Monthly Archives: August 2014

How Happy Are You When You Fly?

I came across the following video from British Airways a month or so ago, and I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to write about it, but I finally had a moment and so I thought I would share it with you now.

It’s about a happiness blanket that British Airways has invented and subsequently tested on flights between London and New York.

When I first found the video I had to first check the date it was posted because it almost seemed like an April Fool’s joke, but it was posted in June, so it was definitely something they were serious about.

The question I have is, what actionable data were they hoping to gain from the investment of all of this time, money, and energy (at the expense of not doing something else they were considering)?

Personally, I don’t get it. It seems like a waste of money as they likely learned very little they didn’t already know. And if it was done as a viral marketing ploy, well, that doesn’t really work if it gets people laughing at you instead of with you.

Whatever the reason behind it, personally I would have spent my marketing dollars elsewhere.

So, without further delay, I give you, the happiness blanket:


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Your Chance to Help Middle-Age Guys (and Gals) Get Fit

Your Chance to Help Middle-Age Guys (and Gals) Get FitHere is your chance to help every middle-aged guy (or gal) who’s struggling with the inevitable progression of age. What used to be easy isn’t anymore!

Maybe you (or a friend) used to be a big runner and counted on running to keep weight down and stay active, but lately the motivation to run has waned, and as as a one-trick pony who’s never developed other ways to get regular exercise, with persistent plantar fasciitis that makes anything longer than a one mile walk moderately painful, the weight is starting to accumulate.

How do you re-energize what formerly were healthy eating and workout routines to accommodate the realities of middle age?

Any ideas for new forms of exercise, for establishing new routines that are realistic for an 8 to 6 office worker?

Premera would love to hear your ideas on a middle age makeover.

Simply post your idea to Premera’s Facebook or Twitter page using the hashtag #IGNITEchange, or as a comment to their stories. You are then automatically entered into a drawing to win a $200 Amazon gift card. Best of all, you have the chance to impact a real person’s life. There will be four chances to win, once every week from now until September 8, 2014 (terms and conditions link expired).

Have a true game-changing idea that will spark families to make lasting, realistic improvements to their health?

Premera is rewarding that type of innovation as well through Premera’s Innovate to Motivate challenge (link expired), which offers a grand prize of $5,000!


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Five Ways to Make Your Innovation Culture Smell Better

Five Ways to Make Your Innovation Culture Smell BetterIs Your Organization Committed to Innovation?

If so, download my new innovation culture white paper.

Unfortunately, when it comes to fostering continuous innovation, most organizational cultures stink at it, and they are not innovating fast enough to repel the unrelenting threat posed by new market entrants with declining barriers to entry.

This is why I created my latest innovation white paper in partnership with Planview to help organizations learn how to make their organization’s innovation culture stink less by:

  • Focusing on the basics of culture change
  • Building a common language of innovation
  • Identifying and harnessing the untapped talents, skills, and abilities of employees
  • Leveraging their most curious individuals to drive momentum

Click here to download the white paper

To watch my ON DEMAND video presentation on the same topic, “Your Innovation Culture Stinks: 5 Ways to make it Smell Better” visit www.pipelineconference.com

What does your organization’s innovation culture smell like?


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Your Chance to Help Working Moms (and Dads)

Help Working MomsWorking Moms (and Dads) struggle to get a healthy meal on the table for their family every night during the week without resorting to fast food (or any other fast, but unhealthy alternatives).

If you have an idea to help working mothers (and fathers) bring healthy creativity to their weeknight meals we at Premera would love to hear it.

Simply post your idea to Premera’s Facebook or Twitter page using the hashtag #IGNITEchange, or as a comment to their stories. You are then automatically entered into a drawing to win a $200 Amazon gift card. Best of all, you have the chance to impact a real person’s life. There will be four chances to win, once every week from now until September 8, 2014 (terms and conditions link expired).

Have a true game-changing idea that will spark families to make lasting, realistic improvements to their health?

Premera is rewarding that type of innovation as well through Premera’s Innovate to Motivate challenge (link expired), which offers a grand prize of $5,000!


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Tesla Doesn’t Have One of These

Renovo Coupe

Okay, it is not an innovation, but you have to admit it is one smoking hot looking automobile. I wouldn’t mind making my commute in one of these. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it’s called the Renovo Coupe (rhymes with toupee for those of you in the UK).

A lot more fun than a Nissan Leaf and a lot sexier than a Tesla roadster or sedan.

Go go Speed Racer!


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Launching an iPhone before Apple

Launching an iPhone before AppleWe live in an amazing age. An era when barriers to entry and barriers to scale sometimes seem to decreasing faster than the size of semiconductors. If Moore’s law states that the number of transistors per square inch doubles approximately every two years, what would you call the similar increase in speed to scale that has emerged over the past decade?

Two weeks ago I came across a couple of videos showing not one, but two different companies who are already shipping clones of Apple’s iPhone 6, a phone that Apple hasn’t yet been able to announce and get out the door?

Do we live in an amazing era or what?

The first video is of the iPhone 6 clone called the Wico i6:

The second video is of an iPhone 6 clone called the Goophone:

Now, people are very loyal to Apple (at least outside of China) and so this is likely to impact their business very little. But would the same be true in your business?

What would the impact be to your business if a competitor launched your new flagship product before you could?

Are you creating an overall solution that is more valuable than every existing alternative and likely to be widely adopted when you launch it?

If not, shouldn’t you be?

After all if you’ve been following me for any length of time you’ll know that my definition of innovation is the following:

“Innovation transforms the useful seeds of invention into widely adopted solutions valued above every existing alternative.”

By this very definition, these clones may attempt to copy the inventions contained in the iPhone 6, but if Apple has truly packed any innovation into their forthcoming handset, it will take more than copying the look and feel of their hardware and GUI to steal any of their innovation thunder.

Innovation is of course all about value, and so any true innovation will not only excel at Value Creation, but the creators will also have put a lot of effort into Value Access AND Value Translation. Follow the link for more on my value innovation framework.

So, if you link my value innovation framework together with my definition of innovation and work to satisfy the conditions of both, you’ll see it doesn’t really matter what the competition does as long as you focus on creating value in all three areas and launching a solution truly valued above every existing alternative (including copycats, clones, or pre-emptive launches), you can still have a wildly successful launch.

So, keep innovating!


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