Mkt innov8 115 (or more) Ideas for Innovation with links

This effort was a labor of love by people who organically
just started to create a catalogue of innovative ideas. We
supplemented what we found with entries from around the
web, trendwatcher.com and our beloved Ted.com. It is not
perfect, conclusive or exhaustive. It’s a set of thought
starters.
I chose this image to introduce you to our innovation ideas
because it reminds me that ideas are fleeting, and the only
way we sustain them is to act on them. We can stop only
for a moment to consider, but that comes at a risk. Things
at rest generally continue to be, according to the physics of
the universe and life itself.
What you are trying to do only looks impossible to those not
brave enough to attempt it. Thank you. –c-

Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz – MKT_Innov8 Study Lead
With… Kevin Cunningham, Debbie Rosenfeld, Liz Kaufman,
Kyla Moran, Matt Pufunt, Stanton Willins and Ryan Kosanic

MKTInnov8 – 115 (or more) Innovation Examples for the Modern CMO
September 2012
www.covalentmarketing.com 1

Artful
Utility Ideas that are well crafted, fit for purpose
and crave engagement

Re- A category that covers reduce, reuse and
Newal recycle in ways that are good the planet
and its peoples

Data
Driven In a category that covers all the ways data
has infused itself into our lives.

Share The term “oversharing” is in the public
Able consciousness. However, here are some great
examples where sharing is caring.
September 2012

Social People and brands are joining together for the

Good
= public good. Herewith, we share examples that
make us smile

Sense
In this section, we pay homage to great ideas that
Able affect our senses – tasty, touchy, smelly things that you
might find interesting
Store Age
Finally, one of our favorite categories, bringing you a
WARS host of interesting items from the places we love most:
Stores.

The 3D

Wo r l d Our 4D world was 1D for too long.

September 2012

Artful
Utility Ideas that are well crafted, fit for purpose
and crave engagement

Elegant solutions to everyday problems. Innovating your life
• Haiku Deck
• 70 billion books on a thumbnail
• The T-Shirt OS
• The Grow Bike
• The Medical Locket
• Day Use Hotels
• Smart Phone? Nah,Smart Fridge
• Resolving the Outlet Shortage
• Ever Seen a Charging Handbag
• Putting Presentations Readily at Hand
• The Cure for MRI Boredom
• The Portable Restaurant
• Smarter Footballers
• Hotel Haiku
• Taking on Pancreatic Cancer
• The “Murse” of Bike Baskets

September 2012

Haiku Deck:
presentations that work like poetry.
With many presentations taking place on
iPads, the type and style of presentation is
becoming more visual. At last, an easy way to
source images that match with your text and
create engagement.

Our take: Creative Commons has changed the
way we think about content – so many people
sharing what they produce has created a massive
free store for mining. With Haiku Deck’s free
price, creating simple presentations is easier.
Expect templating and functionality to increase
as adoption does at a nominal cost.

What it also means: Anyone can compete with
professional looking presentations.

September 2012

70 billion books on a
thumbnail: the point here is not just
the books (which are coded in DNA), it’s the
size dimension. The ability to place massive
data stores at our fingertips is here today.

Our take: It’s interesting that people
talk about what organizations need to
have to work with big data. The point
here is that it’s not storage. Strive to
resolve the access issue.

September 2012

Wear your life: the TshirtOS –
the look and the feel of your internet,
email, music and phone connected to
your t-shirt. Currently only a prototype,
it displays your tweets, videos and other
media as you curate it.

Our take: Wearable has been on the
horizon some time due to sensor
technology. And while there are no
present funding initiatives to move
TshirtOS into production, you can expect
that an effort like this will exist by 2014.

September 2012

Greater utility means
extending item life:
Grow Bike. It’s no secret, kids
are expensive. The ability increase
the life expectancy and comfort of a
child’s bike is not only artful, it
offers renewable utility.
Our take: While the
reduce/reuse/recycle approach
continues on, the alternatives around
extending life are just beginning to
take hold. Expect this to continue
not simply via extended warranty but
by modular extensible design.

September 2012

Fashionable Information:
The Medical Locket.
Diabetic? Food allergies? Now there’s
an attractive way to take your entire
medical profile with you. An
embedded USB makes it easy.

Our take: Given the aging global
population and the rise of multi-lingual
nations, the ability to provide medical
professionals with detailed health
information remains necessary (at least
until we are willing in general to stick
the microchip under our skin).

September 2012
www.covalentmarketing.com

Questionable Ethics or
Artful Utility? You decide
How do you solve the problem when
part of your asset sits totally
unutilized – and without generating
revenue all day? You reposition.

Our take: Check-in times are
moving later and later which leaves
the lobby or Starbucks. When you
need a quiet workplace for a few
hours, hotels are equipped with
everything you need minus the
hovering waiters. Which of your
assets have sellable downtime?

September 2012

Smart phone? Nah, smart fridge.
With apps like Epicurious for recipes, Pandora for
music and the entire family’s Google calendar, the
refrigerator becomes the next smart device.

Our take: Few surfaces remain untouched in
the information shaping war. The latest to come
over is the refrigerator. This Samsung model
offers a small messaging space that makes it ideal
for checking calendars on the fly.

Where can surfaces share information for you?

September 2012

Ending battles for power
outlets: charging furniture
A Finnish company introduces a simple
means to prevent clutter while charging
phones. The tables are in production,
available commercially and accessible at
Helsinki Vantaa airport.

Our take: For your business, what
can act in a multi-functional capacity
to meet the needs of users?

There is a foreseeable revenue
advantage to the first QSR to use them
at full scale.

September 2012

Ever seen a charging handbag? Yup.
Heretofore handbags that charged your phone had no
sense of style, bad fabric or were designed for men. In
the Fall of 2012, all of that is changing. I mean
charging.

Our take: It’s wholly expected that we would see
an uptick in the adjacencies to smart phone
technologies. Some innovations are bigger, but
smaller adaptations can offer great value in shorter
times to market.

September 2012

Where’s the presentation?
Readily at hand
All those lovely French cuffs can now serve a dual
purpose. Anyone who has had to dig to the bottom
of his bag to find the USB key can see the value in
having one so close and easy to use. It’s also a wifi
hotspot.

Our take: Using space wisely, the needs of
executives who require sleek and elegant
solutions to small problems can now be met.

September 2012

Cure for MRI boredom?
There’s an app for that.
MRIs can be scary. They can be boring.
However, now, they can be a little it
more entertaining as iPads are
beginning to see integration into
medical testing and treatment suites.

Our take: We believe there is a
significant advantage to any
improvement in patient experience.
The ability to create engaging
experiences will make those needing
treatment more likely to pursue it.

September 2012
www.covalentmarketing.com

The portable restaurant,
food trucks need not apply
In this lovely example from Electrolux and Italian
Architect Park Associati,
A 140 sq meter restaurant called the Cube is
transported from place to place every 4-12
weeks. It’s not cheap, but it’s certainly an
experience.
Our take: There is an opportunity to curate
truly unique experiences that cannot be
duplicated.
Fine dining is not something ever considered
“portable” in the past. However, for an
experience in which few can partake, these are
tribes who will find an undeniable lure to this.

At the other end of the scale, In-n-Out Burger did a pop-up retail effort all through 2012

September 2012

Adidas may not be able to
give footballers brains, but
they can make coaches smarter. In a
new shoe, a chip calculates and stores
speed, distance and movement.

Our take: Embedded intelligence
allows much better performance data
to be traceable and usable for
everyone from the professional athlete
to the Sunday rugby player

September 2012

Hotel Haiku –
poetry for Public Houses
In the second entry for Haiku, viewers can
see a hotel picture and read a brief
description and then move to the hotel’s
direct site.

