  HR is almost always involved at some level given the implications on jobs and careers.  To shake things up, try using the MULTIPLICATION technique.  Make a list of the job functions in an organization.  Then select one, imagine making a copy of that function, but then changing the copied function is some novel way: role, location, alignment, deliverables, and so on.  Using Function Follows Form, try to envision new benefits or opportunities of having both functions.  Modify the idea to improve it and make it more implementable.
  • Training:  Companies spend enormous amounts of money on training.  HR is usually involved because of the impact on performance and standards.  A great technique to use here is SUBTRACTION.  This technique tends to break our “functional fixedness,” the inability to realize that something known to have a particular use may also be used to perform other functions.  To use the technique, list all the components of a training program.  Select one at random (an essential one), then imagine all the other components left to do the training job.  What would be the benefit (to the trainee, the company, to its customers, and so on)?
  • Strategy: HR departments need to have a strategy to stay relevant and to deliver the optimal support.  ATTRIBUTE DEPENDENCY is
    the most complicated of the five techniques, but tends to produce
    amazing innovations and insights.  To use it, list the attributes of
    your HR group (size, experience, locations, and so on) as well as
    attributes of your external environment (size of company, performance of
    company, performance of competition, etc).  Then, create statements such as, “As X changes, Y changes.”  For example, “as performance of competition changes, our HR department size changes.”
  • Planning:  Once a strategy is created, HR groups need to plan their activities.  TASK UNIFICATION is a perfect tool to innovate new plans.  Like Subtraction, it helps break functional fixedness, and it helps managers see resources around them in new ways to perform new functions.  To use it, make a list of the components in your HR department and outside the department.  Select a component and imagine it taking on a new role.  It can “steal” the job of another component, or perform a completely new function (in addition to its current function).

For more insights about using the SIT method, visit Inside the Box.

New Ideas Light Up the Brain

Published date: April 22, 2013 в 4:02 pm

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Canadian researchers found that areas in the reward center of the brain become active when people hear a song for the first time. The more the listener enjoys what they hear, the stronger the connections are in the region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. The study is published in Science.

From the BBC report:

To carry out the study, which took place at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University, the scientists played 19 volunteers 60 excerpts of new music, based on their musical preferences. As they were listening to the 30-second-long tracks, they had to the opportunity to buy the ones they liked in a mocked up online music store. All of this was carried out while the participants were lying in an MRI machine. By analysing the scans, the scientists found that the nucleus accumbens was “lighting up” and depending on the level of activity, the researchers could predict whether the participant was likely to buy a song.

If the brain lights up to new songs, is it possible that it also lights up to new ideas?

A new method called CLARITY might give the answer. It allows researchers to see directly into optically
transparent whole brains or thick blocks of brain tissue. It was devised by Karl Deisseroth and a team at Stanford
University. “You can get right down to the fine structure
of the system while not losing the big picture,” says Deisseroth, who
adds that his group is in the process of rendering an entire human brain
transparent.  Here is how it works:

Being able to see and measure a person’s reaction to hearing a new idea could be of enormous value to innovation practitioners. Evaluating new ideas is a challenge because people struggle articulating what they like about an idea.  Now with advanced imaging, the value of a new idea could be judged more objectively by measuring how the evaluators brain reacts to it.

Heady stuff.

Academic Focus: Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for S.I.T.

Published date: April 15, 2013 в 3:00 am

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The University of Cincinnati announced it will launch its first Massive Open Online Course (called MOOC) next fall. It will be the first MOOC to teach Systematic Inventive Thinking (S.I.T.), an innovation method based on templates.

MOOCs are unique because they allow literally thousands of students to learn together via distance learning technology. MOOCs provide students from around the world the opportunity to learn from industry experts at little or no cost. They are a great way for individuals to learn new concepts and test their readiness for continued professional development.

S.I.T. is a structured process of innovating new products, services, and processes used by many corporations globally.  A growing number of universities are teaching the method including Columbia University, University of Chicago, Wharton, MIT, and several outside the U.S..

Open online courses have risen in popularity over the past year, but they have generally not been tied to a university credential. UC is addressing this issue by launching an innovative new program this fall known as MOOC2Degree. In MOOC2Degree, the UC MOOCs will feature the same academic content and taught by the same instructors as our traditional classes. More importantly, students who successfully complete the MOOC2Degree course and enroll in an applicable UC degree program may earn credit.

