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8 Things You Don't Know About Katie Konrath

I've been trying to stay away from too many memes, but they're starting to catch up with me.  Last week, Daniel over at Idea Sellers tagged me for the 8 Things You Don't Know About Me meme--which I probably should fill out since he's not the first one to throw it at me.  Becky Carroll also tagged me a little over a month ago!

But I'm on vacation right now, so it's a good opportunity to have a little fun.

So, here goes

1. Last year, I helped train a polo pony!

When I was studying in Malta, I wanted to ride horses, but didn't have a lot of money.  So, I helped a polo stable before and during polo matches, and in return they let me ride for free.

I rode a former racehorse who was being trained for polo, but was still a little jumpy during games.  So, after she learned to trust me, the owner sent me out on the polo field on her to try hitting the ball around.  I was SO bad I almost clocked her in the head several times, and came back terrified that I was going to hurt their horse!

But the owner told me that it was a good thing--Poppy needed to get used to ''maniacs swinging polo sticks by her head!'' and since Poppy trusted me, she wouldn't freak out if I was the maniac!

2. I'm a "Greek geek".

My favorite book is Homer's Iliad--which I read for the first time when I was 12.  I studied ancient Greek in college just so I could read the Iliad in its original version.

When I was younger, my mom took me to Europe for a birthday present and I insisted on traveling to Turkey just to visit the ruins of Troy.  It is still one of my favorite vacations!

3. I have ARD (addictive reading disorder).

I absolutely LOVE to read, and would do it all day if I had the time.  When I was younger, I used to sneak my mom's books when she was working and read them in secret.  As a 3rd grader, I made it through half of Clan of the Cave Bear before she found out!

Today I try to limit myself to essentals (books on business, creativity, Harry Potter, etc), but I still read way too many blogs.

4. Horror movies terrify me!

I can't watch horror movies because I jump at every noise for weeks afterwards!  Jaws made me jump a foot out of the water everytime a tiny sunfish nibbled on me (in the freshwater lakes of northern MN no less!).  Scream caused me to freak out everytime I heard a strange noise in the house at night.

Now, I refuse to watch scary movies because I get too jumpy afterwards.

5. I'm a good swimmer because I used to be really bad!

When I was 7 years old, I failed swimming lessons three times because I couldn't do the breaststroke whip kick.  Since the teachers thought it would be humiliating for me to repeat the exact same course again, they told my parents to put me on the swim team.

I ended up being a competitive swimmer for 12 years.

6. For a side job, I help people with their Typepad blogs.

To make enough money to survive while I'm a student, I've been helping independent professionals set-up Typepad blogs.  It's interesting, and I enjoy making it easier for busy people to start blogging.

So, if you have questions about Typepad, or want to spruce things up a bit on your blog, send me an email! :-)

7. I tried to do guerrilla-marketing for Pepsi, but they weren't interested.

Back in 2003, my creative problem-solving team didn't have enough money to go to Global Finals, so I wrote to Pepsi's vice president of marketing and proposed a guerrilla-marketing venture.  They would pay for our trip, and we would be their marketing arm on the ground.  Unfortunately, they weren't interested.

Incidentally, our team won our division and was called in front of 14,000 competitors to accept our trophy.  Pepsi missed out on a lot of visibility!

8. I'm having the time of my life in Europe.

Over the last year, I've visited 7 European capital cities:  Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and Valletta and Malta).  I've also lived in England, Malta and Germany.

Right now, I'm on a tour of Germany.  In the last week, I've been to Koblenz, Frankfurt, Munich and Füssen.  Tonight, I'm just across the border in Switzerland!

And that's 8 Things You Didn't Know About Me!  Don't worry, I'll be back to creativity soon!

 

What products drive you insane and how could they be improved?

Innovations that make the news are always the big, exciting, world-changing things, but it's still worth it to keep an eye out for smaller opportunities.

Sometimes, opportunities can be found in frustrating everyday situations...