Our take: The continued blending
of art and technology…while this will
not be a primary usage for finding
hotels, such entrants provide a unique
way to parse content that will be
attractive to a small tribe of users.

September 2012

Those silly kids – they’re curing cancer
In my favorite entry in this section, 15- year old Jack
Andraka of Maryland purposes diabetic-style test strips to
take on detection of Pancreatic Cancer. It’s 26x less
expensive, 168x faster and 400x more sensitive.

Our take: Kids are proving themselves adept at
solving cancer (in an industry that spends more than $5B
USD on research). What should you do when your next
potentially great idea comes from your teenager?

LISTEN.

We covered Jack’s efforts and why you should be Horizon Scanning to find people like him in this blog post.

September 2012

It’s the man-purse of bike
baskets only cooler

Given how urbane it is to be urban now, bike
baskets needed some serious upgrading. At
$150 USD, this offering isn’t cheap, but it is
beautiful and durable.

Our take: Simple, elegant functionality
will win every time. Just ask Apple.

September 2012

Re-
Newal A category that covers reduce, reuse and recycle
in ways that are good the planet and its peoples

Taking “waste not, want not” to a new level

• DIY: Part 1 - Bionic Hands
• DIY: Part 2 – Prosthetic Hand
• Very evocative: Ecovative
• Ford: Drive Green
• Lightning Strikes >>> EV-Sexy
• Electro-Ag
• New Yorker’s Newest Membership: Bike Share
• Competing to Save Energy: O-Power
• Nike’s Reuse Shoe
• How Does Your Garden Grow: YiMuTian
• Icebreaker’s BAACode
• Thinking Inside the Box: Boxed Water
• Samsung Thinks Inside the Box, too – for schools

September 2012

DIY: Part 1, Bionic Hands
A 51-year old Asian man built his own from
scrap parts when he couldn’t afford others

Our take: We need to continually
consider what parts can serve which
function. In many cases, it’s a matter of
stringing together what works, not
necessarily creating everything new.

September 2012

DIY: Part 2, Prosthetic Hands
Another entry for the kids: Max Shepard created a
prosthesis from Lego, proving once again, those little
bricks build just about anything.

Our take: Things made with Lego will always be
more than sum of their parts. The ultimate in
modularity, they are magnificent, extensible and
totally reusable prototyping tools for creative
users.

September 2012

Evocative Ecovative:
Mushrooms are the new cool
Using compostable crop-waste, Eben Baver
creates new eco-materials that can replace
$20B USD and 25% of our landfills. You put
1.5 liters of petrol in the trash every time
you get a package.

Our take: Insulating, fire-resistant,
and fully sustainable. The organism does
the work, using regional byproducts and
mushrooms. Can you replace packing
materials with nature’s alternatives?

My hometown, Kennett Square, PA is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World because mushroom
farming in the region produces over a million pounds of mushrooms a week.

September 2012

Drive Green for Life:
Ford and SunPower
Don’t get hung up on perfect here, but
what if you really could use solar to
power your car and your life? It’s not
cheap yet, and it’s still working with
offsets, but it’s about as green an option
as you can get.

Our take: The sun is among the
largest renewable energy sources we
have. With more and more interest in
solar, how can it be used in your supply
chain and fleets?

September 2012

Lightning Strikes:
Making EVs Sexy
It goes 0-60 in 5 seconds and is magnificent to
look at. It has 150 mile charge and a normal
charge time of 15 hours, with fast and ultra-
fast options. It’s expensive and not yet in the
US, but still worth watching

Our take: When ultra-luxury owners have
a choice of a true EV, will they embrace it?
If you look at the MPG on most models in the
ultra category and other luxury
lineups, alternatives absolutely make sense.

There are currently ~4500 charging stations in the US alone

September 2012

Electro-Ag
New Holland continues to pursue EV for big
equipment. This summer, it’s testing at an
energy-independent farm in Italy. Highly
efficient and cool to look at – it’s what all the
cool farmers will want

Our take: We are learning to make EV
functionality available for all types of heavy
equipment.

Expect this to continue, as sustainability
continues to become more important in most
G20 nations.

New Holland has a complete set of offerings for cleaner ag: thecleanenergyleader.com/en/hp_en.html

September 2012

New Yorkers covet a new
membership: Bike Share
When you can offer people something less
expensive than public
transportation, even the jaded take
notice. Launching March 2013.

Our take: With Citibank and
MasterCard fully funding this effort, there
is no taxpayer impact expect benefit.
600 stations and 10,000 bikes on offer –
and the collaborators expect it will be
profitable. Good business, great
advertising – what’s not to like?

Annual memberships are $0.26 per day. They are also tapping into local bike shops for longer duration
rentals.

September 2012

The OPower app:
competing to save energy
A social app that allows users to compare
their energy usage with others. A set of
offers focused on saving energy and some
friendly competition encourages consumer
participation

Our take: 70 utilities use OPower’s platform,
generating customer engagement and $170M energy
savings.

Industry partnership often makes data usage more
effective, providing context and content.

Where can you share to be more effective?

I wrote about OPower in November 2009, with the launch of my “Path Forward: Strategic Service”
whitepaper.

September 2012

Nike’s Reuseashoe program
has collected 28mm pairs of
sneakers and turned them into gym
flooring, playground surfaces or even new
sneakers and zipper pulls

Our take: Using every part of the shoe in
creating new materials keeps them out of
landfills and puts them to longer-term use.
How can you make your consumers’ trash into
treasure?

You and your organizations can host your own reuseashoe drives to contribute.

September 2012

How does your garden
grow? Just watch… a
Chinese organic produce
farm allows viewers to watch their
organic farming in action. By making
their efforts fully transparent, they
increase trust.

Our take: Yi Mu Tian updated its
systems to include community digital
cameras that “broadcast” the entire
farm. This high-tech organic operation
allows consumers to completely trace
their food, farm to plate.

What parts of your operations can you
show off to the world?

September 2012

Icebreaker’s BAAcode helps
you count sheep, specifically the
ones who provided the wool for your
garment.

Our take: Sustainability and traceability go hand
in glove with this company. Easy-going and direct is
an ownable position in performanceware.

How honest, easy-going and direct can you be with
customers?

Gizmodo.com called Icebreaker the greatest t-shirt in the world.

September 2012

Thinking inside the Box:
BoxedWater aims to reduce the 1.5mm
tons of plastic water bottles and 47mm
gallons of oil that are used to manufacture
them. They donate 20% of their profits to
charity. It’s estimated that 80% of these
bottles are simply thrown away.
Our take: I’m not sure if this is
sustainable, or if it’s truly innovation.
However, if you don’t want to carry your
own personal bottle and Brita filter, this is a
good alternative.

Sometimes, just evaluating your packaging
is a good start.

BoxedWater was the official water sponsor for Lollapalooza in Chicago.

September 2012

Still thinking inside the Box: Samsung aims educate 2.5mm African citizens by 2015
with their Solar Powered Internet Schools. The program works in combination with Samsung’s other
programs on Engineering and Mobile Apps, also aimed at Africa

Our take: A classroom by day, a community center by night, these shipping-container schools
help develop solutions for their region. Are your social investments going as far as you’d like?

September 2012

Data
Driven In a category that covers all the ways data
has infused itself into our lives.

