Ideas To Go

What's it Like to be Creative Consumers® associates?

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:44:23 -0400

We asked one of our long-time Creative Consumers® associates (CC), Frank Auer, to tell us what it’s like to be a CC. Here is his response:

Initially it may seem as if being a CC is just fun and games—without being challenging and without a solid application to personal life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

From my experience there are three main challenges to being a CC that also apply to daily life.

Endurance
Acceptance
Understanding

Endurance – One cannot simply be prepared with one idea. In session this means the CC must power through round after round of constant new ideas. Always stretching for new views and thoughts. I believe that people who always search and stretch are prepared for what life throws at them. There is many a story of a successful creative person having a smashing success, but then floundering because they have no second, let alone, third idea.

Acceptance – As Creative Consumers® associates, we must accept all ideas. We cannot simply reject an idea because it sounds silly or impossible to us. To refuse ideas is to shut down discussion, and essentially not respect the thoughts of others. In everyday life, you would do well to truly listen to people’s ideas. Do not reject them just because they may initially sound strange or too “out there.” While the idea as a whole may not work, it may very well hold a nugget of great value that you can spin into a unique, fantastic idea. You just have to learn to accept and value all ideas.

Understanding – Understanding what others are asking for, or need, is vital to being a good CC. Being able to interpret a client’s request and understand how it applies to the ideas in my head can always be a challenge. As Creative Consumers® associates, we have large blocks of ideas but we also need to understand the client’s need in order to shape and sculpt those ideas in a way that is useful to their objectives. I think of it as Super-Powered Active Listening. You must actively process what you are being told, and be willing to ask questions to fill in the gaps, in order to move forward in a manner that benefits those involved.

As a CC, I strive to use all three facets of my abilities. However, even if I wasn’t a CC, I think I would endeavor to make use of these skills in my daily life to be a better employee, friend and family member.

Innovation Secrets of America's Got Talent

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:10:00 -0400

By Adam Hansen, Facilitator and VP of Innovation

If you’re thinking like an innovation mercenary, then you’ll find innovation inspiration everywhere. Including the reality television show America’s Got Talent (AGT).

We know innovation hinges on the Big Two—Uniqueness and Relevance—which together account for about 85% of all innovation success. On a recent episode of AGT, an Earth Harp performance gave us a look at a couple key levers of Uniqueness and Relevance.

Uniqueness:

The biggest instrument most of us are aware of would be something on the order of a string bass, a sousaphone (the wrap-around tuba in marching bands) or perhaps Neil Peart’s drum set (the drummer from Rush…there, I invoked Rush!). The Earth Harp uses the whole theater as the sound chamber—literally tying the stage to first balcony. When thinking “scale” as a lever of uniqueness, we’re often impressed by 50%, 100%, or every now and then 200% more than the expected size. How about something 2000% larger? Couple that with what seemed to be original music, played by a clear master of this breakthrough instrument, and you have a very exciting Uniqueness story.
How This Relates To Innovation Work: Look for opportunities to scale on an order of magnitude that no one else would even begin to consider. The quickest way to cut through competitive clutter is to have no competition.

Relevance:

What would it be like for you, an audience member to be inside the instrument? I would love to get inside an acoustic guitar when a Segovia was playing it. With the Earth Harp, you are literally involved in the performance, like egg whites are involved in meringue. Hear it, feel it, be it. It’s one thing to feel a pounding bass in your chest from massive speakers at a loud rock concert, but this seems to be a very different experience, substituting the brute force of volume for something approaching the other-worldly. It seems like the music would entirely surround you.
How This Relates To Innovation Work: Seek out ideas that involve your customers at a heightened level and have more potential to resonate long-term. Uniqueness doesn’t work if there’s no intention of repeat purchase. To be relevant, something needs to burrow itself into our lives and stay tethered there so we can enjoy the experience of it again and again.

So what can innovationistas learn from a somewhat formulaic reality contest? Innovation can be spurred by approaching Scale and Involvement in a fresh way. Use that inspiration to start thinking of strategies/levers that can drive to each of the Big Two.

Challenge Yourself: Consider new Uniqueness and Relevance levers for your product-market space. Within each lever, think outrageously, not just incrementally. Where does it take you? Go far beyond reasonable, then scale it back to something that’s still obviously breakthrough, but perhaps just a tad more approachable or feasible.

