Idea and Innovation Blog

Some companies get it and others just don’t. Word-of-mouth promotion of one’s brands, activities and innovation initiatives is one of the most powerful, motivational and effective tool in a company’s arsenal. It’s viral, cost-effective and credible. So how does one build the...

The other day, I was having some cookies with my daughters and as it so happens, I had a moment of reckoning. We have an arrangement whereby we each twist one end of an Oreo off and exchange for the portions that we want: they want the ends with the icing and I get the cookie part only sans all tha...

Last week-end, I went shopping and decided to buy an iPad. There are many outlets within the mall I was at where I could purchase this device; but since there was an Apple Store nearby, I decided on it. It appears that I wasn’t the only person with the same idea…because when I got ther...

When you look at the origins of innovations, one thing quickly becomes clear: it happens anywhere and everywhere, Take the innovative art of Bjork; it hails from Iceland. The Ski-Doo snowmobile; it’s from Quebec. Apple electronic devices; California. Red Bull from Austria. Creative spark ...

The following example is a case study among many highlighting why outside innovations can have such a hard time gaining traction. When I was a sophomore at college, I had an idea for a portable toothbrush.  The value proposition was to enable consumers to connect a toothpaste tube to the shaft...

Innovation is a process that spawns newness in the forms of products, services, efficiencies and a host of other improvements; but the process also creates instances for opportunities. As a process, rigor is essential for proper functioning and flexibility vital for sustainability. The latter is key...

There have been an increasing number of operators in the Ideas Management community fixated on synthesizing innovation – for both the inspiration and perspiration sides of the equation. Ambitious for sure, but from our point-of-view altogether un-necessary - considering the rich, talented, kno...

Embarking on any new initiative requires a plan that includes a definition of what one is going to do, how one is going to do it and how one will measure success. This is a Critical Success Factor for Innovation Processes, its practitioners and the leadership that have the expectation of results fo...

As competition eats away at the market you live from, loyalty in all forms erodes and consumer tastes grow ever more fickle, the task facing marketers in charge of fielding their organization’s next product winner could drive any normal person insane with trepidation and angst. After all, many...

Writing a blog about innovation is an activity that I have come to really enjoy; it’s like thinking out loud. Authoring the BrainBank blog also has a fringe benefit, in that every now and again, I use this soapbox to grind an axe about something that really annoys me – in this installmen...