Tapping into the data created everywhere by everything

• Data “Crack” for Marketers: Rival IQ
• Bluetooth Aims a Little Lower
• It’s the Journey – Ford Makes It Informative
• The Brains behind a Breast Cancer Detection Brain
• Parker, removing rage, one spot at a time
• Exerci$e – the new currency
• Are you “Upwardly Mobile?”
• Bumping Up Responds to Potholes
• BMW to the Rescue
• Turn Up the Heat – Oh, the Thermostat Already Did
• Sleep Better, Seriously
• Nike for Women, Again
• Ann Romney, Women and Facebook
• Wikinvest Makes It Easy

September 2012

Data Crack for
Marketers:
want to look at
what your
competitors are
doing on their
websites? Want to
know when they
launch new pages or
offers? Soon, this
data will be ready
with just a few
keystrokes.

Our take: Timely competitive intelligence is
central to business success and responsiveness.
Applications such as RivalIQ deliver insight that
keeps you in the know.
RivalIQ has not yet been released.
September 2012

Bluetooth aims a little
lower. They launch a health
monitoring device. While it’s not a
perfect perfect 10 for looks and
usage, it’s more durable and has more
utility than other category entries
Our take: Non-medical health and
fitness monitoring is expanding
seemingly as fast as our waistlines.

While some entries only aim to
reposition or repackage existing
offerings, others actually strive for
improvement. Be one of “them.”

September 2012

It’s the Journey – made more
informative by Ford.
Ford teams up with AT&T to capture
information via wireless for Focus EV
drivers to deliver a person EV status.

Our take: The biggest hurdle for EVs is
the consumer’s fear of being stranded.
The best to counter that? Let them prove
it to themselves.

Where can sharing data make a
customer’s life richer, a little better?

September 2012

The brain behind a breast
cancer detection brain is
17-year old Brittany Wenger
With 99% accuracy and a fully open
model, her approach to open data
collection can change cancer research.

Our take: Using neural
networks, predictability goes from being a
total SWAG to being more and more valid
by detecting patterns.

It works for predicting breast cancer, and
it works for predicting marketing
campaigns.

We covered Brittany and why you should be Horizon Scanning to find people like her in this blog post.

September 2012

Parker: removing parking rage
1 spot at a time. Parking in San Francisco will
never be the same. Parking is complex because
the inventory is filled with moving targets.
Using sensors makes all the movement work
for the system. A direct-from phone pay
option is nice.

Our take: Small sensors do a big job in
tracing parking availability. What can you put
a sensor on/in/around to help make your
customers’ lives easy to navigate?

September 2012

Paying for your groceries
with Exerci$e The folks at
Artefact are predicting that tracking
your exercise might be a new form of
currency in the “Fat Economy.” The
people behind Modwells are tracking
this trend here.
Our take: Using sensors can improve
not only what you know about your
health but what you can do about it.

Since data is gathered continuously,
what works – and doesn’t becomes
quickly clearer.

September 2012

The Sunlight Foundation for
Open Government launches
Upwardly Mobile. This app uses
government cost data to calculate and
compare the cost of living in various cities
and shares the results.

Our take: While it lacks a reuse
component (in earnest – you’re not going
to make it a primary destination), it
shares interesting data that can make you
a more informed citizen.

What information do you share that makes
for a more informed community?

September 2012

Bump up responds to potholes
– with automatic reporting
When accelerometers and GPS are in play,
the user doesn’t need to do anything,
except hope his tires and rims are okay.
Our take: Why are you making
customers report data that technology
can detect?

Brought to you by New Urban Mechanics and crowdsourced innovation platform, Innocentive, one of the
communities covered in our 12 Days of Innovation for Marketers
September 2012

BMW to the Rescue -
sending responders crash
data. Specifically severity data so
the responding organization knows
what to do. Beyond airbag
deployment, this allows responders
to prepare appropriately.

Our take: Why are you making
customers report data that
technology can detect?

September 2012

Turn up the heat. Oh, your
thermostat already did.
Smart thermostat, Nest, learns your
habits and programs itself, allowing you
to save ~30% . A little leaf shows up when
you’re saving energy – and money.

Our take: Again, devices that learn us
are making life easier. And saving
money. Why wouldn’t these become
standard? And quickly

Nest is available at Lowes, Amazon and – interestingly – Apple stores.

September 2012

Sleep better, seriously
Your breathing tells a lot about the quality
of your sleep. Brought out by MIT students
(yes, those kids again – are you watching
them?) While not commercially available
yet, Restdevices.com is actively working on
it.
Our take: It’s estimated that more than
50% of the population sleeps less than it
should. Medication is a remediation, not a
solution.

How can embedded fibers help you help
customers? (Let me know when one can
physically prevent you from eating a Twix
bar. That would be really helpful.)

September 2012

Nike for Women, again
The Nike Women’s Training Club app
trains you like a professional would.
And we love the count-down timer.
It leverages your own music via
iTunes.
Our take: This is simply a
continuation on Nike’s journey. It’s
here not only because it is focused
on women, but because it provides
a series of rewards, badges and
effective encouragement. Nike
views its mission not as selling
goods but on improving fitness and
we think that’s a fundamental shift
in how most companies view
themselves.

September 2012

Ann Romney, women
and Facebook
The Twitterverse, love it as we
do, doesn’t reflect the national
demos nearly as well as
Facebook. Which makes them a
little cool again, especially as
the election comes upon the US.

Our take: The misuse of social media data is rampant, as is the overwhelming desire to encourage
friending and fanning and then doing little to build community. However, Facebook still provides a
critical view into our social consciousness – and as you can see, Ann Romney certainly caused the
conversation to rise to an unprecedented level.

When you look to social data, look to the right tools and techniques. Start with hypotheses and then
use the data to prove what actually happened.

September 2012

Wikinvest makes it easy
Portfolio tracking is an art form for people who
want to play a lot with their accounts.
However, what happens with the regular
investor who has ended up with multiple
accounts? Enter Wikinvest, a site that
consolidates and displays your data in one easy
and informative place.

Our take: Most companies focus
on themselves. We understand
that. However, when an offering
consolidates people’s tasks and
makes viewing easy, it generally
catches on. Sometimes
collaboration and cooperation go
further to aid consumers and
generate brand love than being
independent does.

September 2012

Share The term “oversharing” is in the public
consciousness. However, here are some great
Able examples where sharing is caring.

Meet the people giving great stuff to their friends, family,
communities and random strangers
• Gaming for Good
• Twit Happens
• Characters Welcome – 140 of them
• Life’s for Sharing, Especially With Angry Birds
• Hard Truths and Ugly Reviews Are Helpful
• The Zombie Apocalypse Occurred: Now What?
• Marketplaces: Bidding Online for Bodywork
• State Farm Next Door
• Chipotle Changes Menu After Avid Customer Complains
• Crowdsourced Travel for Geeks: Nerdy Day Trips
• Dabble: Learn Something
• Academic Earth – Learn From the Best, For Free
• Innovation on the Fringe: The Misfit Economy
• Spotify Enters the Dating Game: Fellody
• Kickstarter 2.0
• Hey, Wait – Let’s Hashtag the Plane

September 2012

Gaming for Good. In
MKT_Innov8, we describe
how the modern CMO must
get with the hacker code. In
this case, indie developers
contribute games where
they receive part of the
profit, and charities get the
Our take: Marketers must
rest.
embrace the sharing culture
– opening code sets and data
to developers to create not
simply goods for
themselves, but a more
common good.

September 2012

Twit happens. The Red Cross elegantly replies to a sorely
misguided tweet accidentally sent by a drunken staffer from the branded
account. It actually received donations with the hashtag
#gettingslizzerd or slizzard. Apparently the sober can’t spell it anyway.

Our take: Accidents will happen. Don’t get alarmed. Take it with good humor and your
customers will likely as well. Admit the mistake and don’t, whatever you do, pull an “Akin.”

September 2012

Characters welcome –
140 of them.
KLM personnel undertake a live tweeting
exercise in an airline hangar to
demonstrate their social competency to
respond in an hour. Each person grabbed
a letter – or space – and replies were
“tweeted.”