The Fan Fiction of Ideation

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:12:25 -0400

The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, by E L James, is an international pop culture phenomenon. The books, categorized as erotic fiction—and dubbed “mommy porn” by The New York Times—have been at the top of that paper’s bestseller list for weeks. The movie rights have been sold. And the media is gaga over the author’s story. What’s so special about these books? They started as Fan Fiction—as in, one ardent fan’s love for something so much (the Twilight books and movies), that she had to respond with her own embellished twist on the story.

Fan Fiction is a passion-fueled online trend where fans of a particular book, movie, TV show, etc., write their own version as a tribute to the story, characters and worlds they love.

Like Fan Fiction, building on something you love is rampant in ideation sessions. We call it elaboration. And there are lots of benefits to it.

Sometimes it’s easier to respond to something that’s already out there, than it is to come up with an idea on the spot.
Elaborating on an idea can add depth and breadth to an idea generation.
Passion for an idea increases the energy in the room—making it more comfortable for others to offer even more ideas, and taking the passionate builders in other new directions.

Perhaps the most rewarding benefit shared by elaboration and Fan Fiction alike, is the viral enthusiasm that grows from one person to the next. This phenomenon fuels not only the shaping of the idea, but also the adoption—transforming a possibility in the ether into something with real application for its users…which is something anyone in the idea business should be a fan of.

The Human Side of Innovation Help

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:01:09 -0400

by Susan Robertson, Facilitator and VP of Business Development

For those of us who love the power of brainstorming, the current trend to bash the benefits of it is tough. It seems to have started with Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking, where she claims group brainstorming is worthless. (A book that compelled me to write an article pointing out some of the issues with her research and assumptions.) And was followed by several articles with similar themes of demonizing brainstorming—including The New Yorker and Fast Company.

These articles prompted me to start thinking about how a responsible client would go about hiring an innovation company—especially when there is so much conflicting information being bandied about. If I were in their shoes, how would I decide amongst all the companies who are offering services that are supposed to help me innovate? How could I guarantee that the company I picked to help in our innovation efforts would deliver what we need and want?

The answer, of course, is that there are no guarantees in this, just like in life. So I’m going to offer some thoughts on how to minimize the risks of going wrong, and maximize the chances for success. In short, my suggestion is to treat this relationship like you would any other relationship in your life.

Do You Trust These People?
This is not about whether you trust their model or their process. Models and processes are plentiful; everybody’s got one. That’s not to denigrate their importance. It’s critical that innovation is repeatable; structure is absolutely necessary. So every innovation firm has a structure, process, or model that they follow. And most of them work quite well. If you think someone’s model seems reasonable, it probably is. So you need to decide if you trust the people as much as you trust the model. If by chance, something does go wrong, are these the people you want in the lifeboat bailing with you, or are they potentially going to bail on you?

Do They Care What You Think?
Early in my career, I was an assistant brand manager at Quaker Oats, working on the Gatorade brand. The senior management hired one of the big strategy consulting firms to rethink the future of the brand. After a meeting with the consultants (in which they pretty much ignored the opinion of everyone on our team), I privately asked my 2-levels-up boss, “Don’t you think they’re kind of … arrogant?” (I actually used a different “a” word that I won’t repeat here.) Her response was, “Yes, totally. But they’re really smart.”

In my relative naiveté, I assumed she must be right and that intelligence trumps all else in a relationship like this. Over time, however, I’ve learned differently. I now know that the people I want to work with are the ones who view our work together as a collaboration.

No matter how smart a consultant is, they will never know your business like you do. They know DIFFERENT things than you know, and have DIFFERENT experiences than you have. The magic happens when those diverse sets of knowledge and expertise come together. So, don’t hire someone who agrees with you on everything, and does exactly what you ask for every time. And don’t hire someone who tries to look smarter than you, and doesn’t value your experience as important or unique. Hire someone who listens to what you say, but also challenges your assumptions, who adds value with their perspectives, questions, and suggestions, and who works WITH you to arrive at the best solutions.

Get beyond the first date before you tie the knot. Who are you really?
A client recently said to me, “We hired Firm X on the basis of the guy who originally presented to us. He was charismatic, smart, funny, and he really won over our whole team. As soon as we hired the firm, they sent in a bunch of inexperienced 24-year-olds to do the work, and we never saw or heard from him again. Obviously, we were a lot less impressed with the resulting work than we were with the initial presentation.” Ask some questions about who will actually do the work. Is it the person/people presenting? If you’ve only ever spoken to the Business Development specialist, ask to also speak to the person who will lead your project, and make sure that person also feels right, before you sign the contract.

