How Green Is Your Marketing? One of the biggest cultural trends driving innovation today is the Green movement. Spurred on by Al Gore’s famous PowerPoint presentation as well as rising petrochemical prices, more and more consumers are demanding products that are less taxing on the environment
and more energy-efficient. The latest issue of “Deliver” magazine focuses on eco-friendly marketing, with the editors provocatively asking, “Do you want to be ahead of the curve—or behind it?” (FYI: no trees were harmed in the publishing of this newsletter.)
But, Really, Who’s Cuter? What separates man from monkey? More than just a winning way with neckwear, apparently. In a new study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, human babies were tested on “social learning” tasks alongside chimps and orangutans. The findings show that humans are smarter in key ways—especially collaborative learning and symbolic representation—that give them an edge over apes when it comes to building, like, societies and stuff.
Innovation, The David Lynch Way. From “Eraserhead” to “Twin Peaks” to “Inland Empire,” David Lynch has proven himself to be one of the most innovative film directors of all time. How does he maintain his creativity, coming up with those plots within plots, the haunting dream figures, the unresolved questions that stay with you long after the film has ended? In part through the practice of Transcendental Meditation. “Meditation is to go within, transcend, and experience pure consciousness,” he tells “BusinessWeek.” “You come out refreshed, wide awake, and energetic. It's easier to focus, and it's a more intense focus.”
What? No sliced bread? What’s the greatest innovation of all time? According to planners at the Doblin Inc., a Chicago-based consulting firm specializing in effective innovation, it’s not the iPhone, YouTube, or even the proverbial loaf of sliced bread. Important innovations are those that “materially improve safety, standard of living, quality of life, and longevity,” says Doblin President Larry Keeley. The top 3 (out of 15)? Weapons, mathematics and the number zero, and money.
Measuring Innovation with Mathematics and the Number Zero. Innovation drives investment, but how exactly does one measure such an abstract concept and its potential impact on the economy? That’s what the U.S. Commerce Dept. seeks to answer. The department posted a Federal Register notice requesting public comment on potential measurements
for innovation. “Innovation is a driver of our economy, and we need to help policymakers and the business community better measure innovation for the purpose of developing appropriate public policy," states Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Click on "Read More" to review submitted comments.
Putting the Music Back in the Music Industry. If there’s any industry in need of innovation, it’s the music industry. Album sales are down by 30% compared to last year’s top-selling albums, and the old means of marketing and distribution—radio, retail stores, MTV—are no longer as relevant, thanks, in part, to the game-changing
effects of the Internet. Columbia records recently tapped music guru Rick Rubin, the producer behind chart-topping albums by artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dixie Chicks, to help turn the ship around and put the focus back on great music as well as design a new business
model. “Luckily,
fear is making the record companies less arrogant,” Rubin tells “The New York Times.” “They're more open to ideas. So, what's important now is to find music that's timeless. I still believe that if an artist gains the belief of the listener, then anything is possible.”
From Innovation Fuzz-Words to Creative Clarity.
Heads nod as acronyms and innovation lingo fly in meeting rooms around the globe. And afterwards, in the hallways outside those meeting rooms, hushed whispers query, “What exactly is a Stage 2 pre-IHUT CLT?”
Innovation, The David Lynch Way.
From “Eraserhead” to “Twin Peaks” to “Inland Empire,” David Lynch has proven himself to be one of the most innovative film directors of all time.
