Посты с тэгом: inside the box

Want to Innovate? Make Sure You Have a Seat at the Table

Published date: May 23, 2016 в 6:22 pm

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For most companies, the top marketer, usually called the chief marketing officer, is part of the senior leadership team and sits on the executive committee or management board. In other words, marketing has a “seat at the table.”
But here’s the challenge. If you let things slip in terms of your team’s skills and effectiveness, you’re going to lose that seat. If marketing is seen as weak or ineffective, over time, other departments will slowly start stealing away your responsibilities. If left unchecked, your department will dwindle, leaving your team little more than a sales support function.
Here are some examples. Imagine you have a talented marketer in your department who handles sales forecasts used by manufacturing to decide how much product to make. She leaves to take another role, and her replacement is just not as good. Eventually, the manufacturing team will step in and take over forecasting. Hey, they’re doing it because they need to get the job done.
This could happen in other areas. Pricing could go to finance. Product development goes to R&D. Distribution slips away to the supply chain group. Marketing promotions goes to Corporate Communications, and so on. You’re left with a bunch of junior marketers who do nothing but create sales aids. Not good.
The biggest challenge is that many people believe that anyone can do marketing. Other groups see the marketing department as a great development opportunity for their staff.
For example, the national sales manager wants to give division sales managers new challenges and experiences. They apply for a job in marketing despite having no marketing skills. Other departments do the same thing. Over time, you end up with a marketing department that, by design, is operating at less than 100% effectiveness. You’re in trouble.
Here’s what you can do about it. First, you have to build a marketing department that is seen as having a strong core – it has solid people, strong processes, it meets its obligations, and it positions itself as leading the charge against the competition. That means you have to focus on getting the right talent and building competency within your team.
You have to create an amazing team of people with leadership skills so other departments see marketing as the hub of all company activity.
You must change people’s perception of marketing-as-a-cost-center to marketing-as-an-investment- center. Money spent on marketing will yield a sound return on investment. That means you have to deliver on your promises.
So evaluate your current situation, your talent pool, and your responsibilities. Create a plan to build a strong marketing core. Then go and get back that seat at the table.

Innovating Through Partnerships

Published date: May 16, 2016 в 3:00 am

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Have you ever heard the expression, “Riding on the Coattails of Others?” What it means is – achieving success by associating with other people or groups. In sales and marketing, it’s another great way to create opportunities and improve your sales revenue. Let’s look at how.
To achieve success through others, you have to form partnerships, or what we sometimes call a joint venture. Each partner in the venture does something that benefits the other partner. That way, both sides have a good reason to be involved. In sales and marketing, there are many ways companies can help each other.
Just sharing information such as marketing research can be of value. For example, if your company collects information about consumer preferences and a non-competing company has different information about those same customers, you could swap the data and learn more about your customers.
A partnership can be formed to share sales leads with each other. When one company makes a sale, they give that lead to the other company so they can go in there and make a sale. This opens up a whole new source of leads to put into your sales funnel.
Co-marketing can become much more aggressive than just sharing information and sales leads. For example, each company in the partnership could promote and sell the other one’s products and services. If you sell real estate, you might want to co-promote with moving companies. Once you’ve established a strong relationship with your customer base, selling other company’s products can increase your revenue by taking commissions on those sales.
Finally, another great way a partnership can work is when the partners share resources like channels of distribution or training resources. The secret is to give your partner something that is inexpensive for you to provide but of great value to them, and vice versa.
The key is to pick the right partner and strike the right deal. A good partner is someone who does not compete with your company, but is closely related enough that customers would understand why the two of you are associated. Think about the profile of the customers you want to reach.
Ask yourself, what companies out there also sell to these people? What companies have insights about their buying habits and needs? Do they have a relationship with these customers, and do they have sales channels to reach them? If so, you’ve found an ideal candidate to partner with.
Now here’s a tip. You want to be careful that you don’t create a situation where your reps are distracted selling the other company’s products to the point where they miss forecast on your products. A simple way around that is to bundle the products together. That means putting two or more products together so the customer buys all of them at the same time. For example, if you sell vacation packages, you might bundle travel insurance with it.
So take a look at potential partners given the types of products and services you sell. Give them a call and discuss the possibilities. You’ll be surprised at the many advantages of riding on the coattails of others.