Do you like them well enough to live with them?
It’s quite likely that you are going to work closely with these people for a while, and in some relatively intense environments. For example, you may find yourself in a dark back room of a focus group facility with them for several days. Would you enjoy going out to dinner with these same people every night afterward? Do you think that would be fun and/or relaxing after working with them for many days? If so, then dive in and hire them. If not, look around a little more. The best kind of consultant-client relationship is one where you’re actually so energized by the hard—and often exhausting—work you’re doing together, that you still want to hang out at the end of the day.

Of course, all the rational factors will play into your decision — quality, price, timing, output, etc. But even after you apply those filters, you will likely still have lots of potential partners to choose from. If you consider the human factors into your decision, you’ll ultimately be happier in your work with them, and more satisfied with the results.

In praise of irrational innovators

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:08:13 -0400

In praise of irrational innovators:

“But our world is — unquestionably — a better place because people take risks that don’t quite make logical sense.” —Scott Anthony

Introverts, Extroverts and American Idol

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:42:55 -0400

Written by Susan Robertson, Facilitator and VP of Business Development

While we have to remember that it is entertainment—and that some parts of it might not be totally real—it’s been an interesting study for me to watch the differences between the judges on American Idol.

Randy Jackson exhibits all the hallmarks of a flaming extrovert. He interrupts the other judges, and host Ryan Seacrest, all the time. Not because he’s being rude, but because he’s thinking. And extroverts think out loud. He says a lot of words when he talks, and often repeats one or more of them many times—especially if he’s passionate about what he’s saying. His gestures are large. His voice is loud. And while the last two don’t necessarily point to extroversion (I’m a rather loud introvert myself), they do often go hand-in-hand.

Steven Tyler exhibits the tendencies of an introvert. I know it seems hard to imagine that this rock star, who has made his name (and fame) by being the exhibitionist front man for one of the most famous bands ever, could be an introvert. But based on his behavior as a judge on Idol, I’d guess that’s who he really is. He rarely speaks until he’s specifically called upon by Ryan. He never interrupts the other judges. He says far fewer total words than Randy does. His speaking voice is relatively quiet (again, not that that necessarily means he’s an introvert, but it seems to fit the demeanor in this case). His gestures and body language generally aren’t flamboyant (again, not necessarily the sign of an introvert on its own, but another clue). While he does make the occasional grand gesture (like diving into the pool fully clothed at the end of one episode) it appears to me that this is him performing. I think the “real” him is the thoughtful, relatively quiet, more introverted person.

Jennifer Lopez’s preference for introversion or extroversion is less clear, based on her behavior on the show. I tend toward thinking she prefers more extroversion, but that’s more speculation. The other two’s preferences seem more clear to me. So I’m going to focus on the differences between Randy and Steven.

While Randy might, on the surface, appear to be giving more feedback, if you really think about what’s being said, Steven contributes an equal amount of thinking and feedback as Randy, just more in the style that an introvert contributes. He’s equally effusive, although less wordy, when someone performs outstandingly well. And he’s equally honest when someone doesn’t. He appears to think through what he wants to say before he says it—a classic trait of an introvert. Randy, true to his extroverted style, appears to do his thinking as he’s talking.

How Does This Relate To Your Innovation Work?

Well, besides the fact that I just find it interesting, it can illuminate how to get the best of each person on your innovation team—by making room and space for both introverts and extroverts to do their best thinking.

A lot of innovation work, particularly in the early discovery and idea generation phases, tends to be done with a team all in a room, or on the phone together. This group work is where extroverts are most at home—they love the energy of bouncing ideas and thoughts off other people, it’s often where they do their best thinking, and it’s how they get jazzed about a project. So make room for that in your process. Let them talk all they need to, because that’s how they think best.

But, to ensure that you get the best thinking from the introverts too, you need to give them their commensurate time and space. You can start by publishing the objectives and agenda of any meeting well in advance, so they have time to incubate on it privately.

When you need to generate new thinking in a group, ask that all participants do a preparation assignment in advance. This allows the introverts to do some deep thinking about it when they’re alone and can do their best thinking. It also offers the added benefit of getting the idea generation off to a quick start when you do get the team together. The introverts will come with some ideas already thought-through. The extroverts might come with their thoughts less fleshed out, but they’ll use the energy of the moment to generate even more.

