Monday, April 14, 2008
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One of my colleagues, Beth Simon, is a member of Color Marketing Group (www.colormarketing.org), a professional association of 1,000 color designers who determine the direction of color for the next one to three years across every industry imaginable – from cars to casinos to coffee packaging, this is the group who decides what colors are in and out.
Beth just attended the 2008 Spring International Conference in Montreal, Canada, and I asked her to share some of the more innovative things she saw happening with color. Not surprisingly, the Olympics are expected to influence color palettes. You can expect to see many of the colors from the athletes' uniforms reflected in packaging and products, with emphasis on reds and oranges inspired by countries such as India, China, and countries in South America.
With all the talk about sustainability and eco-systems, colors from nature and global influences will be very strong. Look for a major color shift in blue that leans toward green, which represents the influence of water and nature. White will be an important neutral, especially with bright colors. Interestingly, the bright colors are inspired not only by nature, but also by the Internet, video games, i-Phones, etc.
Several designers, Beth included, collaborated on a palette dubbed “Joie de Vivre” (The Joy of Life) a collection of bright colors designed to help offset the gloom and doom of economic recession and global warming. According to Beth, “No matter how bad things may get, we need hope and promise… and a splash of color does that.” In hard times, consumers tend to go “safe” when it comes to purchasing big ticket items, like buying a beige couch rather than a more colorful one. Joie de Vivre introduces a bit of “visual hope” by allowing consumers to accessorize with less expensive, colorful items, such as pillows, candles, and detailing on hard goods. The palette’s bright colors are influenced by the Internet and florals: sunny yellow, turquoise, lime green, Kelly green, purple, red, royal blue.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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I know we’ve just emerged from the haze of the holidays, but this fun bit of innovation information is worth sharing.
Each year, the American Floral Industry Association conducts a nationwide search for the best-decorated Christmas tree. Decorated trees from across the US country sent to Dallas to be judged on their creative use of product and trends, originality, and ease of re-creation.
Beth Simon, one of my colleagues here at Decision Analyst, has served as a judge for the past two years. She and her fellow judges will present the top three winners of this year’s competition with their awards this evening.
Here’s a look at some of the more interesting winners from the last couple of competitions:
Lights N' Such submitted a tree with lights on the inside, and leather and fringe on the outside.
Morris County Farms inverted a tree and decorated it with seaweed, shells, blown glass sea creatures. Why an inverted tree? More room for presents underneath!
By pairing Styrofoam with interior lights, Kebbie Hollingsworth Floral Designs created the illusion of snow and ice.
Ambiance Today used yarn, foil, mohair, unusual colors, and whimsical shape to symbolize the child-like joy of the season.
Mention "Blue Bell Ice Cream" to anyone who has lived in Texas, and a look of sheer ecstasy will cross their face! Blue Bell Creameries submitted a tree covered with ornaments made from ice cream containers and lids.
So, how much of this will we see in stores next season? Money says my kids are going to lobby for the inverted tree!
Monday, January 07, 2008
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Voice of the customer/consumer… I think I was first exposed to the term in the early ‘90s when TQM was the bandwagon of choice. Businesses large and small were worshipping at the altar of the consumer, the customer was king, and no one made a decision without first consulting a customer advisory panel. (I recall attending a planning session once where a sales colleague showed up in her old high school cheerleading outfit – complete with a megaphone labeled “VOC” hanging around her neck – and firmly announced, “I am the voice of the customer, and you should listen to me!”)
Companies launched countless strategies and initiatives designed to develop new products, improve quality, and enhance customer service – all based on what they believed customers and consumers were telling them. And most of those efforts failed or were discontinued because they fell far short of expectations. Over time, VOC went the way of most bandwagons, and people would roll their eyes at the very mention of the term. Not because the concept was invalid, but because it had been so poorly applied.
Well, VOC is back again, and possibly stronger than ever. And what I see is reminiscent of the past: organizations exerting great efforts to conduct focus groups and quantitative research to elicit input and guidance from its customers and consumers, and then not quite understanding how to use it once they have it.
Personally, I’ve found it useful to stop thinking about VOC and start thinking about MOC – Mind of the Customer/Consumer. It’s not enough for me to hear and see the words that customers use; I need to understand the myriad of drivers that underlie those words – emotions, rationale, motivators, fears, etc.