For example, I'm an ice-cube tray destroyer.  I snap them in half, I break the ice cube slots, I sometimes want to throw them across the room in despair.

I've found that it's extraordinarily difficult to get those tiny little cubes out of a hard tray.

Luckily, it looks like Ikea has been listening!

They sell flexible ice cube trays in fun shapes.  Of course, it's fun to have heart or arrow-shaped ice cubes, but the more important thing is that I can finally get the ice out of the tray!

It's a really small innovation, but it solves a problem that drove me insane.  And I'll definitely never buy one of those frustrating hard ice trays ever again!

Coming up with a new product or service doesn't have to be about changing the world.  Sometimes all it takes is to make life a little easier for customers!

Which way are you looking?

Coming up with creative ideas isn't easy for anyone, but forward-looking people have a much easier time!

An article today in United Press International talks about how CEOs can help their companies be more innovative just by focusing on the future:

Companies whose chief executives speak about future events and external activities innovate more than those whose chiefs don't, a U.S. university study says.

“By simply counting the number of future-oriented sentences in annual reports we can predict future innovation by the firm,” said marketing Professor Rajesh Chandy of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

CEOs who focus their attention on future events and external activities lead their firms to early adoption and invention of new technologies and greater and faster development of innovations, said Chandy, whose study appears in the next issue of the Journal of Marketing.

In contrast, firms whose CEOs focus on internal operations are slower to detect, adopt and implement new technologies, Chandy’s study found. Words, not just actions, of the CEO set the tone to inspire, propel and motivate employee innovation, he said....

This actually makes a lot of sense!  Why?

When someone focuses on getting things done in the current system, they're reinforcing that system in their minds.  Plus, they spend all their time looking at the same situations over and over again.

Focusing on the present is easy because there are no unknowns.

Talking about the future does one thing that makes innovation easier: it opens the mind up to new possibilities. 

The future, by it's very nature, is uncertain.  Prices could go down in a bidding war, a new competitor could emerge, or a new craze could sweep the nation.

It's like a big box of chocolates!  No one ever knows what they're going to get!

But this is a good thing for innovators. Planning for multiple futures, and imagining new possibilities is a great way to force the brain from its comfort zone.

Plus, setting future goals motivates companies to search for ways to realize those goals.

Whether that's inventing something new themselves, taking advantage of another new development, or being the first to see an emerging opportunity, people who are looking towards the future will see possibilities much quicker than people who concentrate on existing structures.

So, what do you do?  Are you focusing on the future, or are you consumed by your day-to-day operations?

Note: This does not imply that focusing on internal operations is bad--it's very necessary.  It's just important to know which focus is needed at each time.

What IS innovation?

Innovation... it's a word that's flying out of the mouths of CEOs right and left, and taking the business world by storm.  Everyone's searching for the next great one, and crossing their fingers that their next project will be it.

But what exactly IS innovation?

Last week, Jon, author of the new and fun-to-read Future Visions blog held a one-line survey asking readers to chime in with their definition of innovation. 

Results are up today, and they're really interesting.

So please jump over to the Future Visions blog, take a look, and share your thoughts there.  It'd definitely worth reading!

I've already chimed in with my comment.  Hope to see you there!

Why you should take nothing for granted!

This video is one of the most amazing things I've seen on YouTube. 

It's called the Battle of Kruger and was shot by tourists.  They're filming while a baby water buffalo is hunted by lions.  But, this video is amazing... because no one could have expected what happens.

Watch it!  Absolutely fascinating and a great reminder to expect the unexpected!

And thanks to Rohit of the Influential Marketing Blog for reminding me of this video, and sharing a little more of the history behind it!

The path to failed innovations

How much do companies consider their customers when they're coming up with new products and services?

One of the blogs I enjoy reading, by the idea factory Brainstore, recently brought up an article about how much of the innovation in Germany is done without the input of customers.