And when you do need to come up with ideas more in the moment (when there isn’t time for a prep assignment), make sure you have a few minutes of silent thinking before people start talking. The extroverts will be chomping at the bit to start talking, and will think the three minutes of “thinking time” isn’t necessary. But if you skip this, the introverts in the group will never have time to think, because it can be tough for them to think when everyone else is talking. So, if you’re the one running the meeting, say: “Everyone please take a quiet moment to jot down some thoughts before we start talking.” The three minutes you spend, even though they feel wasted to the extroverts, will buy you dramatically better input and participation from the introverts.

In summary, keep in mind that you need to allow both types of people to feel like they’re contributing at their best. An easy way to remember to do this is to remember what they might say:

An extrovert would say, “I don’t know what I think until I say it.”
An introvert would say, “I don’t know what to say until I think about it.”

You need to create both individual thinking time and talking time into your innovation process. Or you just might end up with ideas only Paula Abdul could love.

John Cleese on 5 things you can do to inspire creativity....

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:25:08 -0400

John Cleese on 5 things you can do to inspire creativity.

Originally found at Brainpickings.org. Thanks!

Want More Creativity? Tear Down the Walls

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:22:11 -0400

Want More Creativity? Tear Down the Walls:

ITG was highlighted in an article on the importance of creative environments. Thanks to Vera Dordick of Tangible Develoment LLC for including us!

Why Jeff Bezos LOVES Consumers

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:17:52 -0400

Why Jeff Bezos LOVES Consumers:

Forbes magazine will profile Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, as one of the best leaders in America in its April 23, 2012, issue. And it’s his love of customer-driven innovation that helped put him there.

According to the article:

“For Bezos a data-driven customer focus lets him take risks to innovate, secure in the belief that he’s doing the right thing. ‘We are comfortable planting seeds and waiting for them to grow into trees,’ says Bezos. ‘We don’t focus on the optics of the next quarter; we focus on what is going to be good for customers. I think this aspect of our culture is rare.’”

"Charles Limb, an associate professor otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who is..."

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:31:00 -0400

“

Charles Limb, an associate professor otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who is also on the faculty of the university’s Peabody Conservatory of Music, conducted one of the earliest brain-scan studies of musical improvisation in 2008. In that study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, Limb and his co-author Allen Braun persuaded six professional jazz pianists to play on a specially designed keyboard while lying inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The musicians played a tune they had memorized and then a tune they invented on the spot.

With the shift to improvisation, the researchers noted the appearance of a distinctive pattern of brain activity. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with careful planning and self-censorship, became dormant, while parts of the brain connected to the senses — hearing, seeing, feeling — became especially lively. Most interesting, a brain area called the medial prefrontal cortex, linked to autobiographical storytelling, also showed increased activity. Inhibitions released and senses primed, these musicians were engaged in an act of self-expression, using the music to communicate something deep about themselves.

Improvisation can also bring fresh thinking into the workplace. The Second City, the famous improv-comedy troupe in Chicago, now has a corporate arm devoted to improving business communication skills through the same techniques its actors use to make people laugh. “Business isn’t neatly scripted,” notes Tom Yorton, chief executive officer of the Second City Communications. “It’s an unpredictable and unwieldy act of improvisation.” The organization’s trainers lead groups of coworkers, or “ensembles,” through exercises designed to break down inhibitions, heighten attention and ease self-expression — valuable aims, research suggests, for anyone who wants to come up with a riff the world hasn’t heard before.

”

- Click here to read the complete article: From: TIME.com / TIME Ideas — Lessons on Creativity from Jazz Greats

By Anne Murphy Paul

(via creativesage)

Amazing Actual 'Mad Men'-Era Television Commercials

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:41:13 -0400

Amazing Actual 'Mad Men'-Era Television Commercials:

As our own Adam Hansen describes it, “This is just dope.” (via The Atlantic and The Prelinger Archives)

Brainpickings

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:39:52 -0400

Brainpickings:

This blog always features interesting stuff. We like it. We though you might, too!

A Day of Learning from the Yale Trends in Marketing Conference, Part 4

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0400

In February 2012, we sponsored the Yale Center for Customer Insights Trends in Marketing Conference — The Higher Velocity Marketplace: Technology, Innovation, and Engagement in the New Marketplace. This intimate, one-day gathering of marketing innovation thought leaders highlighted emerging trends and ideas in technology and customer engagement across a wide spectrum of industries.