As noted by Dr. Larry Johnson, UC’s interim provost notes, “We’re confident that once MOOC students begin interacting with our expert faculty and their fellow classmates, they’ll begin forming a lasting educational relationship with the university.”
Since Academic Partnerships and UC’s announcement of the MOOC2Degree program in late January, the revolutionary program has already been featured in articles from The New York Times, Inside Higher Ed and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The first UC class to be offered in the MOOC2Degree initiative will be Innovation and Design Thinking, a cross-disciplinary course collaboratively offered by the Carl H. Lindner College of Business and the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences. The MOOC will be taught by assistant professors Drew Boyd and Jim Tappel.  Students who complete the MOOC and enroll in a UC Business or Engineering degree program can apply the credits.

For more information on the UC MOOC2Degree program, please contact BJ Zirger (bj.zirger@uc.edu) (513-556-7148) at the Lindner College of Business or Eugene Rutz (Eugne.Rutz@uc.edu) (513-556-1096) at the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Innovation Sighting: The Attribute Dependency Technique in Pricing

Published date: April 8, 2013 в 6:37 am

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The airline, Samoa Air, sparked outrage with a new pricing policy of charging passengers based on how much they weigh. Chris Langton, the airline’s CEO explained its controversial decision: “People have always traveled on the basis of their seat but as many airline operators, know airlines don’t run on seats – they run on weight,” he said. “We have worked out a figure per kilo. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family or yourself. You can put your baggage on, there are no separate fees because of excess baggage – a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.” Rates start at $1 per kilo (about 2.2 pounds), which includes the weight
of both the passenger and his or her baggage.  For longer routes, rates run
as high as $4.16 per kilo.

While not popular, it is a classic example of the Attribute Dependency technique. Attribute Dependency is one of five techniques of the innovation method called SIT (Systematic Inventive Thinking). It differs from the other techniques in that it uses attributes (variables) of the situation rather than components. Start with an attribute list, then construct a matrix of these, pairing each against the others. Each cell represents a potential dependency (or potential break in an existing dependency) that forms a Virtual Product. Using Function Follows Form, we work backwards and envision a potential benefit or problem that this hypothetical solution solves.

The essence of Attribute Dependency is “as one thing changes, another thing changes.” Setting prices for products and services is largely an exercise of using Attribute Dependency. The price of a product changes as its value changes. But value is not the only variable that you can link to changes in price. Consider these examples:

  • Price changes as age of the customer changes: senior citizen discounts
  • Price changes as quantity changes: quantity purchase discounts
  • Price changes as risk changes: this is how insurance and warranty policies are priced
  • Price changes as time changes: charging lower prices for drinks at a bar is typically called Happy Hour
  • Price changes as gender changes: while it may seem discriminatory, men don’t complain when bars let women in for free
  • Price changes as need changes: this one usually gets people mad because it takes unfair advantage of a situation.  Charging more for bottled water on hot days is an example.

The beauty of Attribute Dependency is you can define the way two variables are correlated, either positively or negatively.  Air Somoa, for example, might want to consider flipping the dependency to make it more acceptable.  Everybody pays the same amount, but if you are under a certain weight, you accumlate “weight credits” that you can apply to later flights.

You can also break a dependency that already exists. Restaurants do this when they offer a buffet at one price. You can eat all you want for the same price. The typical link between price and quantity of food has been broken. Of course, if you eat too much, you’ll pay for it later if other airlines adopt the Samao Air approach.

Don’t Be Fooled When Assessing Creative Work

Published date: April 1, 2013 в 3:00 am

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How we judge a creative idea is affected by how we perceive its inventor. Without realizing it, we may overvalue or undervalue a new concept and make poor choices in the product development process as a result.

Researchers Izabela Lebuda and Maciej Karwowski1 studied how gender of the inventor and the uniqueness of the inventor’s name affect one’s perception of the invention itself. They divided 119 participants into five groups to evaluate creative products in four domains (poetry, science, music, and art). Each group evaluated the same, identical products, but the products were signed by different fictional names – a unique male name, a common male name, a unique female name, and a common female name. The fifth group evaluated the products with no names (control group).

The highest creativity score was earned by a painting signed with a unique female name, while the lowest went to that same painting with a common female name. For the science-related products, works signed by any male name scored much higher than the same products signed by women. In fact, the science product signed by a common female name scored even lower than the anonymous control group. In the area of music, any piece signed by a unique male name was rated highest. Poems, on the other hand, got the best scores when signed by a unique female name and the lowest from a common male name.

For practitioners, this systematic bias caused by gender and other factors can lead us astray. For example, science is still perceived as male-dominated, and we may have a tendency to downgrade new science concepts generated by women.  In other domains, literary and artistic, we may put too much of a premium on works generated by women with unique names.

