Innov8: The Onion on Product Innovation

At what price our never-ending "forward advancement"? The Onion shows us the future of product innovation: "Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat"


Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

Intuition for play and purpose

Luis Von Ahn, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University is putting the collective intelligence of internet users to good use, and he's doing it in a resonant way: games. Von Ahn devised two easy online games, The ESP Game and Phetch that put active users together in an internet version of charades. One person sees a photo and tries to give clues for the others to go out and find it.

Through these games, Von Ahn is giving people a fun way to solve a problem that cannot be solved by computers yet, called "human computation." The trick of these games is that descriptions for every image are logged--and stored as tags. The ESP site claims that every image on the web could be tagged in a matter of weeks should the game be played as much as other popular online games. And he very well could be on to something. During a speech at Google, Von Ahn pointed out the unharnessed potential of people playing games online....

Radiohead Did It Again

I thought about disclaiming off the bat that I am a diehard Radiohead fan, but then realized that's like saying I have two arms and two legs--describes nearly everyone.

Radiohead has built itself into a category of untouchables through decades of unbelievable work. It's one of the few bands ever to evolve with changing times and produce drastic evolutions from album to album.

Now, Radiohead has turned the inner workings of the music industry on its ear. Today, Radiohead released an album that you can buy for whatever price you like. On its own site--not through a record label. Name the amount and you will own a digital version of the new album. By cutting out the middleman and eliminating physical products to distribute, Radiohead keeps most of the money. In theory--the site is so overwhelmed with traffic that I can't get it to load.

Maybe the real disclosure should have been that I am predisposed to thinking anything Radiohead does is awesome. In reality, it's probably not a sustainable business model for anyone but the top artists who have a devout following of millions, but it is a signal that there are ways to distribute music outside of EMI and iTunes.

DO: "it's up to us"

Mark talks a lot around here about a growing sense of autonomy among Americans. The increased sentiment that “it’s up to me” and subsequent actions to protect “me and mine.” I grew up with a dad who staunchly believed in the right to bear arms, just in case the government went so askew that citizens needed to take up arms in correction. So I’ve had trouble reconciling my historical perception of autonomy with Mark’s more evolved version.

An article in Time magazine this week helped me bridge the gap. It profiled a new way of living, the EcoVillage at Ithaca (EVI). Liz Walker, a co-founder, describes her vision for EVI as “trying to create an attractive, viable alternative to American life.” It sounds really great. Over 150 people live in the community, and they all work together to reap benefits of communal food, daycare, and laundry.

But it’s not a commune. These are people who are dedicated to reducing their carbon footprint (and are very successful in doing so) by changing the way they live (not just planting 80 trees to make up for that vacay in Mexico).

And they’re not hippies. The community is very technologically advanced, adopting some bleeding-edge conservation concepts. Homes are “Norman Rockwell meets Al Gore,” and run up to $300k, yet there is a waiting list to join.

A second example of people getting together for change is happening in Philadelphia where crime has reached an unacceptable level. A group of concerned citizens, comprised of local executives and men who worked on the Million Man March, brought a proposal to the Police Commissioner: allow them to organize as volunteer peacekeepers. The plan is to gather up to 10,000 men to patrol the streets—unpaid and unarmed—to watch out for criminal activity. The thought is that a roving band of bystanders and witnesses will deter would-be criminals.

I guess now that I read this post, the examples aren't all that far from the essence of my dad's point of view: he was just protecting our right to take matters into our own hands and these people are taking action on that right.

via NPR

"Good enough" for green

Scientific American this month focuses in on the various complexities of our current food situation: "The global paradox of obesity and malnutrition." I'd recommend that anyone who is interested in diet, health and consumption should pick this up.

Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat and NYT contributor, wades through many of the conflicting stories we hear to try to get to a simplified view on what to embrace and what to avoid. On the subject of organics, she writes:

Further research will likely confirm that organic foods contain higher nutrient levels, but it is unclear whether these nutrients would make a measurable improvement in health....Organics may be somewhat healthier to eat, but they are far less likely to damage the environment, and that is reason enough to choose them at the supermarket.