Ideas To Go Chairman and Facilitator Ed Harrington and Word Processing Specialist Rickie Friedberg attended the conference and highlighted some of the learnings that we’ll post over the next few days. We hope you enjoy Part 4!

Claire Hughes Johnson, VP of New Products, Media, and Platforms at Google is a firsthand witness to “the acceleration of everything.” In the early days of the internet, she describes, its benefit was simply increasing the accessibility of information that had previously been difficult to find. Between 1998 and 2003, distribution and commerce became prominent. Companies were surprised when consumers were willing to hand over their credit cards and wait for their stuff to arrive, signaling a critical shift in how they would be required to think about the web.

Since 2003, the internet has become social, a place where talking, engaging, and creating are the most prominent activities. We produce massive, unimaginable amounts of data and digital information—800 exabytes (That’s more than 800 billion gigabytes) today. That number is expected to increase to 53 zettabytes by 2020. Math doesn’t have words to express how large that is. Sixty hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and 87% of that is consumer-generated content.

The way that content is consumed is expanding as well. We don’t just watch TV anymore; we use our smartphones and tablets while we watch TV. In fact, much of the time we use those devices to search for the things we’re watching on TV while we’re watching it. We take our tablets to bed with us, playing games and reading newspapers instead of reading a book the way we used to. YouTube is now the number two search engine in the US—if we don’t know how to eat a pomegranate, somewhere on YouTube there is a video ready to explain. In the days leading up to Christmas, L’Oreal took advantage of this, taking over the front page of YouTube and driving traffic towards their beauty how-to videos. The total cost? $1.7 million, incredibly low compared to the cost of a television campaign.

The next step in successful marketing will be to take advantage of the new technology and make the conversation two-way. One example: President Obama recently held a “hangout” on Google+, allowing people to interact with him via webcam. One woman put her two kids on screen, and they got to “meet” the President.

The message here is that marketing and advertising need to be about people, not technology. Humanity is what connects us, and makes things meaningful. The technology is just there to help.

Ideas To Go is pleased to also sponsor the upcoming 7th annual Yale Customer Insights Conference in May. Registration has already begun. The fee is $495, and seating is limited. Register for the conference here.

A Day of Learning from the Yale Trends in Marketing Conference, Part 3

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0400

Ross Martin, EVP at Viacom and consultant for MTV, knows a lot about Millennials. He has to, in order to keep MTV relevant as the time between cultural milestones is continually compressed. “Millennials don’t just think about life differently,” he tells us, “they live it differently. The internet is not where they talk about real life—it’s where real life is happening.” With their sheer numbers, diversity, immense ambition, instantaneous access to information through technology, and $890 billion a year to spend, Millennials have the power to kill a slow-to-adapt company through disinterest.

Martin’s example: Blockbuster. The widely visible death of the brand demonstrates that old ways of marketing don’t work anymore. A brand can no longer push ads out hoping that people will look at them, absorb them, and admire them. Content doesn’t move anyone anymore—experience does. And the winners are the brands who create engaging experiences.

Martin has witnessed this process in action. MTV partnered with Dr Pepper Snapple Group to update Sun Drop, a citrus soda previously only available in the Carolinas that hadn’t been advertised in over a generation. The challenge: how to market this beverage to Millennials who refuse to be swayed by a discount or celebrity endorsement. The solution: a nationwide campaign featuring a young woman dancing awkwardly to hip hop music in a variety of situations. The combination of pop culture and embarrassment was a hit and the commercials went viral on the internet, receiving 15 million views on YouTube. Then, fans started creating their own “Drop It” videos. The audience took over the marketing campaign, giving the user-generated content over 30 million views.

This example proves that marketing to Millennials means giving them the power.

A Day of Learning from the Yale Trends in Marketing Conference, Part 2

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:00:06 -0400

“When Axe body spray came to the United States and Canada,” tells Gina Boswell, EVP of Personal Care for Unilever North America, “consumers didn’t know what to do with it. It was a new form, not recognizable as deodorant. Teenage boys treated Axe like cologne, spraying it in the air and walking through the cloud.”