Our take: Social sharing – such as
Twitter – is designed for relevant and
timely interactions. There is nothing in
there saying you can’t have a
personality and have some fun. So, go
and see if you can’t be a little more
lighthearted with your social efforts.

September 2012

T-Mobile is no stranger to great viral
campaigning. Oops, they did it again.

First, it was flashmob dancing in Liverpool Street Station.
Then it was massive sing-along in Trafalgar Square.
Let’s not forget the instrument-less welcome back in Heathrow.
Now, along with a band and fully interactive flying birds and crashing pigs, they bring us a life-
size Angry Birds.

Our take: When a game takes such hold over the public that it becomes a movie and is featured on
planes (yes, Finnair went there) it’s fair, well, game. In creating a live display, 14mm views later, T-
Mobile continues its path of engaging videos that capture their brand: #Lifesforsharing

September 2012

Hard Truths and Ugly Reviews have
an upside -
Let’s say you’re truly customer centric and the
customer’s voice means something to you. Here’s
how you prove it, and find out what to change.
Starwood Hotels Group is making reviews visible.
When they’re great, they’re next to the booking
widget. When they’re bad, they’re in the same
place. That’s incentive. Also notice, the response
is from the general manager. #Fullyengaged

Our take: This sort of honesty, and willingness
to publish customer-provided reviews is not just a
best practice. It should be an only practice.
Yes, not every experience is perfect. Admitting it
makes your guests more willing to come back.
#honestymatters

September 2012

Zombies, run!
A story told in parts, designed to encourage
runners to complete “tasks” like go on a
medicine run, while listening. It’s not a
fitness app, but is it worth the $8.00 price
for 30 episodes (23 are currently released)?
This gamification of fitness is a model worth
considering.
Our take: Again, drawing from relevant
social context allows fun and engagement.
It goes in a totally different direction, than
say, the Nike or Body Bug offerings.

What social contexts are relevant for your
brand?

No, we are not kidding. The Zombie Apocalypse is really a concept. Read about it here.

September 2012

At last…
a Priceline for Car Repairs
Few of us ever really know what the
mark-up is when that little fender-
bender you don’t want to report to
insurance is. So, what would happen if
you could get a better price than rack
rate. This platform will let you
know, easily.
Our take: We have a soft spot for
marketplaces that bring buyers and
sellers together – like Etsy. We also have
a great and abiding love of getting a
deal. Who doesn’t? We think this
includes your customers too.

September 2012

State Farm Next Door
When State Farm put up a
community center in a Chicago
neighborhood offering coffee
and financial coaching, one
would expect it to be a sales
pitch. But it’s not. It’s a nice
relaxing space where you
really can learn a little bit
more about how to make your
financial life a little better.

Our take: It’s on-brand –
neighbors are next door but
not overbranded. We like it.

September 2012

Chipotle changes menu item
Social listening at least implies that a
company will take social action. At
least for Chipotle that held true in
response to an avid customer’s twitter
complaint. It took abut 2 hours to make
the decision, according to
Consumerist.com. The menu boards will
take longer, but at least they acted with
speed and interest.
Our take: Simply put, don’t say you
are listening and then not take action.
If you respond, then you are on the
hook. No ifs ands or buts.

Chipotle also made news with their first ever ad - 2 minute Youtube video, demonstrating their
idiosyncratic marketing strategy.

September 2012

Crowdsourced
Travel for Geeks
While not the smallest
market in the world, travel
is all about connecting to
your tribe. Welcome to
Nerdy Day Trips.

Our take: Geek chic is certainly a
force to watch. Nerdy is the “new
black “– having a geek or nerd
attachment is now a badge of honor
worth taking advantage of.

What are you doing to cater to a
population interested in smarter
things to do?

September 2012

Dabble: Learn something
Find, teach or host a class, all made
easy with a new service called Dabble.
The student pays $20, the teacher gets
$10 of that. (Materials may be extra.)
Rustic benches in Chicago? Beer-
making in Denver? Manicuring skills?
Our take: We mentioned our love
of marketplaces already, so we will
spare you (or not). However, with a
spin that makes it easy for the DIYer
to find a mentor, this works.

Consumer goods manufacturers –
what can you teach? We bet quite a
lot – recipes, perfect laundry, home
cleaning in 20 minutes or less?
Yup, you’ve got this.

September 2012

Academic Earth:
Learn from the best
So, you can’t afford the Ivy League?
Who cares, you can still learn from
their best professors with free lectures
from Academic Earth. The world of
education is fast becoming egalitarian.

Our take: We think stimulating
curiosity and pursuing knowledge is
always worth the effort – even more so
when it’s free. There are 218 lessons
and 6 courses on statistics and 2 on
marketing. So go for it.

We covered this similarly in my 12 Days of Innovation Blog Post on free Ivy League Classes.

September 2012

Innovation on the Fringe: The
Misfit Economy
This book (recently funded through a
Kickstarter campaign) is coming out in Fall
2014 that takes the premise that “Across
the globe, diverse innovators operating in
the black, gray, and informal economies
are developing solutions to a myriad of
challenges. Remarkable ingenuity,
pioneering original methods and best
practices…
Our take: Not only is the Kickstarter
model for publishing going to reinvent that
industry (again), this concept of innovation
deriving from places like the slums and
back alleys makes sense. Necessity being
the mother…and all that.

“It’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy.” – Steve Jobs (as quoted in Wired September
2012)

September 2012

Spotify enters the “Dating Game”
So, it took forever for Spotify to reach the
states. The online music app extends its reach
by allowing playlist sharing and “flirting.” In 70
countries already, it’s more a global than
perhaps a local thing, but imagine finding
someone who shares your love of the Talking
Heads is just across town?
Our take: Taking something you like and
being able to connect with others is a time
honored method of community building.
This sort of application works to build strong
communities (as long as participation is
solid).

It works well with creating interest in the
base product and loyalty – the part we like
best.

September 2012

“This one time, at Bandcamp…”
With a fun funky and definitely high-brow
style, Bandcamp is the new way to buy
independent artists. According to their site
you can browse 4,906,615 tracks and 608,744
albums from artists spanning 183 countries.
Our take: This is the disruption model –
similar to what’s happening in publishing. It
started with Derek Sivers’ CD Baby. In it’s
latest incarnation, Bandcamp (including the
American Pie cultural reference) presents
options for a new era.

Continued disintermediation of traditional
retailers will provide new ways for buyers to
connect to sellers. Understand where your
competition is – especially interesting new
entrants who tend to be particularly rabble
rousing.

September 2012

Kickstarter 2.0
Kickstarter is not new, but there are a few
people who have not heard of it. With a
planned UK expansion and greater public
visibility into the number of projects and
their statistics, Kickstarter is embracing
transparency. While very projects reach
stratospheric funding levels, there are some
that have gone over $1mm USD.

Our take: In addressing one of the most
sizable barriers to entry for lone innovators or
small teams, Kickstarter has defined a niche
that allows increased competition – and
competitive threat. Understanding what types
of projects in your markets are on Kickstarter
is a fair use of a few minutes.

September 2012

Hey wait – let’s hashtag the plane.
No, really.
Look, we got a new plane and in celebration of
Geek Chic – let’s name it #nerdbird. Thanks, Virgin
America, somehow we needed that?

Our take: At first blush, we thought it was
ridiculous. Then we considered, if you want to
make it easy for your customers to reference
you, why not? Make it short, make it sweet,
but there isn’t any harm in making it.