Innovation Sighting: “Sweaty” Billboards That Fight the Zika Virus

Published date: April 27, 2016 в 7:32 pm

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Zika virus is a global emergency. To fight it, humans have to find a way to kill the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
Two marketing agencies in Brazil have designed a novel way to do just that. They call it The Mosquito Killer Billboard. It’s a great example of the Task Unification Technique, one of five in the innovation method called Systematic Inventive Thinking. Here’s how their innovation works:

The board releases a mixture of a lactic acid solution that mimics the smell of human sweat and carbon dioxide, which is in human breath. Its inventors have released the blueprint for free and are encouraging people around the world to make them. So far, they have installed two of the Mosquito Killer Billboards in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.
From the BBC:

“It’s impressive how many mosquitoes you can trap and how many lives you can save with this idea,” Otto Frossard from Posterscope told the BBC. Mr Frossard added that the board would cost “a few thousand Reals” (1,000 Brazilian Reals is $280/£194) to make. “I think anything that can be done to reduce the prevalence of the mosquito is a good thing,” said Dr Chris Jackson, a pest control expert at the University of Southampton. The insects are drawn to the aroma from the board from a distance of up to 2.5km away, the board’s inventors say.
“Particularly devices like this that attract and kill females that feed on blood, as it is only female mosquitoes that bite,” he explained. Dr Jackson said that, while the science behind the billboard was effective, putting them in public places and attracting human attention – as well as insects – could be a problem.

To get the most out of the Task Unification technique, you follow five basic steps:
1. List all of the components, both internal and external, that are part of the Closed World of the product, service, or process.
2. Select a component from the list. Assign it an additional task, using one of three methods:

  • Choose an external component and use it to perform a task that the product accomplishes already
  • Choose an internal component and make it do something new or extra
  • Choose an internal component and make it perform the function of an external component, effectively “stealing” the external component’s function

3. Visualize the new (or changed) products or services.
4. What are the potential benefits, markets, and values? Who would want this, and why would they find it valuable? If you are trying to solve a specific problem, how can it help address that particular challenge?
5. If you decide the new product or service is valuable, then ask: Is it feasible? Can you actually create these new products? Perform these new services? Why or why not? Is there any way to refine or adapt the idea to make it viable?
 

Are You an Innovator? Take the Quiz

Published date: April 18, 2016 в 3:00 am

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Place a check mark beside the statement you agree with most.
1.     A. Innovation occurs by adding features to a product.
B. Innovation occurs by taking features out of a product.
2.     A. Innovation is finding problems that are solved by hypothetical solutions.
B. Innovation is finding solutions to difficult problems.
3.     A. I am more likely to innovate when I work alone.
B. I am more likely to innovate when I work in a group.
4.     A. Innovation is more about creating novel ideas.
B. Innovation is more about selecting the best ideas.
5.     A. When I innovate, I “brainstorm” ideas out of my head.
B. When I innovate, I apply patterns to find ideas.
6.     A. Innovating is predictable and not risky.
B. Innovating is unpredictable and risky.
7.     A. The ability to innovate is a gift that you are born with.
B. The ability to innovate is a skill that you can learn.
8.     A. I prefer ambiguity when pondering new ideas.
B. I prefer clarity when pondering new ideas.
9.     A. The Post-It Note is a good example of innovation because it was spontaneous.
B. The Post-It Note is a bad example of innovation because it was spontaneous.
10.     A. I feel responsible for innovating new ideas.
B. I feel others are responsible for innovating new ideas.
11.     A. Innovating is a random, improvisational, back-and-forth experience.
B. Innovating is a systematic, linear experience.
12.     A. Constraints on resources like time and money drive innovation.
B. Constraints on resources like time and money inhibit innovation.
13.     A. Homogeneous groups are more likely to innovate.
B. Diverse groups are more likely to innovate.
14.     A. Innovation can be scheduled. It can occur anytime I want.
B. Innovation cannot be scheduled. It occurs randomly.
15.     A. Innovation is an unstructured process.
B. Innovation is a patterned, “templated” process.
Scoring:
For odd numbered questions, give yourself one point for each “B” statement.
For even numbered questions, give yourself one point for each “A” statement.
How do you rate? Here is a general guideline:

  • 11 to 15 points: Consider yourself an innovator.
  • 6 to 10 points: Innovating is a mixed bag for you, but you may be headed in the right direction.
  • 0 to 5 points: Innovation is a mystery to you. Consider formal training.

The Division Technique: Cut Your Challenges Down to Size

Published date: April 11, 2016 в 3:00 am

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The division technique works by dividing a product or its components functionally or physically and then rearranging them back into the product. Division is a powerful technique in the SIT Method because it forces you to break fixedness, especially structural fixedness. Division forces you to create configurations by rearranging components in ways you were not likely to have done on with on your own.
To apply the division technique, you start by listing the product’s internal components. Next, you divide the product or one of the components. There are three ways you can do this.
First is functionally, where you rearrange along some functional role. Look at this example. A water sport company took the controls of the speed boat and then functionally divided them off and placed them into the handle of the waterski tow rope. Now, the water skier controls the movements of the boat without having a separate driver.
Next is physically, where you are cutting the product or component along any physical line. Physical division is different than functional in that we are actually making a cut along some physical line of the product itself or component.
RadioTake a look at this car radio. In this example, the faceplate has been physically cut away from the main radio. When you leave your car, you grab the faceplate by pulling it away from the main radio, and taking it with you. That makes the main radio completely worthless so thieves won’t break into your car to steal it.
And the third type is called preserving. That means you divide the product into smaller versions of itself. Each smaller unit preserves the characteristics of the whole. A real simple example of this is what you see here. Cupcakes are essentially smaller versions of a normal sized cake. Cupcakes
Many food manufacturers use this technique by taking a normal full-size product and then cutting it down into smaller individual portions. These smaller units have just the right amount of food needed by the customer. This saves them money, the product is easier to store, there’s less wasted food, and it gives the manufacturer more ways to sell its products.
So once you’ve rearranged the components, this now becomes your virtual product. Using function follows form, you visualize the virtual product. Then you identify potential benefits and target markets. Finally, you modify and adapt the concept to improve it.
The division technique cuts your biggest challenges down to size so you can see new innovative opportunities.
 

How and Why You Want to Strip Great Ideas of Their Identity

Published date: April 7, 2016 в 1:53 pm

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You’ve heard that old adage. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The same holds true in creativity. You want to resist the temptation of judging ideas depending on who it came from. Yet, its very difficult for us to do this. Here’s why. If we like the person who generated it, we tend to like their idea. And if we don’t like that person, well, let’s just say we might see a few more flaws than we might have otherwise.
Now you and your colleagues might not even be aware that you’re doing this. And what this means for you in practice is that you have to find a way to strip ideas of their identity.
You can boost the creative out put of your team just by making sure these ideas don’t get thrown out prematurely. Here’s how you do it. When you’re facilitating a session to generate ideas, announce to the group that there’s a new ground rule and the ground rule is simply this, people cannot put a name to any idea. That means that people are, are going to have to stop saying things like, hey that was my idea or hey, let’s go back to that great idea that Michael had earlier.
People will find this hard to do. So, you’re going to have to be firm about the rule. Another good technique is to tell people that whenever they have an idea, they have to write it down on a piece of paper, again, without putting anybody’s name to it. Every so often go around and collect those pieces of paper, and then pass them out randomly to people in the group, and have people take an idea and read it aloud to the rest of the group. That keeps the ideas anonymous.
And finally, another good technique is to have people work in pairs or groups of three. And whenever they share their idea, they do it as coming form the entire group, not just from one team member. And what this does is it makes it more difficult for other people in the group to figure out where that idea came from. It helps them eliminate that natural tendency to have a bias to that idea. Now these techniques might take a little bit more time and may feel a bit awkward, but trust me it’s well worth it.
You’ll boost you’re creative output at work by making sure good ideas don’t get thrown out too quickly.