The article's in German, but Brainstore's co-founder and blogger Nadja helpfully translated a bit:

[The article says] that most companies in Germany are developing their innovation without listening or talking to customers first. Most companies highly underestimate the ability of consumers or B2B clients to participate in innovation, states the spokesman of the German Innovation Counsel, Axel Glanz.

My always-handy dictionary revealed that (loose translation):

...the people who are directly responsible for innovation in a company are often the furthest away from the market, especially in financial and automobile sectors... the consequences are obvious because more than 70% of innovations fail--costing companies oodles of money.

Brainstore is absolutely right in highlighting this, because 30% is a lousy success ratio.

Imagine if a factory had to discard 2 out of every 3 widgets they made.  Or if 33% were sufficient to pass a class at university.

In fact, .33 is only a good percentage in baseball--a sport where a small ball comes whizzing past at over 90 mph!

But this isn't only a problem in Germany...

Here are a couple stand-outs examples of innovations that were made without involving the customer at all.

The Amphibious Car
It's a two for one deal, screams the ad!  A car... and a boat!  An exciting idea, with James Bond potential--but not something that people wanted to buy for their everyday life.

In reality, it wasn't a great car, or a great boat.  Forget water-skiing and it was too small for just going out to float on the lake.

The Color Copy Machine
When 3M invented the color copy machine in 1972, they were really excited and thought it would be a smashing success.  Except that no one even used color printers in those days--so there was nothing to copy!  Whoops!

In fact, the color copy machine was dropped by 3M because it was such a miserable failure.  Xerox couldn't even find a market for it until the 1980s.

The Dinner-time Hair Holder
This beauty is just so special it had to make the list!  Great for date night!

It goes great with the umbrella-holder hat and the tissue dispenser hat for those days when allergies are rampant!  In fact, if you want to see some other priceless failed innovations from Japan, go here.

Innovation is absolutely essential to stand out in a crowded global marketplace--but it's also a frustratingly failure-prone process.

But many companies--like the ones profiled in the German article--never set themselves up for success.  A cool invention or flashy new product is worthless when no one actually wants to buy it!

How do you test the water?

Cultural Tip: Unlike in America, stores in Europe aren't open all the time! 

Sounds terrible, right?  No grocery shopping on Sunday evenings, no 24-7 Walgreens for picking up supplies in the middle of the night, and no way to buy that fabulous pair of jeans right before going out for the night.

Actually, it's only a tragedy for people like me who get a hankering to go shopping only late in the afternoon--typically only a very short time before the shops all close!

That's why I'm really excited about the shopping promotions that Bremen, Germany, is doing this summer.   

I think that they're testing the water to see if there is interest for longer opening hours.  But the way they're doing it is really fresh and smart!

Instead of just extending their opening hours quietly and hoping people will notice, Bremen decided to make a big splash. 

About once a month, all the stores in the city center throw a big event outside of their regular operating hours. In July, the stores stayed open on Friday until midnight.  Yesterday, the stores opened on Sunday for a couple hours.

There's music, samples, treats, and TONS of people. All the young people come out in force to shop, and the streets are completely packed.  A shopping bag on the arm is de rigueur and everyone wants to know what's inside and where it came from.

It's brilliant.

Here's why this promotion is so fresh:

• Not only are the stores finding out if people want longer opening hours, they're attracting traffic in droves because the whole trial is a big social event. 

• Sure the stores have to pay a couple employees for a few extra hours, but the stores are packed.  It's almost like Christmas season in there!

• It's way better than sales or discount coupons.  Not only are people coming in with the intention of buying, they're happily purchasing full-priced merchandise.

• It's a rare event, so it gets a lot of attention.  People talk about it on the internet, the radio stations bring it up, and the news is all over town.  Doesn't happen too often, so everyone talks about it when it does!

• It's a party!  It's fun, it's festive, and it's a ball to go shopping there with friends at night.  Even people who had their own parties that night dropped in on the fun.  (We counted 6 bachelorette parties!)
  