September 2012

Social
Good
= People and brands are joining together for the public
good. Herewith, we share examples that make us
smile
Doing well by doing good is a great business model.
• Socially Conscious Gaming
• Customer Friendly, Even When Your Vehicle Only Has Two Wheels
• Not Just Giving, Giving of Yourself: Bicycle Academy
• Pedal Powered Cinema
• Vodafone Justtext Giving
• Tide Loads of Hope
• Standing for Something, Like It or Not
• Grenewal: What to Do With That Old Strip Mall
• Own a Color For Unicef
• Guerilla Gardening
• Lifelens: Simplified Malaria Testing
• A Child’s Right: Transparency and Fresh Water
• NGOs: Show Me the Money (Where You Spent It)
• Chicago Plow Tracker
• Smarter Cities Need Smarter Citizens
• CiteGreen – Rewards the Right Actions
• Free Wifi for Finand
• The Robin Hood Tax

September 2012

Gaming goes Social…
Awareness. In a Facebook
game that doesn’t involve the
mafia, vampires or supervising a
neighbor’s crops, America2049
shines a bright light where you
address drug smuggling, human
trafficking and other important
issues.
Our take: Facebook has had a
rough few months, we get it.
However, bringing forward a
socially responsible game is
noteworthy and resonates with
their market. Being willing to
take a stand on key issues is
worthy of time and attention.

Brands need to be more visible in
the dialogue, despite the risks.

September 2012

Customer friendly – even when your
vehicle is has two wheels
In a lovely example of embracing all vehicles, Statoil
gives us a grand example: "Dear Cyclist, You can care
for your bicycle here. You can pump and wash your
bicycle and, inside the shop, you're welcome to borrow
a free bicycle care kit with oil, tire levers, Allen keys,
etc. Enjoy. Statoil"

Our take: Yay! We love this example because it takes
negative space – a wall – which wasn’t doing anyone any
good and would likely contain a soda or crisps ad and
puts it to good purpose.

At the same time, that cyclist is likely to come in and
grab a bottle of water and an apple. Everyone wins, the
investment was minimal but the brand goodwill is
outsized.

September 2012

Not just giving, giving of
yourself.
Want to learn how to build a bike? The bike
you build goes to Africa, the skills you learn
are yours to keep via the bike academy (a
crowd-funded startup). Take 4 days and see
what good can come of it. (Sad, but it’s
expensive)
Our take: While the price puts us off, the
concept does not. We think there is a role
for these sorts of high end learning
sessions, taught by experts, where the
benefits accrue to those in need. Think
celebrity chefs teaching classes where the
outputs feed shelter residents or Home
Depot classes that are in Habitat for
Humanity houses.

September 2012

Pedal-powered cinema and music.
Why be a couch potato? You can now be part of the
generator for the movie. They have a 20-bicycle
generator that drives the display of the film (or the
amplifiers in the case of music).

What a great date idea. Only in the UK so far.

Our take: So, Citibank and MasterCard took NYC
bike programme, but here’s a small and interesting
way to do something local and sustainable. Could
work for any environmentally conscious business or
brand, or those in bicycle friendly cities and towns.
Boulder? Otterbox? Trek? Local water brands (or Coca
Cola…)?

TRANSPERIENCES
September 2012

Vodafone “justtext”
giving
Using a simple code, UK telecom
provider Vodafone allows charities
to receive donations easily and
quickly from just about anyone –
leveraging their infrastructure for
transmission and billing.
Our take: Social good programs
need to be simple to understand
and simple to execute. The best
ones encourage the tribe to drive
participation. They are not self-
aggrandizing and they are not
splashy. When they use assets the
customer is already familiar with,
it’s even better.

September 2012

Tide Loads of Hope
Proctor and Gamble (P&G) helps
disaster-torn communities with
something you simply didn’t think
of – clean clothes. Being able to do
something a little bit normal, and
have a little sense of order and
control seems priceless.

Our take: The brand fit is
flawless. The charitable aspect
absolutely meets a need. The
reusability of the assets invested –
sustainable and extensible. This is
a fine example of how it’s done.

September 2012

Brand personality means you stand
for something. It’s not easy being yourself in
the public forum – but more and more brands will
be rewarded or punished for not being transparent
in what they believe. For instance, Gay Marriage.
Both Lush Cosmetics and Ben & Jerry’s have voted
with product and media support.
Alternately, Chick-fil-a’s less than public stand vote
against originally hurt them. However, supporters
turned out for them as well.

Our take: Consumers may love or hate your
views, but if those views influence your way of
doing business, expect action, support and of
course, opposition. It’s not wrong to take a stand if
you believe in something. It’s wrong to expect
consumers not to do the same.

September 2012

Greenewal: what to do
with that old strip mall
Green space has been disappearing for
decades. Up cropped the myriad of
malls to support a housing inventory
we finally found out we didn’t need (or
could ill-afford). Now what? In Los
Angeles, they’ve got a solution:
Reverse the song: we place paradise in
an old parking lot. Ok, we modified it
a little.

Our take: In terms of giving back to the community, as so many brands aspire, the ability
to address issues like renewal is wide open. It provides a chance to get your name out there.
Don’t buy a stadium – buy a strip mall and make it a park. Family oriented brands, here’s
your chance.

September 2012

Own a color for
Unicef In one of my favorites
of the many great examples in
this section, Glidden in the US
and Dulux in the UK team with
Unicef to make a point about
the broad spectrum of paint
colors and offer you the naming
rights.
Our take: Again, on-brand
and a great tie in make for
compelling social
responsibility. When it’s done
right, it’s compelling, engaging
and interesting.

I will personally buy the color of your choice for the first 250 people who tweet the link to this
presentation, DM me @hermione1 for both the link and with your choice.
September 2012

Guerilla Gardening:
Greening anywhere we can
Find a neglected space. Get a few plants. Grow
something good.
The UK has become home to a new phenomen –
pop-up gardening. What a great way to take a
small space and renew it for good? In this
case, if you build it, they will come.

Our take: The concept of urban farming is
rising and fast – as is small space gardening.
The ability to stake out a small space and make
it green, hang a sign and provide something
beautiful is worth it. Plus, your town will love
you for it. Doing it yourself is a lot more
productive than buying a mile of highway.

September 2012

Lifelens – simplified
Malaria testing
Not every cause gets Bill Gates as its
front-man. Malaria is a little lucky
that way, because he’s optimistic.
And wealthy. But when 5 US-based
scientists and developers build an app
to quickly and easily test for the
disease, it’s a win.

Our take: We see apps like this all day. Developed by people wanting to do great things. They’ve
given their time. Imagine what they might be able to do with a little sponsorship money. It never hurts
to ask.

September 2012

A Child’s Right
Transparency and Fresh Water
When you focus on getting clean water to a
child, it’s not like the McDonald’s 1 Billion
Served. The number goes up and down
every day. And while most charities report
static results, delivering water is a daily
thing, so the results need to reflect that.

Our take: This example made the
list for its inclusion of a “living
number.” In every charitable effort,
there are ups and downs. Sharing the
success and the failures is all part of
transparency.

September 2012

NGOs: Show me the money
– and where you spent it
An alliance of US-based NGOs got
together to create an interactive
mapping tool that presents project-
based information for donors,
businesses and governments to see. The
goal is to improve partnering,
collaboration and informed decision
making.

Our take: We have tried not to focus
on the infographic concept. However,
when great mapping and measurement
applications (like Tableau) make it
easy, it’s definitely worth doing.

September 2012

Chicago Plow-Tracker
In January 2012, the City of Chicago
created an app to show where plows are
so residents could understand when
they expect to be free to get that quart
of milk they missed.

Our take: Oh, grocery chains? This
one is for you. It’s a simple, low
investment model that gives you a
much better opportunity to connect
with community.

September 2012

Smarter Cities Need
Smarter Citizens
Or at least socially active ones.
Seeclickfix.com allows citizens to report
a problem – graffiti, potholes,
uncollected trash – and see the
response.

