Guerilla Product Placement
I’ve been thinking about product placement ever since I saw “Transformers” a few months ago. I loved the way they took product placement to the next level.
I mean, sure, they had plenty of traditional product placement, like the actors using this product or that. But the main gimmick, of course, was the use of General Motors vehicles for the ‘good guy’ Transformers.
Sphere: Related ContentRadiohead’s Publicity Stunt - Innovation or Deception?
This month’s Wired Magazine features a David Byrne interview with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke to discuss Radiohead’s wildly successful ‘free’ downloading stunt.
Since others insist on keeping this topic fresh, I’ll continue providing the counterpoint. Is Radiohead responsible for innovating the music industry business model, or merely deceiving gullible fans?
Sphere: Related Content7 Christmas Gift Ideas For Your Favorite Innovator
Software, games and books - here’s seven ideal gifts for the innovator on your shopping lists.
Making Money By Giving Stuff Away For Free
Have you ever considered what you can get for practically free today that you used to pay a lot of money for?
- Computer Performance
- Long Distance Telephone Calls
- Computer Storage
- Bandwidth
- Music
- Web Server Space
- Domain Names
What’s been the impact of the value of these commodities becoming almost “too cheap to meter?” It’s opened up opportunities in other areas, to sell new services and innovate new business models. And it’s taken innovation out of the hands of invisible ‘gatekeepers’ and into the hands of the people.
Sphere: Related ContentTry Out IBM’s Innovation Assessment Tool
I found this cool innovation self-diagnostic at the IBM website that lets you assess your company’s innovation level against the results of their Global CEO Study 2006. It’s a nice strategic innovation tool that gives goals and objectives for instituting an effective innovation program in your company.
Sphere: Related ContentDo You Know If You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?
Do you produce the best solutions possible?
How do you solve an easy problem? Probably, based on your experience, the solution comes quickly. You solve it easily because of what you know.
What happens, though, when you’re confronted with a problem outside of your experience? Chances are, you know SOME of the right stuff, but you don’t know enough to solve it. So you find out what you don’t know - you research things, or consult others.
But your solution is only as good as the knowledge you acquire. If the knowledge is adequate, so will be your solution. But if it isn’t, your solution may come up short.
You know what you know.
Sometimes, you know what you DON’T know.
But other times, you DON’T know what you don’t know. Hard to follow, eh? But essentially true.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Greatest Buzz Marketing Ploy Ever
In the blogosphere we think of successful buzz/viral marketing as a post that generates a lot of hits or Diggs. I’d like to turn the tables a bit and discuss what I consider the most successful buzz marketing ploy ever as measured by another criterium - how much money it made.
The buzz marketing ploy in question is, of course, the horror film called Blair Witch Project.
Sphere: Related Content7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
Table of contents for 7 Levels Of Change
- The 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 2 of 9) - Level 1: Effectiveness
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 3 of 9) - Level 2: Efficiency
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 4 of 9) - Level 3: Improving
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 5 of 9) - Level 4: Cutting
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 7 of 9) - Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 8 of 9) - Level 7: Doing Things That Can’t Be Done
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
The last in a nine-part series on Rolf Smith’s 7 Levels of Change, I bring everything together and discuss how to put the 7 Levels to work.
Sphere: Related ContentHas Solar Energy Finally Turned The Corner?
The key to making a disruptive solar energy product is to overcome the high cost of the initial installation. Popular Science has awarded its Innovation of the Year award to a company who may well do that starting next year - Nanosolar. Let’s see if they can truly be disruptive.
Sphere: Related ContentUnder Armour: Branding Juggernaut Pushes Customer Experience
Over the past few years Under Armour has built an amazingly successful brand via their awesome sports-based ad campaigns. Now they’re moving into a new business area - retailing. And in doing so they are trying to master yet another form of innovation: customer experience.