Innovation Sighting: Task Unification and the Oombrella

Published date: March 21, 2016 в 1:23 pm

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I love umbrellas and the many versions that demonstrate the five patterns of Systematic Inventive Thinking. Here’s a new one that demonstrates the Task Unification pattern. Task Unification is defined as: assigning an additional task to an existing resource. That resource should be in the immediate vicinity of the problem, or what we call The Closed World. In essence, it’s taking something that is already around you and giving an additional job.
Oombrella is a beautiful smart connected umbrella that alerts you before it rains and sends you a notification if you leave it behind. From their website:

What makes oombrella unique is its notification services that alert you before it rains and if you leave your umbrella behind. ombrella’s hyper-local weather data and tracking keep you informed and notified. Yet oombrella is an umbrella. It means that it protects you against the rain, and its ribs make it really wind-resistant.
As an umbrella, it can be adapted to you. This means you can pick the color, go for the Shiny edition, a very elegant White Edition or choose the revisited yet classic Black edition. In terms of size, you can choose too! Go for a classic size or one that fits in your bag.
The good part of oombrella is that you can also track all your activity and see the weather you experienced during your trip. How? Thanks to the sensors that are integrated into the handle: temperature, pressure, humidity and light. We use all this data to create the notifications “Take me with you. It will rain in 15 minutes”


To get the most out of the Task Unification technique, you follow five basic steps:
1. List all of the components, both internal and external, that are part of the Closed World of the product, service, or process.
2. Select a component from the list. Assign it an additional task, using one of three methods:

  • Choose an external component and use it to perform a task that the product accomplishes already
  • Choose an internal component and make it do something new or extra
  • Choose an internal component and make it perform the function of an external component, effectively “stealing” the external component’s function

3. Visualize the new (or changed) products or services.
4. What are the potential benefits, markets, and values? Who would want this, and why would they find it valuable? If you are trying to solve a specific problem, how can it help address that particular challenge?
5. If you decide the new product or service is valuable, then ask: Is it feasible? Can you actually create these new products? Perform these new services? Why or why not? Is there any way to refine or adapt the idea to make it viable?

Innovation Sighting: Putting Space Aliens to Work

Published date: March 14, 2016 в 1:30 pm

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The Task Unification Technique is one of five in the SIT methodology, and it produces remarkable clever ideas – the ones that make you slap your forehead and say, “Gee, why didn’t I think of that?”
Task Unification is defined as: assigning an additional task to an existing resource. That resource should be in the immediate vicinity of the problem, or what we call The Closed World. In essence, it’s taking something that is already around you and giving an additional job.
Here’s a great example of how to find aliens by using a rather resource – the aliens themselves. As reported in the Christian Science Monitor:

A new study suggests that perhaps we should be looking for aliens who are looking for us in the hope of finding each other and communicating.
The idea is to flip our current approach around. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered more than 1,000 exoplanets by watching for the light of a star to dim as an orbiting planet passes by. Scientists now suggest that we target worlds that could use that same method to spot us in a new paper to be published in the journal Astrobiology.
Here’s how it would work: Earth can be detected using the same methods from only a small strip of space. The dimming of our Sun as our planet passes by could only be spotted from what’s called Earth’s “transit zone.” And that region boasts some 100,000 potential alien habitats.
So if they’re there and they’re looking for us, perhaps they’ve broadcast a signal in an attempt to get in touch with us. And if we listen, we may discover each other.
“The key point of this strategy is that it confines the search area to a very small part of the sky. As a consequence, it might take us less than a human life span to find out whether or not there are extraterrestrial astronomers who have found the Earth. They may have detected Earth’s biogenic atmosphere and started to contact whoever is home,” Dr. Heller explained in another press release.

