Blogs

The Financial Times featured an article last week calling the patent system the curse of innovation.  Patents have become weapons of mass destruction in certain industries, most recently in the smartphone category. read more

Commercials that show the benefits of using the product are likely to be ignored because consumers expect it.  The message becomes cliche. read more

How do you attract new customers while retaining current ones?  For many categories, you attract new customers by showing high satisfaction with current customers. read more

Making innovation sustainable means: 1. learning how to innovate, 2. getting results from innovation workshops, and 3. building the internal support systems to keep it going. read more

Yahoo's recent patent filings suggest it is entering the e-Book market, a move that will pit it against Amazon, Apple, and other content providers. read more

Measuring innovation can lead to unintended consequences.  Here are eight ways to avoid the traps. 1. Measure innovation alternatives, not just the current program. read more

Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation by Dr. James Utterback is an innovation classic.  It describes how technologies and industries in the past have evolved over time, usually resulting in the large, established firm losing out to the smaller startups. read more

Hewlett Packard's announcement that it's combining its PC and printer divisions is meeting skepticism.  Larry Dignan, editor-in-chief of ZDNet, had this to say: "Hewlett-Packard says it's combining its printer and PC divisions partially because the move will drive "innovation across personal computing and printing. read more

The Unification Tool is a tricky but effective advertising tool. Unification recruits an existing resource and forces it to carry the advertising message. read more

Creating new ideas is the first step to innovation, but it is not enough these days.  Marketers need to generate excitement and support for their new opportunity. read more