Deconstructed Ideas

My summer school students from Armenia, Croatia, France, Turkey, Mexico, Portugal, and the Ukraine will soon be on their own personal journey to explore how they have and will come up with ideas.  We have been working on breaking down the idea process before and after.  I will also prepare a graded exercise for them to complete an idea journal.  They will create little diaries along with images, articles and event objects that trigger ideas to create businesses.  

One of the techniques they will look at is reverse brainstorming. This is very popular as it results in very humorous results.  The students all know the technique for brainstorming which they generate possible solutions to address an issue in a group setting.  However, sometimes there is a pressure to sound smart in front of ones peers by generating the best ideas.  The result is less ideas to choose from at the end of the process or even more predictable ideas.  The fun enters when there is no pressure to come up with a good idea but instead the facilitator encourages the worst possible ideas which ends up in outrageous and unpredictable results.  In the end, sometimes the "bad" ideas are actually good ideas that just need tweaking and in other cases "the bad" idea can be reversed into the opposite which results in a good idea.  Regardless, in my experience these upside down exercises in reverse brainstorming are very productive and enjoyable for all.

In light of that this spirit, I offer up some "bad" combinations that are seemingly opportunities for a few brave entrerpeneurs to turn into real enterprises.  When one thinks of restaurants and operations, its not unlikely that properly functioning toilets would be on the list but the way in which some have combined restaurants and toilets may surprise you as it did me.  Check out this medley:

A Medley of "Shitty" Ideas Toilets and Restaurants

Here is a rundown of 2 restaurants with Toilet Themes and 2 restaurants running in former public restrooms:

The House of Poo in Beijing, China

The Modern Toilet in Taipei, Taiwan

The Attendant in London, England

Cafe on the Square in Bristol, England

Customer Associations with Department Stores and Juice Brands

In class last week, we had two guests who are researching topics related to CRM. The first, Lucija Mihaljevic wanted to gain insights from you on department stores. She walked the students through a discussion on expectations related buying and shopping experiences in a department store vs. a shopping mall. The second, Ozana Marija Cicak was interested in your preferences related to non alcoholic beverages in particular juices. She posed questions about juice products, prices, place, packages and promotions. The students were then asked to provide a link to a department store from their country/region/town and three words to describe it. Many also opted to put a link to a juice brand website and also three words to describe it. The results are compiled her in various collages.

In Contrast here are the results of Three Words to Describe Favorite Juice Brands, 33 Students also sorted into a wordle

Customer Relationship Management 1 of 101

Customer Relationship Management

3 words when they come together bring almost endless interpretations. I always begin the first day of CRM class addressing just the first word and do an open discussion asking the class to be a live thesaurus for substitutions of the word "customer". This word game is an effective way to get them to avoid underestimating the fundamental terminology and their responsibility in shaping the course. These early perspectives help me understand the contexts in which they frame customer scenarios and then allow me to customize the course helping them focus on customer types that they embody as well as those they may have to manage in their current or future careers. The orientation towards the word customer, atleast in yesterday's session, came from culture and country of origin with language aiding or inhibiting responses as well as customers in relations to the places they are acquire products or services. Students are themselves customers of the college they attend; their parents if a funding source are also customers of the education but not the users. In this view the students can recognize that they will need to rethink casual associations with the word "customer" and become more alert to variations that would then impact the level of service delivered and received in customer transactions. Here is the start of the "customer alphabet" and their explanations:

Audience...like a group who watches or listens to a performance,live or pre-recorded Addict...like someone who is driven to habitually crave and consume Beneficiary...like someone who is a recipient of a benefit Buyer...like fashion buyers or other retailers in a B2B exchange with a wholesaler Consumer...like in mass consumerism across a multitude of channels Delegate...like someone attending a conference and representing a larger group Employee...like the internal customer of a company Fan...like a supporter of a sports team, celebrity or Facebook page Follower...like of a cult or a Twitter personality, person, entity or cause Guest...like those staying in some form of accomodations and especially emphasized by Disney Hackers...like computer experts who spend alot of time online Investor...like someone who buys into a new business venture John...like someone who uses the services of "massage parlor" King...like male head of household Lovers...like someone whose passion goes beyond simply liking some brand or other object of affection Member...like someone who belongs to a group with similar lifestyles Niche...like an emerging subset of consumers with special characteristics Order...like someone who places an order to buy via phone, fax, mail,email, sms,etc. Patient...like someone who requires health care Queen...like female head of household Reader...like those who consume texts in the form of articles, books, magazines, research and similar Shopper...like someone who makes an effort to seek and find items to purchase Subscriber...like those who repeat purchase patterns monthly or yearly to tv, magazines or other forms of entertainment Tourist...like those who travel for pleasure Unknown...like those who have yet to discover or be discovered Undesirables...like those people who are using a brand and the brand would prefer not to be associated with that profile of customer (This one needs an example, Abercrombie&Fitch vs. The Situation(of Jersey Shore infamy) Vendee...like someone who makes a purchase through a vending machine Win back...like a customer who used to purchase from company, left for a competitor and then cameback again X...like an anonymous consumer Yearner...like those with an ambition for something, a drive, a striver Zealot...like an extreme enthusiast or advocate

Have any others to add? Suggest additions and substitions in the comments.

Lemonade...the before and after business models

When my students come up with an idea, sometimes they are so passionate about it that they are blinded to the possibilities of just playing with the business model. Inspired by the good, old lemonade stand as a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit of neighborhood kids, I played a bit with the looking at humble lemonade along the lines of reducing it to its core and imaging added value from raw materials through products, services and experiences. Surely this is not comprehensive but representative of what could be done with a simple idea if would be entrepreneurs are willing to step back and take a look at what value they want to create for their customers (c2c or b2b and the in-betweens)along a spectrum of possibilities.

update: 18 July 2013

45 uses for lemons...

Plane not Plain: Random Input in-flight

My plane rides give me the time to indulge in some easy reading fare. The free newspapers handed out and the onboard magazines offer some random input to break up my daily routines. Here are some news bites that caught my attention: From the Wall Street Journal: Pumpkin Pie Wars in Cincinnati, Ohio Usually its David vs. Goliath stories in small towns which have you rooting for the small guy but in Ohio its taking the hi(gh)larity route. Two rivals have started a humorous mock fight over pumpkin pies. This story is appealing as their seems to be no looser. They are using the rivalry to increase sales for both because customers are entertained with the ongoing exchange of banter and pranks as well as the seasonal, well crafed hometown, home cooked, all-american fare. For more, visit the original story online by Caroline Porter, Nov 7, 2012: In Your Face: In Cincinnati, a Pie War Heats Up

From Kaleidoscope - Lot Airlines in-flight magazine Recycling goes to New Heights with Sustainable Design in Focus The on-trend idea of upcycling takes on new dimensions when inspiring designers in this article by Agnieszka Rodowicz, Taste of Luxury feature - The second life of things like those by TING London; Dutch Designer Tejo Remy; and Michelle Brand with her environmental design that utilizes overlooked plastic bottles for inspiration and creative expression.

Learn Twitter through Data Visualization

While Twitter is in widespread use across the USA, its just gaining speed in other parts of the world. wefollow.com reports that Croatia's most followed list includes in the top spot "vbahun" with over 53,000 followers in the number 1 spot and but rounding out the top 50 is "dinanipedro" with just over 1,800 followers. If you want to simply figure out how it works and if its right for you to let people know the answer to "what are you doing" then for your viewing pleasure, enjoy this infographic.

Visit the originalsource at http://twiends.com/how-to-twitter

Learn about business intelligence tools.

8 Sites to Eye - Doodles and such

I love to collage so I will begin my series on blogging using my 8 Sites to Eye where I collect 8 websites on one topic.  My first is for all those notebook artists, who draw to think, imagine, dream and turn into Doodle imagineers.