Our take: As the service looks to go
national, a glocal model makes sense.
Being able to support and fund local
community engagement should be a
high priority for retailers.

September 2012

Cite Green Rewards the
Right Things
Never mind that it should be called
Cite Verte, but if you sign up, you
can pick the actions you want
rewards for – carpooling, recycling.
Via local partnerships and agencies,
the model accounts for actions and
credits points toward the desired
rewards.
Our take: Activism at its best is
when you participate because you
see good. Everyone else needs a
nudge. So, how about if you sell
something in a bottle, you take on
the recycling piece? Fuel companies,
please have carpooling. It’s yours for
the asking.

September 2012

The Robin Hood Tax
A less than 1% tax on non-human bank transactions – in
other words investments and non-retail transfers – could
raise billions each year for environmental, community and
social program. Named for the thief who stole from the
rich to give to the poor – you can guess who the banks
are…

Our take: It can be very hard to argue with this one.
Given the absence of punishment dealt the banks for
starting the financial crisis, and furthering it along, this
would seem sound. However, that’s what lobbyists are for.
Expect this one to generate interest but get nowhere.

September 2012

Free Wifi for Finland
Okay, so I don’t know how many Fins are
as addicted to Angry Birds as
everywhere else – simply that it’s a
source of national pride. To make it
easier to access those flying little
bombs, Finland announce digital access
for all Fins by 2015. It’s consider a life
requirement, not a luxury.

Our take: Expect to see this trend
continue globally, although more
countries will be less able to fund it. If
you do business in a country that needs
better access, go for it. And get your
logo on the connection screen. Daily
impressions – of the favorable kind.

September 2012

Sense
Able In this section, we pay homage to great ideas that affect our
senses – tasty, touchy, smelly things that you might find
interesting people putting us in sensory overload
Here are the
• Coke: Blend Your Own
• Pepsi: Social Vending
• Dunkin Donuts: Wake Up and Smell The Coffee
• Vitamin Water: Energize
• Kindness – The Cure For the Common Cold
• Renew Yourself
• Going Public: Fee Elimination for Room Service
• Join a Road Train
• Fully Engaged Travel: American Express
• An Interesting Substitute: Brown Shugga Ale
• The Oven: Caribou Coffee
• The Honest Store: Honest Tea
• Living Your Brand Values: Sustainability and Biodiversity: Banrock Station
• The Allianz Drunk Mirror
• The Sephora Sensorium
• Gamified Medication
• You’re Not Going to Eat That, Are You?
• Eating the Cookbook
• NatGeo Visual Magic

September 2012

Coca Cola: Blend Your Own
When you ship the syrup to a restaurant, weight
counts. More concentrated syrups take up
significantly less space. They also allow
something else – the ability to offer more
choices, even ones a company might not have
deemed economically feasible in standalone
versions. But what’s super-smart here is to be
able to see what people are blending in the
online world and use that as a better market
indicator than traditional research.
Our take: The online-offline component of
this has legs. The app makes users familiar with
the machine – which is a little intimidating when
you first approach it. The ability to customize
what once was totally standardized is cool. Try
Sprite and Raspberry Iced Tea.

Liz Kaufman blogged about the new Coke machines. Read it here

September 2012

Pepsi: Social Vending
As part of their Refresh project, PepsiCo unveiled a social
vending machine with the aim of donating 1.25mm USD in
grants every month for worthwhile causes. Drinks can be
purchased, gifted (via SMSS code). All participants were linked
to the project website, where they could vote for the projects
they liked most. The goal was to provide 480 grants supporting
arts, music, education and communities.

Our take: The gifting part was a great idea. The social tie in
comes across as a little more challenging since it defers
execution (you might not want to connect to the website at the
time of purchase). All in all, a worthwhile approach – but the
gifting part, should definitely go forward.

September 2012

Dunkin Donuts:
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
In Seoul Korea, a town of coffee drinkers, (yes, we
meant that), Dunkin Donuts created a unique means of
delivering the scent of freshly brewed beans just as an
ad played. At the next stop, in front of a Dunkin
Donuts, people got out and got a cup of that fine stuff.
This resulted in a 29% lift in sales during the test
period.

Our take: Playing with scent on-location is nothing
new – Starwood Hotels and others have done it for
years. However, using it off-premise to drive on-
premise traffic, now that’s genius.

September 2012

Vitamin Water: Energize
Bus shelters in Chicago, Boston, New York and
Los Angeles featured USB ports to charge
devices.
This went well with the brand positioning of
“Alternative Energy Source”

Our take: When you see the opportunity to
give users a chance to “power up,” it’s a good
idea to take it. Especially when you can match
it to your brand position…

September 2012

Kindness: The Cure for the
Common Cold
Kleenex launched a campaign in Israel
to promote its products with random
acts of kindness. They scanned
Facebook for mentions of illness, then
connected with friends and others to
get addresses and deliver a care
package in under 2 hours.
Our take: This one makes the list
because when you are feeling unwell,
the last thing you want to do is get your
own soup and tissues. Relevant, timely
and different, it can be made to work
well for multiple brands.

September 2012

Renew Yourself
There are people who want to
wake up fast, and others who
want to be gently stirred. The
Renew Sleepclock offers you
an option. It uses a radio
frequency emitter to capture
movement and breathing data.
An easy to use app provides a
useful display.

Our take: No wires or
wearables, this makes great
use of ambient sensors to
capture information – making
it a great choice for many.

September 2012

Going Public – fee
elimination for room
service
Customers feel nickel and dimed
everywhere. And in a hotel, you
are often the most captive
audience (guest, bosh!) Ian
Schrager and Jean-Georges
Vongerichten make room service
fees go away flawlessly.
Our take: Removing fees
makes people happy. So does
good food. Anytime you can
cause happiness, and do so at a
nominal risk, it’s worth
consideration.

September 2012

Join a Road Train
Texting and driving, trying to answer that one
email…even talking on a phone is dangerous.
But for people who need their vehicle, an
option might be available. Road trains are
under exploration where cars might follow a
guided vehicle to move forward.

Our take: What this does to vehicle design
and safety assurance is anyone’s guess.
However, Volvo’s involvement allays some
concerns.

September 2012

The travel zodiac, prepared
and interpreted by Amex
Again, it’s not for everyone, but Amex will
prepare customized itineraries based on
your travel sign (with more of your input, of
course) and then offer up surprises and
delights to keep you fully excited about
your trip.

Our take: It’s unique and fresh – creative and
interesting for those wanting high-end travel
and adventure. The aspect of “not knowing”
sets one’s heart racing a bit. Nicely done.

September 2012

An Interesting Substitute:
Brown Shugga Ale
Let’s say you produce a holiday brew, but for
some sad and mystifying reason you can’t
this year and will let customers down. How
do you handle it? By making yourself the
joke. In language we won’t share, we can
only promise you it was funny in a profane
kind of way.
Our take: Beer is not the world’s most
serious product. For many, it is convivial
and enjoyed with a sense of ease and
delight. However, when we see an example
as clearly engaging in this, we’d simply like
to encourage you to look it up, and see if
you wouldn’t forgive their difficulties.

September 2012

Bus shelter advertising, not new.
Warming bus shelter advertising that promotes a
product actually crosses the border to innovation.
Caribou Coffee provided warming shelter in a
place not exactly known for friendly
winters, Minneapolis. As the shelters looked like
warming ovens and featured oversized yummy
sandwiches, we can only imagine they saw a nice
lift for keeping their fellow Minnesotans warm.

Our take: As with all the examples in this
section, activating one’s senses is now more than a
static or even online tactic. Bringing a brand and
product to life requires thinking outside a warming
box. Kudos!

