chrisbrogan.com» innovation

Custom Is Everything- Do You Agree

ceb — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:02:35 +0000

One of the areas where social media will excel is in the opportunity to make things our own, to give them our own look and feel. Remember when you got your first personal computer? Remember changing the background picture? Remember when you could change the theme? The world is pushing further and further into a desire for customization, and I think social media gives us a chance at custom communication/interaction.

The photo above are Disney’s Vinylmation toys (note: Hanes brought me to Walt Disney World for an event, but I wasn’t paid by Hanes or Disney for any of my thoughts on their workings or properties). I thought the toys were really clever, but then I found the do-it-yourself ones. Those really caught my eye. Because once you see what others had created, your next thought (or mine, at least) was, “well, what could I do to make it look different?”

Social media allows us to customize our communication. I can talk directly to Jon Swanson, and not to preachers. I can have conversations with Glenda Watson Hyatt and not just people interested in accessibility. That means, if interested, I can talk specifically about things that matter to them, and not to crowds.

Custom is everything.

Look at these flowers. The Disney Imagineers made them for the Hanes event:

They’re made out of socks. First, it’s cool because they look like flowers. Second, it looks like a fun craft you could do with kids. Third, it’s something that didn’t have to be there. And yet, because it was, the dinner looked custom to the rest of the Hanes Comfort Crew and me. Disney SAW us. They knew we were there.

Custom is everything. Do you agree?

Innovation and Midwest Values – Kitchen Table Talks

ceb — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:03:00 +0000

In this episode of Kitchen Table Talks, I had the pleasure of sitting down at a kitchen table with Rick Mahn from the beautiful lands of Minneapolis. We talked about innovation and midwest values, and how sometimes, you’ve gotta crow loud to be heard.

If you can’t see the video, click here

Direct link to the video

More Fun Than Talking About Insurance

ceb — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:30:44 +0000

Imagine getting invited to visit an insurance company’s headquarters. Woooo! Will there be popcorn? Now, imagine that the folks inviting you also very kindly hosted your Inbound Marketing Bootcamp (including providing seating for over 100 folks, breakfast, break snacks, lunch, and afternoon snacks). Well, of course you’re going to say yes, because they’ve just made the gesture that you’re of value to them, so it’s good to be polite. (No, they are not a client, but man, I will do my damnedest to change that, as I dig what they’re doing.)

Visiting Humana in Louisville, Kentucky, was a treat through and through. Greg Matthews, Director of something-or-other at the Humana Innovation Center (and his colleague Christopher Hall) blew me away within minutes of entering their sanctum. Let’s start with the fishbowl, we hear.

The fishbowl turns out to be a multi-user visualization of a group of people’s pedometer steps. The fish moving faster than others and higher up in the water have more peds (footsteps) than the fish lower in the tank. The goal every day is to have your fish swimming high and fast. What makes the game fun is that you can identify who in the office is assigned to which fish, and really compete (in friendly ways) towards a health-forward goal.

“We’re not interested in solving sickness problems. We want to work on promoting health,” said Matthews. He said this in lots of variant ways for the duration of our visit. They are really into figuring out ways to make getting and staying healthy more interesting. **Update: Okay, other folks there work on those kinds of things like helping sick people, but that’s not the focus of this particular group.**

You’ve gotta check this out.

A bike. Big deal, right? What if Humana teamed with Trek bicycles to build the ZipCar for bicycles? That’s what B-Cycle is. It’s a bike-sharing program that they launched. They tried it out at the US Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention with great fanfare (Greg has the numbers; I don’t retain such data well), and again, it’s about bike-sharing which will promote health.

We tried out several other innovative products in various modes of testing and development. There were Nintendo Wii games that did more for fitness, this kind of “Simon Says go do ____” game that used a watch-like fob to know which person beat the other person in an impromptu race. In sum, everything that Greg Matthews and all the other folks at the Humana Innovation Center is doing has something to do with productizing better wellness. Why? Maybe because it’s more interesting than waiting for people to get sick and then fixing them.

What’s interesting to think about are the other ways an insurance company might empower wellness. Remember the 90s? A newsletter that told you to eat more cranberries might pass as proactive. Now? If we’re to take what Humana’s Innovation Center is doing seriously, it looks like the way to make us all more healthy is to help us have fun doing it. Yep: serious fun. Sound familiar, Jeff?

Good on you, Humana people.

What do you think? You ready for healthy + insurance company to = fun ?

Dell Goes Niche with Ideastorm for Healthcare

ceb — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:49:31 +0000

In the “you’ve gotta take a look at this department,” check out Ideastorm for Healthcare from DELL. Their original Ideastorm project was about giving voice to a community to better improve Dell products and services. Ideastorm for Healthcare gives a specific community a place to come and talk about things from their perspective.

Take note of this idea. They’ve given voice to a segment of their community that matters to them. It’s obviously the sign of things to come, and not a bad way to show that you’re listening. It’s also great for your product marketing teams as well as better customer service.

It’s a win, provided your community rushes in to respond and do their part. Remember, it’s not exactly sexy for customers to talk about you and your product unless they come away with the feeling that they’re being equipped for further success. Meaning, people love when you listen by giving them exactly the product they want/need/crave.

Tricky, eh?

Watch this space. I look forward to seeing what Dell reports about this, and glad that the gang are still delivering innovations in the space of social tools for human interaction. Now, the interesting question is, “what comes next?”

Authority Ownership and Mechanics

ceb — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:34:35 +0000

Three things change the way we’re using these tools for social media: authority, ownership, and mechanics. These are three of the five sources of a revolution, as stated by Moshe Yudkowsky in a podcast I heard recently. In the case of my point, let’s say that authority is answering “who has the ability to change things?” Ownership means “who owns what we create?” Mechanics is “how do we put it all together?” If you look at what matters to us in this age of making social media, using the web our way, and sharing information, I believe these are the three forces in play.

So now, the question becomes: how do you, as a professional, as a business, as someone with a product or service, contemplate those forces on YOUR ideas, products, services, deliverables? Are YOU the sole author of your efforts? Do YOU own the intellectual property, or have you open sourced it? Who can tinker with how it is used / displayed / consumed?

It’s easy to think about these things when we’re talking about someone else: “Record industry: let music be free,” but does it become a bit more difficult when you consider YOU and your relationship to these ideas?

Authority, ownership, mechanics. How do these forces impact what you’re doing?

Inspired by a presentation given by Moshe Yudkowsky about Revolutionary Telephony

Photo credit, ul_Marga

The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.

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