Brandcenter Strategist Brains- Hollaaaa!

Here's an update: 

My fellow classmates Culture Standpoints paper can be viewed HERE. So proud of them all! It looks great and has some really smart, cutting edge ideas, opinions and thinking represented. 

In previous blogs you may remember me mentioning da Vinci Center for Product Design and Innovation. It's what I did in place of my Cultural Standpoint. Here's an update on that: we were invited to present to the Sweedish team. Whoop. I start my first days of work so I can't be there to present but I'm proud of my group and know they will do exceptionally well. If the Sweedish team likes it, there's a chance they'll pick up our innovation idea. So cool! Fingers crossed! Too bad I'm legally bound and can't talk to anyone about it (although, it's completely understandable)... Here's a picture of the product we worked on for a nice tease and eyebrow raise :) It's called the Alfie 500 and I know an absurd and amusing amount of information about this product's design, functionality and market opportunities, the industry it operates in and everything there in between. 

Healthy Mouths Trump Healthy Smiles.

Let's be honest. Some innovation is just marketing gimmick to sell more in emerging markets. Fine. It has to be done. But some innovation that probably was meant for just that reason (to sell more) turns out to be something really, incredibly useful and appealing to consumers. 

Here's my favorite example:

The toothbrush, as one dental hygienist put it to me, is just another accessory for your mouth. It was made as a WAY to get people to brush their teeth. 

Everyone uses one. They've got all kinds of twists, bends, blue coloring that fads when it's time for a new one, grips, grooves, spins, and bristle shape and softness, etc. They've really learned how to soup up a toothbrush in so many ways. There's a lot of research and innovation being done in this area obviously.

BUT about a year ago I started using a toothbrush with a tongue scrubber attached to the back of the head (see photo below). Really smart! The packing was done well. No, it wasn't eco friendly BUT, it had a sample of the tongue scrapper on the outside that interested consumers, like me, could touch. It sure helped me make up my mind to make the purchase. All the sudden, instead of just cleaning my teeth, this toothbrush was helping me clean my entire mouth more thoroughly. We all know how ticklish the tongue is when using the regular bristles and it made it unappealing to brush the tongue that often. Soon I started seeing this across brands. I'd love to know who started the trend and when the first toothbrush of this kind was released.

Recently, however, I tried to get a bit too frugal and went for a toothbrush without the tongue scrubber/scrapper on the back of the head. I realized after one brush with this inadequate, ill equipped toothbrush, that I'm a lifer for toothbrushes with tongue scrubbers on the back of the head. I actually missed the utility and functionality of my more expensive brush equipped well enough to bring me a healthy mouth, which I consider, even one step better than having just a healthy smile.

photo credit: drugstore.com

A Master Looking for Job.

It's official. I'm a graduate of the VCU Brandcenter. Two years of tears, a bit of sweat and some blood in the mix. Those paper-cuts and humid Virginia weather. So much for a Sweet Virginia Breeze...

Anyways, I've learned a lot. Heard a lot of people talk about a lot. Formed a lot of opinions. Met a lot of people in the industry. Pulled a lot of all nighters. It's all been a lot. 

But a lot isn't enough. It's time to get a job.

Here's my thoughts:

The people are more important than the place. I want to work for someone who wants to see me grow, wants to hear my ideas and values my opinions. I also want to work for someone who believes that some rules were meant to be broken and has a renegade, risk taking spirit. Most importantly, I want to surround myself with people who are inspired by their jobs and carry that energy with them throughout their day. 

There's so much out there it's almost hard to focus. There are design firms that need planning, consulting firms that dabble in management, traditional advertising agencies, brand development agencies, experiential brand firms, firms that specialize in all things digital, product development firms that are human centered, research arms of companies, branding arms of companies, non-profits that need marketing, trend tracking firms, and qualitative consumer research firms. 