September 2012

The Honest Store
Unmanned pop-up stations featured ice
cold Honest Tea in 7 large cities. The
stands were accompanied by a bucket
saying $1 per bottle which would be
donated to charity.

Now for the nice news 87% of Americans
acted honestly (the areas were
canvassed with CCTV).
Our take: The brand match here was
well done and effective. The
investment was small (racks and
signage were not overdone) when you
consider the potential for media
coverage, it was worth it.

September 2012

Living Your Brand Values
We’ve talked about urban gardens, but
how about an ad comprised of plants
that passersby can even water? Banrock
Station installed a large flowering
billboard that showcases their
attentiveness to biodiversity and
sustainability.
Our take: Eye-catching, this breaks
through clutter, offers an interactive
experience and promotes brand values.
A worthy consideration for those who
produce things from fresh goods.

September 2012

A two second delay makes
the Allianz Drunk Mirror
Demo more than a campaign
We’ve been declaring things we really
liked throughout the 150 or so
examples, but this video stopped us all. A
remarkable impact on a topic that needs
a discussion – at the exact point it needs
it. Watch the video. It’s powerful Getting home safely starts with a good look at yourself
without overplaying its hand.
Our take: We talk about light-
hearted a lot for brands. But there are
topics that need to be handled
seriously. When you can tell a
magnificent story powerfully, it’s
absolutely worth doing.

September 2012

The Sephora Sensorium
A pop-up fragrance museum hit the walls
of Sephora where a carefully curated and
interactive journey was delivered.
Participants could learn more about how
scents affect the brain. Videos were
enacted by breathing, and there was of
course, a $15 entry fee – redeemable at
Sephora stores.
Our take: This presented an
interesting look at a category
dominated by annoying personnel at
department stores and those samples
that fall out of simply everything.
While it might not be easy to
reproduce, it might be effective use of
dead retail space available in most
malls.

September 2012

Gamified Medication
For anyone who takes medication
regularly, it’s easy to forget. It’s even
harder with meds that require specific
dosing –especially for kids. However, with
asthma, getting the correct dose is
critical. So, the T-Haler for Cambridge
Consultants uses a computer game where
the correct dose gets the ball in the
hole. This visual aspect encourages
learning and better treatment

Our take: Anything that makes
medication easier to remember and
more fun to take, we’re in. This was
nicely done.

September 2012

You’re not going to eat
that, are you? Gone are the
days of sniffing the milk carton to
determine if it’s okay to drink.
Sensors can now tell you if your food
is still safe to consume.
Our take: Sensors made of silk and
gold can detect electromagnetic
properties in your fresh foodstuffs.

Freshness dating will be replaced by
sensor detecting, and it will make
things much easier.

September 2012

It’s a lasagna. It’s a cookbook.
It’s both.
In this truly interesting application of
ingenuity, the recipe for lasagna is printed
on the pasta.

Our take: Well, at least you can’t lose
it, right? Exactly what do you do with the
broken noodles?
At all costs, it’s different enough to break
through, even if it is harder to follow than the
sticker on my spaghetti squash.

September 2012

Visual Magic.
National Geographic
Leveraging content submitted by
users, NatGeo curates a rich
perspective of the beautiful people
and places on this earth

Our take: In making this a
community versus a display
mechanism, NatGeo creates a
reason to participate – pride of
work. Incrementally, they also
offer the more casual viewer the
tools to get better; guides, tips
and tricks to better photography.

September 2012

Store Age

WA R S Finally, one of our favorite categories, bringing you a host
of interesting items from the places we love most:
Stores.
These retailers are wining the battle for consumer attention
• Tesco’s Virtual Subway Store
• PUMA Teams With SolesforSouls
• Uniqlo’s Happy Machine
• A Gilt-y Pleasure – the Many Brands of Gilt.com
• Square Evens Out the Playing Field
• Malls For Men
• The Rue 30: 30 days, one shipping charge
• MAC: Bloggers Obsessions
• Variations on a Theme: Gap Goes for Social Influence
• American Retro: Blogger Cum Designer
• Target, Neiman Marcus and the CFDA, Oh My
• Social Influence Drives Design Collection at DKNY
• Banana Republic Goes Mad, Men
• From Window Display to Your Hands in 24 Hours
• The IKEA Adult Sleepover
• The Book and The Cook: Intriguing Mixed Use Retail
• Virtually Filled Prescriptions: Walgreens

September 2012

TESCO HomePlus Virtual
Subway Store brings the store
to the very busy people of
Seoul, Korea. Please note that it
looks like a real display case.

Just tap to buy and pay with your
phone, pick it up on your way
home.

We found this via video – which has
1.2mm views. It’s obviously gotten
some attention
Our take: With displays that look like a real
beverage case and other elements that make it
easy to select and buy, this idea will continue
to grow. In fact, others are already getting on
board – like Peapod in the US.

September 2012

Puma teams with
SolesforSouls Bring a gently used
pair of sneakers in and PUMA will make
sure they get to those in need. Meanwhile
– the donating party gets 30% off a new
pair of kicks.
Other events in the campaign included two
one-day non-store donation days via a big
red drop box where those giving people –
literally – the shoes off their feet – got flip
flops and a coupon.
Our take: Stores had outdoor signage
(I found out about it in front of the Rush
Street store in Chicago) and other
promotional support. It’s good when you
can create an effort like this and make it
carry over year after year. Careful
planning and well-chosen partners are
critical to success.

September 2012

Uniqlo’s Happy
Machine featured items that
dropped out at various times
within operating hours during the
relaunch of their Regent Street
store in London. Additionally,
early shoppers received
breakfasts, cashmere scarves
and limited edition bags.

Our take: This is a buzz
maker. For three days, Uniqlo
became the place to be – and
the follow-on, memory traffic
continues. The store is known
for quality and service. Now, it’s
also known for a happiness
machine. That’s what makes
retail great. Can Whole Foods
do this?

September 2012

Guilty Pleasures: The
Many Brands of Gilt.com
What started out as a well-crafted
set of short-inventory sales at
discount prices has turned into an
empire including city-specific
offerings (including very exclusive
events), well curated travel
experiences and a whole site for the
foodie. Gilt.com’s rapid expansion
has made them a force to be
reckoned with.

Our take: Making judicious choices into expansion is critical. They
need to be carefully aligned to the brand yet distinct enough to stand
alone. Additionally, Gilt.com’s ability to customize their emails into
thousands of combinations supports preferences built on shopper
histories. Using data, display and visual merchandising makes
Gilt.com a winner.
I wrote about why Gilt.com would trump Groupon in 2011, here.

September 2012

Square evens out the playing field
For smaller retailers, and mobile ones as well, it’s
often been a cash business. Now, every retailer,
taxi-cab driver and street vendor can take plastic.
Setting the stage for a complete upset to the
payments market, Square announced a flat fee that
will offer many retailers the opportunity to
compete more effectively.
Our take: Square is leading a charge here to
reinvent payments and fees. This should be
beneficial to many retailers. What’s more, its
mobility aspects are driving the ability to put
payments on the sales floor – making it easy for
consumers to check out. While there is not a
multi-unit program that we are aware of, we would
expect one soon.

September 2012

The Middle East offers Malls for
women, the Czech Republic
caters to the other gender
A gentlemen’s arcade featuring 19 luxury
shops is opening in the Czech Republic.

Our take: For many years, ubiquity
ruled the day. Now, with men not being
fully satisfied with having to deal with a
myriad of shops not focused on them, we
will start to see more interesting
approaches to “divide and conquer.”