I love this idea because it is using the object of your efforts as the solution. In our book, Inside the Box, we describe a similar innovation on how to get rid of tsetse flies by using male flies that have been sterilized so they can’t reproduce. Eventually, the whole colony disappears.
To get the most out of the Task Unification technique, you follow five basic steps:
1. List all of the components, both internal and external, that are part of the Closed World of the product, service, or process.
2. Select a component from the list. Assign it an additional task, using one of three methods:

  • Choose an external component and use it to perform a task that the product accomplishes already
  • Choose an internal component and make it do something new or extra
  • Choose an internal component and make it perform the function of an external component, effectively “stealing” the external component’s function

3. Visualize the new (or changed) products or services.
4. What are the potential benefits, markets, and values? Who would want this, and why would they find it valuable? If you are trying to solve a specific problem, how can it help address that particular challenge?
5. If you decide the new product or service is valuable, then ask: Is it feasible? Can you actually create these new products? Perform these new services? Why or why not? Is there any way to refine or adapt the idea to make it viable?
 

Marketing Innovation: Chicken and the Absurd Alternative Tool

Published date: March 7, 2016 в 3:00 am

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Jacob Goldenberg, in his book, “Cracking the Ad Code,” describes eight creative patterns that are embedded in most innovative, award- winning commercials. The tools are:

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

One of my favorites is the Absurd Alternative Tool. It works by offering exaggerated alternatives to using the product or service to highlight the benefit. But the key is to make the alternative truly absurd. Otherwise viewers can get confused.
Here’s a great example fromTyson Chicken that is so simple and effective:

To use the Absurd Alternative Tool, first identify the key benefit you want to promote in the advertisement. If your product or brand is already well-understood in the marketplace, you should select a secondary benefit to emphasize instead to get more value for your advertising budget.
With the benefit in mind, think of an exaggerated or ridiculous way the customer could obtain the benefit instead of using your product. Then communicate the message by juxtaposing the two alternatives (yours and the absurd one) in the advertisement. Here’s an another example in a print ad:
Volvo

Got a Great Idea? Don’t Take Credit For It

Published date: February 8, 2016 в 8:10 am

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You’ve heard that old adage – “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The same holds true in creativity. We want to resist the temptation of judging ideas depending on where it came from. Yet, its very difficult for us to do this. If we like the person, we tend to like their idea. And if we don’t like that person, well, let’s just say we might see a few more flaws than we might have otherwise.
Now you and your colleagues might not even be aware that you’re doing this. And what this means for you in practice is that you have to find a way to strip ideas of their identity.
You can boost the creative out put of your team just by making sure these ideas don’t get thrown out prematurely. Here’s how you do it. When you’re facilitating a session to generate ideas, announce to the group that there’s a new ground rule and the ground rule is simply this, people cannot put a name to any idea. That means that people are, are going to have to stop saying things like, “hey that was my idea,” or “hey, let’s go back to that great idea that Michael had earlier.”
People will find this hard to do. So, you’re going to have to be firm about the rule.
Another good technique is to tell people that whenever they have an idea, they have to write it down on a piece of paper, again, without putting anybody’s name to it. Every so often go around and collect those pieces of paper, and then pass them out randomly to people in the group, and have people take an idea and read it aloud to the rest of the group. That keeps the ideas anonymous.
And finally, another good technique is to have people work in pairs or groups of three. And whenever they share their idea, they do it as coming form the entire group, not just from one team member. And what this does is it makes it more difficult for other people in the group to figure out where that idea came from. It helps them eliminate that natural tendency to have a bias to that idea. Now these techniques might take a little bit more time and may feel a bit awkward, but trust me it’s well worth it.
You’ll boost you’re creative output at work by making sure good ideas don’t get thrown out too quickly.

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