Influx

Edleman has just released its latest Trust Barometer and it makes for an interesting read as trust levels in business and government seem to be in decline worldwide. The only improving sector appears to be media. Looking forward to the future, Edelman’s report indicates that business needs to...

Bain makes a great observation in its new report- The Great Eight- Trillion Dollar Growth Trends to 2020- that there’s an opportunity to make already good things, even better. It’s a reflection of the increasing wealth of the marketplace and the desire for these consumers to have fresh...

Take a read of Paul Donovan’s post on FT’s Alphaville and he will introduce you to a new concept- The “Environmental Credit Crunch”- which defines a new world of scarce resources and significant constraint. While most economies are no strangers to rising prices and the...

Quentin Hardy over at Forbes has a very good piece on Google- where he looks to the company for the new rules of innovation. Here are some of the key points I took away from the piece. 1. It’s very tough to plan ahead For a company with so much intelligence, on the surface it comes as a...

Tom Kelley of IDEO speaking at Nielsen’s 360 Conference explained what he believes are the factors behind successful innovation. Aside from business and technology- the major influences are being able to understand people by continuous observation- everyone needs to become an anthropologist...

It was great to be one of the 180 people that got to participate in the Planningness event in Minneapolis last week. Mark Lewis and Claire Grinton, yet again, showed us how to put on an event that combines raw ingredients with the opportunity to turn those ingredients into something useful. The...

Ben Hammersley of Wired UK talking at the LIFT conference about  how the internet has changed as is changing and transforming the concept of hierarchies. He explains how we are ruled and governed by meaningless structures and rule sets and why for global and business leaders, the shift away...

The latest data from Edelman's Trust Barometer makes for a compelling read. As the chart above illustrates; banking seems to be suffering something of a trust crisis, while technology and automotive appear to be doing much better.It's clear that banking needs to follow more in the footsteps of...

Innovation is a much used word, but when it comes to the giant corporations who manage power brands, it's become ingrained into their work practices and drives much of what they do. Unilever is a great example of a company who pays a lot of attention to innovation and not just lip...

While there have been a few promising innovators in the field of financial services, like Mint and some peer to peer lenders, nothing has really shaken the industry out of its lethargy and done something to meet the real needs of consumers.BankSimple could be about to change that. Instead of trying...

Innovation is often presented as a radical and demanding discipline that requires men in designer glasses to bring the required creativity.Everyone knows that change on a large scale is often incredibly complex and that the systems through which change happens, are often highly innovative. In the...

At a time when product performance now trumps marketing spin, Unilever's Chairman is looking for more product innovation from the giant multinational. According to an interview in the Times of London. "Michael Treschow thinks there is not enough “wow” at Unilever. The Swedish chairman...

Nike is a brand that was built on the back of raw emotion of sports, but is it about to change? Are product performance and technological innovation going to be the drivers from now on? Take a look at the amazing exhibition the brand is putting on in Beijing that celebrates the 100 most important...

It's somewhat surprising with all the creative and strategic people employed by ad agencies, how poor the industry is at innovating.It's something we seem to demand from our clients, but are terrible at doing ourselves. Most of the energies are focused on short-term brand ideas, not new platforms,...

Most brewers focus their innovation around new taste, flavor and lightness profiles.They focus on the beer itself, Heineken has done the same, but it's also created some interesting innovation in packaging and product delivery; the keg can and the draught keg are two breakthrough ideas. In March of...