Influx

It sounds obscure, but the announcement of a collaborative venture involving Arnell and Home Depot seemed pretty different. A communications company creating an innovation lab with one of the world’s largest retailers is not something you hear about everyday.

“ORANGE WORKS will tap global innovations and best practices to bring innovative new products to market across specific “mega-trend” categories, including home safety, aging in place, outdoor living, smart home technology, efficient use of time and space, and eco-friendly products. The multidimensional ORANGE WORKS team will take products from conception to presentation at retail in a holistic program that is thoroughly orchestrated from idea to shelf.”

It looks as if the first projects include a designer fire extinguisher an easy-to-use storage system.

This initiative seems smart; it’s very product focused, actionable and accountable with clear revenue generating potential.

Influx has a couple of questions

1. Why this happening? -Is it because Home Depot lacks the internal resources for product innovation?

2. What exactly is Arnell bringing to the party, is it a conductor and manager or is it designing the products?

Anyone with more info is welcome to comment.