Here are some simple things I’ve found helpful to me in terms of trying to understand MOC and tapping into it as a source of innovation. I’d be interested in hearing what others are doing as well:
- Listening with more than the ear. What customers/consumers say is important, yet equally important are the things they offer that are not words – images, sounds, gestures, objects all have stories to tell, and they play a key role in better understanding MOC. If this sounds like Qualitative Research 101, it is! But it’s something that is seldom practiced successfully because it takes time and effort.
- Blur the lines. I’m finding there are times it’s helpful to use idea generation techniques when I’m conducting customer/consumer research, and vice versa. Introducing tools such as SCAMPER or mind mapping into a discussion can help consumers be more introspective and expressive. Also, I’ve begun to kick off innovation projects with traditional qualitative research as a way of identifying what I call “Innovation Springboards” – themes or areas of opportunity around which to ideate. It’s a great way of creating the parameters in which to do idea generation.
- Use of word association. Memetic analysis is my new favorite tool! It helps unveil how customers/consumers feel about brands, companies, products, etc. through the use of word associations and the analysis of the relationships between those associations. I’ll share more about memetic analysis in a later posting.
- Look at what they’re doing. I’ve taken what Clayton Christensen advocates to heart – it’s much more informative to examine what customers/consumers are trying to accomplish rather than simply listen to what they’re saying. Actions speak louder than words when it comes to understanding MOC.
- Pause and wonder, “Why?” Again, this seems simple, but when I continue to peel back the layers there’s almost always a discovery that can serve as a platform for great innovation and strategy.
So what do you think? Is MOC different from VOC? And how do you go about knowing what customers/consumers are saying?
Finally, on a different note… thank you very much to Renee Hopkins Callahan who very generously has transferred IdeaFlow to my care. I had the good fortune and honor of working with Renee for more than five years, and she truly is an amazing individual and a great friend.
Gwen Smith Ishmael
SVP Insights & Innovation
Decision Analyst, Inc.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
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It's been very quiet on this blog for a long time, because I'm transitioning into a new job and a new blog.
I've said sad farewells to my colleagues at Decision Analyst, and joined Sentient Services, a start-up knowledge studio in Austin, Texas. That has meant getting used to doing things differently and doing different kinds of work. It's been fun!
A couple of last-minute notes for long-time IdeaFlow readers: I've updated the blogroll on the IdeaFlow home page, which now has a very robust list of the best innovation and creativity blogs around. When I started IdeaFlow in 2002, there were not many blogs on these subjects. Now there are dozens, some focused on very niche areas of the subject. All those on the blogroll are thought-provoking and worth checking out.
Gwen Ishmael, Decision Analyst's Senior Vice President, Insights and Innovation, will be blogging here at IdeaFlow as she has time. You can find me posting on marketing, innovation, and virtual worlds at Awareness Is Everything, a brand-new blog.
Thanks for sticking with IdeaFlow, especially those who've been reading this blog since 2002. Good-bye!
By Renee Hopkins Callahan
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
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Sami Viitamaki emailed me this model for crowdsourcing. He calls it the FLIRT model. I like this -- it offers a useful way of viewing many crowdsourcing efforts.
I think what would be fascinating would be some kind of meta-view of crowdsourcing in general. In the main it's not new. And some of the "old" methods have their places, still. And some of the old methods have undergone and will continue to undergo change. For example, marketing research is an "old" method that is scoffed at by many today, but it has its uses even in the crowdsourced world.
And crowdsourcing brokers, as Sami quite rightly calls Innocentive, are serving yet another purpose. I don't think there's any one way that's best for companies to open themselves to customer communities, but discovering all the ways to do this and all the ways Web 2.0 is changing this landscape is immensely helpful.
By Renee Hopkins Callahan
Thursday, December 02, 2004
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The Global Innovation Study Team (GIST) has emerged from months of QuickPlace collaboration with a 6-minute PowerPoint presentation titled “Why Innovation?”
The presentation includes summaries from several recent studies on innovation, as well as an assortment of quotes and reasons why innovation is critical.
Why "Why Innovation?" It's easy to gather articles on the importance of innovation -- they are multiplying like mushrooms after a thunderstorm. What's perhaps harder to find is examples within your own company of management support for innovation. There is more innovation “talk” than “walk.” Hopefully "Why Innovation?" wlll be a useful tool to help you garner support for innovation within your organization.
Please feel free to use "Why Innovation?" within your organizations or community groups. And share it. The Global Innovation Study Team only asks that you share the presentation within your network and not place it on the web for public download. So, if you'd like a copy, email Gwen Ishmael, gishmae -at- decisionanalyst.com.
By Renee Hopkins Callahan