Choose your name wisely

There are all kinds of stories about products and services, ill-fated because of poorly chosen names... the Nova in Mexico ("no go") comes to mind.

Choosing a good product or service name demands a lot of foresight... business owners, brand managers, etc need to think years ahead (not just imagining pcatchy roduct launches). Case in point, my local auto repair shop. It's named "Mark's Japanese Auto". I drive a Honda, and bring it there for service - they do a great job. Cruising by the shop today, there was a big sign out front: "Now Servicing all European Cars!" Now, if I drove a BMW, VW, etc would I be inclined to bring it to a place with a name that screams Japanese Auto? In the Yellow Pages, White Pages, etc the business will be saddled by the "Japanese Auto" name and so it will be difficult to expand into the European car market.

Innovation demands new product and service names. The lesson here is to think about how your business will change as it grows. If you want to own a niche, then claim it with your name. If rather, you imagine future expansion, build some flexibility into your name.

Other examples of well-named or poorly-named businesses and products?

A very unique book pitch

(Scott) This is far and away the most interesting book pitch I have seen in a long time. Do check it out... it's an engaging little story: http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/

Re-discover the old

The other day, while spending some time on his tummy, my 3-month old son discovered his hand for the first time. He was transfixed. He must have stared at it for 5 minutes before he rolled over, discovered our skylight, and was again transfixed for minutes.

In my own day-to-day routine, I never stop to marvel stuff. I take the world around me for granted because I've "already seen it". Rather, I think if I stopped to re-discover my hand, our skylight, my raisin bran, I'd be more inspired and would generate more ideas.

It reminded me of a session I once attended with Jon Pearson http://www.createlearning.com a creative facilitator who described in great detail all kinds of amazing, everyday visuals. "Have you ever seen the inside of a dog's ear? I mean, REALLY seen it? It's crazy. It's a bloody labyrinth in there..." and from there he went on and on. I realized I had never REALLY looked inside a dog's ear. But more importantly, I realized I had never REALLY looked at all kinds of things.

So, today I encourage you to re-discover some oridinary object. See what you find.

Innovation Networks

(Adam) I have recently being asked by a client about innovation networks, particularly for knowledge sharing within organisations. I have put some of my response below but would be interested in your thoughts on this:

1. There are no formal innovation networks, currently sharing takes place through informal networks such as this one, or through the conference circuit - e.g. PSFK, centaur etc.

2. The conference circuit has many drawbacks in terms of you can rarely influence what you are hearing and it is not neccesarily the people who are working on innovation projects every day who are given the talks.

3. In order to create an innovation network you have to be able to offer something in return. Especially if you are looking to involve your peers in other companies, this cannot just be a one way sharing of information for the gain of your organisation. If you want to learn you have to be willing to share.

4. If you want to build a network you need to look closely at different methods of staying in touch e.g. meetings, workshops, conference are extremely time consuming, where as innovation blogs are easier to maintain. However the willingness of people to share information via a blog is often limited particularly as it is open to the world or even in a closed blog a network of people over whom you have no real control.

5. In terms of keeping up with what is going on in the world of innovation this requires dedication and looking at sites such as http://endlessinnovation.typepad.com/ but again the information can be variable.

I would be interested in your thoughts on:

- do you know of any innovation networks?
- how do your companies network with outside organisations?
- what would you want from a network for it to be worth taking part?
- any ideas on how to create a network?
- how do you keep up to date with what is going on in the world of innovation?
- any market innovation surveillance or monitoring services that you are aware of?

Innovation everywhere

Following on from Scott's last post, I keep finding out that everyone works in innovation. Last weekend I was at a first aid for babies class and someone asked me what I did. When I told him, he said he also worked in innovation - for oil tankers. He's just been appointed the job, and it's his business to innovate around new business models. Right now they are a big company that hires out oil tankers. He needs to innovate new ways of making money. Now how's that for a huge, slow, difficult to challenge business issue?

It makes sense - the world is changing so fast, and everyone needs to seriously look at defining who they are and what they do. Look at Tesco (like Walmart but in the UK). They could have defined themselves as a supermarket and worked out how to sell more detergents and cereals. Instead they've defined themselves as a database (I'm guessing by the way, I've not worked for them or anything).

They have access to all my key information (because I have a loyalty card) they know when I was pregnant, when I had the baby, when I have a headache, when my daughter started walking, even when I lose and gain weight (through the clothes I buy). Depending on how they want to use their data, they can know everything about me. And right now Tesco does catalogues of garden furniture, car insurance, bank loans, dvds, electronics, even a dieting website. All because they're a database, not a supermarket.

So - any ideas for my friend and his oil tankers? What would you innovate if that was your job?

Pam