I'd be happy to put my foot in any one of those doors so long as the people who work there are interested in and actively trying to infuse their company, culture and end product with innovative services, products, philosophies that push creativity and provide end users with utility. 

Hopefully I'll find what I'm looking for. Wish me luck on my job search!

When You Have History

I recently went to one of the most amazing weddings ever. On the plane ride home, I ran out of magazines (I'm one of the few left who still love the printed word). So I reached into the back pocket of the seat in front of me, as if it were a grab bag, ready to dissect whatever Sky-mall-esque magazine I pulled out.

American Airelines-American Eagle's American Way publication from April 15, 2009 was the lucky winner. There are all kind of random tid-bits and articles but I became engrossed in "Riffing on a Legend" by Jack Boulware. It was about the C.F. Martin acoustic guitar. 

The entire article was about the brand, its heritage (Vienna born immigrant in 1833), its heyday ('70s with 22,000 units), its fall ('80s with 3,000 units), and its rise again (now). Two days ago if you asked me, "What is a C.F. Martin?" I would have stared at you blankly. Now I know that it's the holy grail of guitars. Every famous musician ever, has played one of these guitars made in Nazareth, PA. Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Beck, Neil Young, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Sting, Kurt Cobain, Paul Simon, the Dixie Chicks, Woody Gutherie... just to name a few. The article described it best, "One guitar has thoroughly saturated music's landscape." Talk about a cultural icon.

One of the most compelling parts was about the fall of the brand and how management (family operated-six generation style) made a hard decision and decided not to sell even though they were barely making enough to pay rent. As the article says, "It would have been an ignoble end to a long legacy." Instead, they decided to just make the best guitars they could even if they only sold 3,000 per year. That, my friends, is commitment. 

I don't even play guitar but I felt a pang rush over me at the thought of this legend becoming muddied by a big buyer. I can only imagine how (notice I didn't say if) the brand would have changed. The brand has, at its core, a commitment to a seemingly old-timey craft, that has deeply seeded itself in culture. That's the kind of value that becomes inherent, that you can't make-up through messaging or experiential branding or PR. It's a value achieved only by longevity. It's a kind of value only brands with history on their side can ever really have. When I think of others, the firsts that come to mind are Coca-cola and Campbell's.  

It's just really interesting to think about. We constantly hear and read how we (as a society in general) are always looking for new, bigger, better, faster. I don't disagree. Technology and innovation and newness catch our eye as a general rule. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing either. But come to think of it, thank god someone and some brand, is still out there, maintaining the old, carrying on history, craft and legacy. I never really realized how something so old and done, could be so refreshing and seem so, well... new.

Quote of the Friday.

"Ideas are about what could be done, innovation is about getting it done."

-Andrew Hargadon of the blog Harga-Blog in his post Prototypes R us.

Independent Street Innovation Inspiration

The Wall Street Journal's blog Independent Street is one of my favorite resources even if I don't check it as often as I should. Sometimes, I write down words of wisdom, bits of inspiration or that which makes me think from the articles in the blog. Here I'll share a few of my favorite I find myself revisiting often:

Want to Create an Innovation Culture? Here's How. Nov. 20, 2008

"Successful innovation can't just be small incremental innovations- it must be 'disruptive' or radical innovations that shake up the status quo." and "The largest gains in business come from more daring innovations that challenge the paradigm and the organization."

What Innovation Means for Small Businesses. Nov. 24, 2008

"From our perspective, innovation is three things: empathy, creativity and execution - and you have to have all three. Empathy is about getting employees out in the real world. If you work for company that makes kitchen tools, you should go hang out with the chefs that use those kitchen tools."

I think these are quotes are helpful reminders that it's not THINGS it's the WAY WE DO THINGS that make the biggest impact and cause societal shifts and trends when it comes to innovation. "Things" themselves often help us change the "way we do things" for sure. But when you're ideating, innovating or whatever you want to call it, it seems necessary to first think of the process that needs changing and then solve it, perhaps with a thing if need be.