September 2012

The Rue 30 – one
shipping fee covers 30
days of purchases
Online retailer RueLaLa.com
changes the way people view
shipping while encouraging
repeat transactions. One
payment of $9.95 covers every
purchase made in a 30-day
period.

Our take: We all know it. Customers hate shipping charges. Retailers like Overstock.com make it
worse for everyone else with their $2.95 for any order – even a mattress or rug. However, this move
makes sense and provides a sense of continuity while encouraging loyalty. A tough nut to crack
handled with a deft touch.

September 2012

MAC, the brightly
colored and unabashed
retailer went to the
blogs
or at least the Bloggers when they
teamed up to create customized
lipsticks and eye shadows in a
special collection.
Our take: Making friends with the
social community gets you mentions.
Make the right friends and you actually
gain influence. This was a great
execution of a great idea. And
everyone can do something like it.

September 2012

Gap: Social Influence –
variations on a theme
Gap teamed up with Refinery29 and
FabSugar to ask their teams of expert
bloggers to style models with their
collection for Styld.by. All the images
and outfits could be tagged via social
sites and links to purchase were
included.
Our take: Women connect with various
content-based sites who understand their
style and offer them a perspective. In
leveraging these experts, Gap got a boost
that was worth more than advertising
through implied credibility.

September 2012

American Retro Makes Bloggers Designers
Take six influential fashion bloggers, offer each the
opportunity to design a limited edition item. Feature
their work in your windows in Paris. Make friends – who
will write about you - for life

Our take: This is a variation on the theme, and one to be
cautious with. Just because you write about fashion doesn’t mean
you can design it, although in this case, the ladies did extremely
well, by all accounts.

September 2012

Target, Neiman Marcus and the
CFDA, Oh My.
These two brands don’t seem to fit together
at first glance. Yet, they are teaming up on
a very limited edition set of items from the
Council of Fashion Designer heavyweights
this holiday. Target is no stranger to creative
retailing – from their Shoppes concept to a
custom-for-Target Missoni line that sold out
in hours. The items will span all price points
and include men’s and womenswear.
Our take: Target is the category innovator. Neiman Marcus, the cool style-maker. Putting these
brands together is a stroke of brilliance that will gain more attention as 2012 draws to a close.
There may not appear to be overlap in the brands, but both will see a healthy draw from this effort.
No merchandising details were available as of yet. We’re still trying.

September 2012

Social Influence drives a
designer to engage
The Bag Snob – an accessories blog
tweeted rather negatively about
DKNY. In a stunning turning of the
other cheek, DKNY invited the
ladies to work with them on a
collection. Given their influence, a
collaboration made sense and
allowed DKNY to win back some
respect while getting a bunch of
free publicity.

Our take: If you are not listening – and reacting to what is said about you in the marketplace, you
are missing opportunities. There are free tools, there are great paid tools. Just get yourself a really
decent understanding of your social persona. You need it.

September 2012

Banana Republic Goes Mad…Men
Capitalizing on the success of AMC TV’s show
Mad Men, Banana Republic designed a limited
edition collection featuring vintage styling.

The collection was unveiled in a unique way –
with style bloggers and staff on a Virgin Atlantic
plane from New York to LAX. Social media
abounded – due to airplane wifi.

Our take: The more moving parts you put in,
the more opportunities for something to go
wrong. If you are planning something like this,
double and triple check. Then engineer in
redundancies. It’s worth it to have it come off
effectively.

September 2012

From Window Display to Your
Hands in 24 hours
For the critical holiday shopping period, UK
retailer John Lewis featured a set of QR
codes merchandise in the window, including
their Top 30 Favorite Things for Christmas.
This unprecedented convenience made it
easy to see an item, go online, order and
pick it up – dealing time-strapped a handy
advantage.
Our take: While some people love QR
codes, others are less convinced. In this
case, they were well used to increase
convenience. Give thought to when and where
they make sense for you, since overdoing them
is an ugly miscarriage of your well-designed
efforts.

September 2012

The IKEA Adult Sleepover
The first 100 people over age 25 were
asked to reserve a bed for 8PM to 8AM
event relaunching IKEA’s bedding
department. They were given treats for
participating and the event – including
pajama-clad participants was catalogued
for all to see.
Our take: We’d call this more creative
than repeatable. That being said for a
brand known more for its design, it seems
a little off. We wished they’d have spent
the money on better assembly directions.

September 2012

Cook and Book:
Intriguing Mixed Use Retail
In Brussels, this concept store is divided
into nine themed areas each with a
distinctive style and dining offering.

Our take: The concept of creating
themed areas is not new. However,
creating brilliant experiences in each one
will always be fresh. How much can you
change and still be within your brand
standard. That’s up to you.

September 2012

Virtually Filled Prescriptions
Refill RX by Scan from Walgreens

After checking and banking took a turn for the
scanner, how long could it be until other things
followed? In a wonderful bout of “easy”
Walgreens delivered a free app for customers to
reorder prescriptions. Four months after launch,
it accounted for 50% of all refills.

Our take: Enabling repeat purchase is what
makes this so attractive. How can grocers and
other quick turn items capitalize on this? How
about QSR, that one’s a no-brainer.

September 2012

The 3D
Wo r l d Our 4D world was 1D for too long.

No special glasses needed to experience this 3D world…finally.
• Thingiverse and Copyrights
• 3D Fetus
• Print a Couture Pair of Shoes
• Print Steak or Chicken For Lunch?
• Security Is Key
• Nokia Launches Their Latest Phone in 4D
• 3rd Planet
• 3D room mapping with Kinect
• Really hands free with Mercedes
• Urbee
• The New Theme Park
• Microsoft Operating and Kinect team up

September 2012

You lost that one little
piece you need to complete
your 1969 circa airplane model, no
reason to get upset, simply 3D print
a new one from the picture in your
instruction manual. What an
innovative solution to a vexing
problem. However, who owns the
rights to that one little piece you
are 3D printing? That is currently the
question.

Our take: We foresee that this will
continue to be a copyrights issue,
however a simple solution to an
innovative tool can be crafted. Think
outside the copyright and move
towards the music industry. Royalties
could solve this, right? Let the people
print!

September 2012

The DVD of your unborn baby
is so last year
Who needs ultrasonic baby picture when
you can have a resin-cast 3D model of
your live fetus? That’s the latest
development in 3D printing, now
available at a health clinic in Tokyo. It
costs about $1300 and parents can opt to
have a single body part instead of the
entire fetus. (OK, that’s even creepier).

Our take: There are people who will
want this, we are sure, but is
expensive. Parents could wait and just
upload to Thingiverse, at a significant
less. Since babies cost enough as it
is, how sustainable is this?

September 2012

3D printed Couture is beyond a
dream come true for the girls at
Covalent Marketing. Continuum Fashion
recently released a pair of 3D printed
Cinderella shoes. They are created with a
super lightweight 3D printed layered nylon
and a patent leather inner sole. The bottoms
are made from synthetic rubber. They are
supposedly super comfortable. They come in
all different colors and cost $900. Gulp!

Our take: The cost of 3D printing
will be decreasing rapidly over time
and lets face it, these are one of a
kind, custom PRINTED shoes. We also
wonder if this is a hint of what fashion
will be in the future.

September 2012

Craze or crazy is what
comes to mind when
considering 3D printed food. A
startup wants to create 3D printed
meat to fill the human craving for
animal protein without continuing
to take an environmental toll on
the planet. Billionaire Peter Thiel is
directing between $250,000 to
$350,000 from his philanthropic
foundation toward Missouri-based
Modern Meadow to create the bio-
printed meat.

Our take: not to worry, this isn’t
coming to a table near you anytime
soon, however if you look beyond the
consumption factor and into the
possibility of 3D printing medical grade
tissue, then innovation is achieved.

September 2012

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