She makes a great point here. As individuals, eating organics might not make a difference, but they certainly aren't hurting us, and they are contributing to better living for the whole. I kept thinking about that as I read an article in SmartMoney about green washing machines that questioned whether they get clothes clean enough. The article points out that, since 1990, washing machines have decreased energy consumption by 56% and subsequently, half as powerful. One thing that's making it easier to ignore a shadow of a wine stain: new washers are cool looking. Rainbow colored, smaller, and with touch screen panels, people want them in their homes. While I have to wonder: are our clothes really that dirty?, using other appeals to make it easier for appliance purchasers will help them follow Marion Nestle and endure slightly more in the short term with the understanding that it'll make the long term brighter for everyone.

Trained against "diet"

Scientists at the University of Alberta recently published results of an animal-based designed to test the efficacy of diet foods. "Animals have the ability to sense the caloric value of food they take in," says David Pierce, lead researcher. "We found out that an animal can learn to use flavors to predict calories in an attempt to achieve energy balance." Pierce fed his rats diet foods and full calorie foods, and then gave them full calorie foods that had a diet flavor. The animals' bodies responded by assuming a calorie deprivation, so they overate at the next feeding to make up for it. The relevance to humans is a growing belief that, the more "diet" foods one consumes, the more the body grasps at the next opportunity to make up for calories lost.

However, another study may provide the solution.


Kids who were given food, even healthy food like carrots, said they preferred its taste to plain bag foods when it was wrapped in a McDonald's container, according to a paper published by the Stanford University.

Could we as marketers encourage kids (backhandedly, albeit) to eat healthier by tricking them with the brands they already associate with good taste? If the body can train itself to categorize tastes as diet or not, as well as train itself to prefer foods that are visually associated with good flavor, then wouldn't it work to leverage brand equities to help kids eat better and override that taste association?

Might be a particularly salient issue for the cereal industry, whose brands kids know and love, but are now faced with strapped sugar, fat and sodium content regulation.

Everything Counts

I took this photo to document a brand that doesn't get it. I was annoyed that the label kept falling off of this bottle of water, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Aquafina still treats its packaging as a disposable throw-away. Aside from the crappy glue that turned their brand into an irritant, the bottle could be for Diet Coke, A&W root beer or practically anything else. Compare to Perrier.

Then Eric Ryan, founder of method, hopped on stage and showed us how he turned the household cleaning product category on its side. He talked a lot about the effort they put into packaging and it really struck me. Part of method's birth came from the insight that people are crammed on space and are trying to get a little cleaning done in between everything else in their lives. So they're not going to be patient with digging through the closet for some detergent. He realized that, if you design it right, people will leave their cleaning supplies out by the sink, on the counter, or in the bathroom. For method, the package is part of the product, not just the container around it.

Beyond Eric and method, the idea that "everything counts" rose to the top as a key theme of this year's conference. What's inside, how it's presented outside, and where it fits into our individual and collective lives. We heard it in the stringent efficiency of XS Energy Drink, and in Bruce Mau's compelling narration of the purpose behind Massive Change. This is inspiring as a subtext to the conference's theme of Creating Possibilities; we as planners are peering toward a future of opportunities that is only limited by our own ingenuity and inventiveness.

Prediction of social networking doom and gloom

Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine writes an opinion piece on the inevitable death of MySpace, Second Life, Twitter, and the whole lot of social networking sites.

Some highlights:

"MySpace could be the first to collapse. It has now suffered the same fate as the millions of personal Web sites that sprang up in the mid 1990s: It's huge, ugly, unmonitored, unrestrained, and pointless."

I take issue with his proclamation that MySpace is pointless; I would equate that to the idea that letter writing or putting my photos in an album are both pointless, too. Not buying it.

More...

"Second Life could just as easily be the first to go. No one believes its reported participation numbers anymore, even though big companies, such as Circuit City and IBM, have built virtual stores (and Playboy is jumping in with both, er, feet this month). Some individuals are even claiming to make real-world money in there, but are they really?"