The brand was losing penetration among their target demographics, so Axe needed to intersect the rituals of young boys and teach them how to use the product. The key to their strategy was an insight: “Guys love learning moves.” Boys know that mastering a move or a trick earns social currency, so Axe set out to teach them Double Pits to Chesty. This “ridiculous move within a move that boosts a guy’s girl appeal” also teaches the proper technique for applying Axe body spray. Instead of targeting boys through television commercials that would likely go unseen in the age of DVRs, Axe introduced Double Pits to Chesty through a multiplatform game—receiving more than ten million game plays. Research proved that guys exposed to the games were significantly more likely to use the product correctly, and recommend the brand to others.

Axe’s latest campaign, Axe Anarchy, tests a new insight: “Everyone wants to be noticed.” In this ongoing, online graphic novel, consumers submit ideas—and vote on where they think the story should go. Any fan whose idea gets chosen is added to the story by the novel’s artists. Content is uploaded every 2-3 days, so young consumers accustomed to the speed of social media can see the story take shape. This focus on content development—and increased engagement—has allowed Axe to better connect with an evolving media landscape, and the consumers growing up alongside it.

A Day of Learning from the Yale Trends in Marketing Conference, Part 1

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:59:00 -0400

According to Converse CMO Geoff Cottrill, “Converse believes that unleashing the creative spirit will change the world.” So when the company wanted to connect with its consumers, they let their core customers make their voices heard—literally.

Chucks-wearing musicians living in Brooklyn told Converse about their difficulty getting noticed by labels, in an industry where professionally recorded demos are both essential and cost-prohibitive. Converse responded by building Rubber Tracks, a place where musicians can record for free—no strings attached. Deserving artists get access to the studio’s state-of-the-art equipment and professional sound engineers, and they get to retain all rights to their music. “They don’t even have to wear our shoes,” says Mr. Cottrill.

In just eight months, 438 musicians in 146 bands have recorded there. The young musicians are eager to share their experiences on Facebook, resulting in millions of impressions. Since the studio opened, Converse’s Facebook “likes” have risen from 16 million to 40 million. Estimated media value? $12.7 million. Converse lives up to their core marketing principles by making meaningful connections, giving their consumers something of value, and then allowing growth to happen naturally over time.

Fresh impressions on brandmarks (from a 5-year-old).

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:38:55 -0400

Fresh impressions on brandmarks (from a 5-year-old).

How To Be Creative

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:04:19 -0400

How To Be Creative:

Jonah Lehrer, author and journalist, recently shared an excerpt from his new book, “Imagine: How Creativity Works.” Lehrer explores the idea that “creativity is not magic, and there’s no such thing as a creative type.” He posits that creativity comes about through a combination of insight, hard work and input from a wide variety of sources, rather than narrow specialization.

(Thanks to ITG Word Processor Rickie for bringing this article to our attention!)

It’s been hard to ignore the newest viral sensation known...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:30:00 -0500

It’s been hard to ignore the newest viral sensation known as Dollar Shave Club. Through a mix of humor and seemingly cut-rate prices, their video has garnered over 2 million views over the course of four days. Effective marketing? You bet.

According to Mashable, “Michael Dubin, the guy in the video and CEO of the fledgling company, says he shot the video in October and used it to woo VCs including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Andreessen Horowitz, who collectively put $1 million behind the company. “We develop great content,” Dubin says, “and [the video] said, ‘This is the tone of voice we’re going to come at it with.’”

Dubin’s description of Dollar Shave Club as a “content producer” may sound strange given the company’s business. Dollar Shave Club came about when Dubin, a former digital marketing director at Sports Illustrated, met up with Mark Levine at a holiday party in December 2010. Levine knew how to get cheap razors online and suggested that he and Dubin sell them.

It was Dubin who came up with a subscription model — the company charges on a monthly basis, starting at $3 for a standard two-blade razor. Dubin argued that there was an audience for such an offering. “We were able to show people that you can get cheap razors at Kmart, but people don’t want to be seen at Kmart and don’t want to deal with a parking lot,” Dubin says. “

Finally getting around to posting this...Procrastination is Essential to Innovation

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:58:00 -0500

Finally getting around to posting this...Procrastination is Essential to Innovation:

“…anxiety caused by procrastination is actually a critical component to innovation. Research supports this. Anxiety, in the right quantities, can propel us forward. According to the Journal of Management, NASA scientists and engineers found that performance increases as deadlines shorten, but when the deadlines became too short, performance declined. Dr. Ellen F. Weber, award-winning founder of Mita Brain Center, states: ‘while frustration or fear can flood the brain with cortisol, if anxiety is managed properly, anticipation can produce that feel-good dopamine that primes the pump of progress, or innovation.’”