To avoid this bias, consider the following advice:

  • When creating new concepts, use a facilitated approach that puts
    people into groups of two or three.  Make sure participants don’t give credit for an idea to a particular person.  When an idea emerges from a group (as opposed to one individual), our minds have a difficult time attaching attributes of
    any one person to that idea.
  • Have teams share their ideas outside of the workshop room.  Set up a collaboration tool such as Google Docs where teams can enter
    their ideas in real time.  Make sure the idea collection software does
    not track who entered it.  Use team numbers instead of people’s names.
  • Finally, have all ideas evaluated by a different team than the
    one that generated them.  Use a weighted decision
    model to assess the ideas.  Use scoring criteria that are
    relevant to the issue the team is facing.  Assign a weighting to these
    criteria based on the importance of that criteria.  Be sure to test the
    model not only on past successful ventures, but also on past
    unsuccessful ventures.

No fooling!

1Izabela Lebuda and Maciej Karwowski, “Tell Me Your Name and I’ll Tell You How Creative Your Work Is: Author’s Name and Gender as Factors Influencing Assessment of Products’ Creativity in Four Different Domains,” Creativity Research Journal, Vol. 25, Iss. 1, (2013), 137-142.

Academic Focus: Universidad Deusto – Master in Business Innovation

Published date: March 25, 2013 в 3:00 am

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The University of Deusto business school is offering a masters degree in business innovation (MBI) that I believe serves as an excellent role model for other schools. It is unique because it focuses on three foundations:

  1. The Approach to Observation: Business Innovation needs deep strategic analysis (Observation) to understand the external environment at all levels (Macro, industry, micro, innovation systems), the internal situation of the company (resources, skills, potential and value) and foresight, road mapping and scenario analysis to forecast market threats and opportunities.
  2. The Approach to Creation:  Together with the use of traditional strategic options to maintain and develop the company (internationalisation, acquisitions etc.), we propose developing specific solutions to solve problems, attain opportunities and challenges by developing an open environment, using design thinking methodologies and nurturing an intra/entrepreneurial spirit.
  3. The Approach to Execution: To successfully implement business innovation, managers and leaders need to achieve high levels of employee engagement among their workforce, foster a learning organisation where people can develop their skills with a passion for their contribution to the goals of the company. Orchestrating the different departments and functions is also fundamental to keep them aligned with corporate strategy and finally, managing innovation by constantly adjusting all the drivers that create an innovative organisation will lead to sustainable competitiveness.

The program is designed for a wide range of backgrounds including managers in strategic roles, entrepreneurs, consultants, and public sector employees.  The goals of the program are:

  • Promote the search for new business opportunities
  • Improve the development, implementation and commercialization of strategic ideas
  • Create a culture that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship within organizations
  • Facilitate the integration of I+D+i activities and production/final service activities
  • Innovation in Practice through the Applied Innovation Project
  • Develop yourself as a leader to transform the organisation´s ability to innovate

For more information about the seven modules of training as well as a downloadable brochure, visit the Info and Admissions section.

Deusto Business School is located in the Basque region of Spain.  The University has international ties with 60 different countries and each year attracts over 700 students from around the world. Deusto has over 10.000 students enrolled in more than 25 degree courses and 100 postgraduate courses.
Impresionante!
 

Marketing Innovation: Avocados and the Unification Tool

Published date: March 18, 2013 в 3:00 am

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The Unification Tool is a tricky but effective advertising tool. Unification recruits an existing resource and forces it to carry the advertising message. That resource can come from within the medium itself or within the environment of the medium. In other words, the tool uses an existing component of the medium or of its environment in a way that demonstrates the problem or the promise to be delivered.

The tool is one of eight patterns embedded in most innovative commercials. Jacob Goldenberg and his colleagues describe these simple, well-defined design structures in their book, "Cracking the Ad Code," and provide a step-by-step approach to using them. The tools are:

1. Unification
2. Activation
3. Metaphor
4. Subtraction
5. Extreme Consequence
6. Absurd Alternative
7. Inversion
8. Extreme Effort

There are two ways to use Unification. First, take the medium (television, billboard, radio, and so on) and manipulate it so that some feature or aspect of the medium carries the message in a unique way. The second approach works in the other direction – start with the message, then look at the components in the consumer's environment and recruit one to carry the message in a clever way.

Here is an example of manipulating the medium:


 

Here are two examples of starting with the message and recruiting a component into carrying that message. What is very innovative about these commercials is how they have "fused" the message with the product itself – the avocado.


 


 

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