There might be some validity in the flaws Ulanoff highlights, but I think he neglected to take into account one important variable: innovation. If they sit, at stasis, until the end of the decade, these sites and utilities will probably lose their luster. But they're ever-evolving. The Facebook, for example, is shooting out new applications left and right. They're not solving global warming or emptying our prisons, but they are adding dimension to relationships. The new variety of closeness that we collectively have developed online won't go away, even if it does evolve into something different. But way to go for it on the prediction, Lance. I appreciate it.

Full article here

Ad Agency Deathwatch: Digital Wake-Up Call

WSJ reports on "Madison Avenue's Digital Wake-Up Call". Nike recently served notice to W+K and other agencies to boost web savvy and integration, other traditional agencies are taking stock.

some quotes:

"The move was a wake-up call to Madison Avenue. The message is clear: No matter how talented an agency's creative team or how well the client's management likes the firm's executives, the agency is of limited value unless it embraces digital media."

"Digital has long been 'an afterthought here,' says a person at the agency. 'We do it but haven't done it to the level we need to.'

"Nike now believes digital thinking should be at the heart of ad strategy, according to people familiar with the marketer's thinking. To make digital more central, it needs its main ad agency to be better skilled at digital techniques because the agency is developing ad strategy at the very early stages of a marketing campaign."

"Ad executives say more mainstream ad firms could lose business unless they figure out how to better integrate digital media. If people aren't embracing digital they will get left behind; clients are already there and they are gravitating to agencies who get it."

Innov8 (or Die): Skunkworking the Motorola Razr

CNN/Money recounts the story behind how a team of engineers and designers defied Motorola's own rules to create the cellphone that revived their company.

The RAZR - a play on a code name the engineering geeks dreamed up - was hatched in colorless cubicles in exurban Libertyville, an hour's drive north of Chicago. It was a skunkworks project whose tight-knit team repeatedly flouted Motorola's own rules for developing new products.

They kept the project top-secret, even from their colleagues. They used materials and techniques Motorola had never tried before. After contentious internal battles, they threw out accepted models of what a mobile telephone should look and feel like.

The "thin clam" project became a rebel outpost and a talent magnet within the company, and the team grew to as many as 20 engineers who met daily at 4 P.M. in a conference room in Libertyville to hash over the previous day's progress.

"Anytime you've got something radically different, there will be people who feel that we should be putting our resources on other stuff," says Roger Jellicoe, team leader on the project. "It was a kind of lock-the-door-and-put-the-key-beneath-it approach to product development." Digital pictures of the project were prohibited, so nothing could be inadvertently disseminated by e-mail. Models of the phone could leave the premises only when physically accompanied by a team member.

With an ambitious deadline of completion within the year, Jellicoe relied on non-standard methods to drive morale and speed ideation. For example, he set up a competition among five of his engineers to see who could come up with the best design. And engineering and design teams began combining their work, a back-and-forth process that became known as the "dance."


Lessons from MOTO RAZR:

1. Secrecy limits distractions.
By insulating its RAZR development team from the influence of corporate groupthink, Motorola got an innovative product that wowed the industry and consumers.

2. Research isn't everything.
Motorola's "human factors" unit dictated that phones more than 49 millimeters wide would be deemed uncomfortable by consumers. The RAZR team concluded otherwise. Their only data points: their own instincts.

3. Niche products can have mass appeal.
The RAZR wasn't designed to be a blockbuster. It was supposed to be a high-priced, high-end jewel to regain luster for Motorola. Yet with high demand, unit costs plunged along with the price for consumers - to as low as $99.

4. Missing deadlines doesn't mean failure.
The RAZR team was supposed to be done by February 2004; they weren't until summer. But getting it right meant a whole lot more than getting it done on time.

Innov8 (or Die): What Banks Can Learn from Geek Squad

The Geek Squad seems an unlikely model for banks to emulate, but founder and "chief inspector" (read, CEO) Robert Stephens has a lot to say about how banks can improve their customer experience. Interviewed in the March/April 2007 issue of BAI's Banking Strategies, Stephens says banks should strive to make the routine activities of banking fun, such as waiting in line at the branch or at the drive-thru. He also calls for innovative business cultures able to nurture small, inexpensive experiments that could later on have a big impact.

Some excerpted mindbombs to consider:

ON THE CULTURE OF INNOVATION
•Think of every company not as a company but as a software program—as a system you're buying into. Customers, either consciously or unconsciously, choose companies based on their interface.

•There are endless ways to innovate. We need cultures inside companies that are constantly turning out these ideas.

•What makes the Geek Squad unique is that we are defined by the employee. Labor is our biggest expense, as it is with most other service businesses, so we define ourselves by our relationship with our employees. The technology will change, but how we deliver service and what people expect from good service, those things won't change.

•The customer experience is a product of your employee experience, especially if you're customer-facing. For banks, the branch is just one part of it. That's why online and phone are probably the most important channels, because even if you come to a branch, you might be calling first to get driving directions, or going online to find out about the hours. So, the online and the phone experiences almost should be taken care of first, since they can be more easily controlled.

ON SAYING "NO"
•For example, we're launching Geek Squad in London early this year. I told the team: "You have no money for public relations—none." I told the marketing team: "You can't do marketing, but I'm going to give you money for creative endeavors. What you're going to do is, you're going to design the call center scripts to make it fun to be on hold."

•The reason they have no money for PR is because I expect them to make that experience of being on hold enjoyable. The experience should be so memorable that the press will line up to call us and ask us to come on their TV or radio show and talk about it. Now, that's public relations. Operations become marketing. They become indistinguishable from each other. That's when you know you have accomplished your mission.

•I ran into our chief financial officer the other day in an elevator and said, "You know, the finance department is the most important catalyst to creativity in the entire company." He looked at me, like, "Really? Why?" I said, "Because you say 'no' more than you say 'yes.' And saying no frustrates people. But the successful people, the persistent people, will always seek to find a way."

ON THE PIRATE MENTALITY
•I learned this from not having the resources, as a small company, to do things. So you tend to do them differently. That's a lesson that I'm learning now, even in a large environment like at Best Buy. The best thing that ever happened to me was not having money when I started my company. That starves the organization, which fosters creativity.

•A large bank may give up on innovation for many reasons, such as we're government regulated, we can't get things through too quickly or there are Wall Street pressures on a quarter-to-quarter basis. But I would argue that those pressures are the source of the creativity; they are not the limiter.

•That's the riddle. We tend to give up too easily and just throw our hands up, saying, "Well, we can't innovate," and then complain. But that's a form of competition because that kind of attitude prevents you from beating your competitors.

ON ASSEMBLY LINING INNOVATION
•It's easy to blame the faceless monolith, but if you're competing for its resources against a peer, well that's different. You can look at which idea contributes to a better customer experience. If you can't measure that, then it's back to the drawing board.

•That criterion creates a Meritocracy; it's one idea versus another. But the ideas should start small. If you ask for a lot of money for a project, you're going to be subject to a lot of restrictions, a lot of barriers. Not spending a lot on a project provides greater creative freedom because there's less risk for the organization.

ON FAST PROTOTYPING
•Tiny experiments can snowball into great revenue producers, and that's what companies need to do. Software is your process in real time. It offers the ability to design, to experiment, at a really low cost. That's where I think banks are specifically missing out on a coming revolution in software development at low cost and high speed.

•Banks should continually set a goal of coming up with one new idea a month, one new little service. They don't have to be large, massive undertakings, but simple, tiny stuff.

•I recently launched a rapid prototyping program at Best Buy called "Two weeks: $500." Basically, if anybody in the organization has an idea and can give us a prototype in two weeks, we'll give them $500 to develop a simple software feature or function to demonstrate it. The feature can be made accessible on the company network so people can check it out. Then, to take it to the next level, we can add a few more zeros, maybe do a $5,000 prototype. When you get to the $50,000 level, maybe you invite your top customers in to beta test it.

•Eventually, you might move to the $5 million implementation, but you start with $500 to force that creativity and de-risk the idea to get it off the ground. You can't even get to the $5,000 level unless you've proven out some kind of working prototype.

via BAI Banking Strategies