Of course, the stores of Bremen could have easily gone the boring route in testing out the water.

Perhaps a couple surveys, or perhaps a gradual lengthening of opening hours. You know, the normal stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention, but also doesn't have a lot of risk.

But luckily, the stores in Bremen decided to go a different route and do something much more exciting.  Kudos to them!

Ways to Improve Cars - Ideas from the Random Word Contest (Part 2)

Wine - Jacqueline Wolven

A nice bottle of wine is a good gift to bring to a party, but getting it there can be a problem.  There's nothing worse than a warm bottle of wine, after all!  When Jacqueline drew "wine" as her Random Word, she thought of the transportation issue.  Her idea, therefore, was a way to customize a car so that bottles can be kept at the optimal temperature en route.

As Jacqueline points out, this would be great for wine enthusiasts who love to buy their wine at wineries and also like to bring wine to events, parties, and restaurants.

As I'd like to point out, this leads to thinking about more personalized add-ons for cars.  A wine enthusiast could get their special trunk wine rack, or the golf-enthusiast could perhaps have a build-in ball storage.  Why shouldn't people be able to customize their cars to suit their hobbies?

Sail - Kes Sampanthar

Kes came up with a lot of ideas based on his Random Word.  (He has a lot of practice with creativity, he's the inventor of the ThinkCube!)  So, here goes. 

1. There is a lot of research into using renewable energy to power cars and reduce our dependency on gas. Designing cars with sails is an interesting way of using another renewable energy, the wind.
2. Solar sails are used for powering spacecrafts. This could create ‘sails’ for cars with a dual power source, both capturing wind and/or sun.  Normal fuel would only have to be used as a supplement, or on cloudy days.
3. Taking a slightly different angle by using ‘sail’ as a verb, Kes thought about smooth sailing. Cars could be put into a ‘sail mode’ where they use less fuel and move at a constant speed. This makes him think of creating lanes where cars go into auto-pilot and are guided by a rail. This would use far less fuel and stops a lot of traffic congestion. Less stressful and saves the environment.

Kes' ideas definitely bring a new meaning to the phrase "I sailed through traffic today!"

Tree - Michael Meyers-Jouan

Michael's word reminded him of a time in high school when he and his friends planted a tree in an old car.  (They were allegedly protesting the removal of trees for a new wing on the high school).

His idea is to put plant trees in cars.  Sound a little crazy? That's why I like it.  Think about it.

• It provides shade, so you don't need air conditioning.

• It also personalizes your car -- if you use a rare species of tree, you can spot your car ANYWHERE in the parking lot.

• If your car stalls in high water (we get a lot of flooded roads in New Jersey), you can climb the tree to stay above the water.

• If you choose a species that bears fruits or edible nuts, your car can supplement your food supply.

• If you take good care of the tree, your car's value goes up instead of down as it gets older (have you checked the prices for large trees at a nursery lately?).

Ok, ok.  It's not "practical" and would be a bit of a problem with low bridges... but still a fun idea.  So, how else could we get those same benefits?

Beer - Carolynn

Carolynn must have read the same old NY Times article about a beer spa in Southern Germany as I did, because when she drew "beer" she thought "bath!"

It's an interesting thought.  Would beer have any benefits in washing a car? I know Coca Cola is good for getting rid of rust.  What are the hidden benefits of beer?

And, if nothing else, it could be a unique fund-raiser for a college group, or a promotional event for a beer company!

Ravioli - Utkarsh

Utkarsh definitely came up with an idea I can relate to in the mornings! He suggested having a microwave in the car to heat up food en route.

I say, "why stop there?" Why not come up with an in-car food heater to be able to warm up a variety of food. 

That would be great for people who rush out of the house in the mornings, would keep take-out warm on the ride home, could be a way to start heating up dinner on the way home for busy parents, or it could be a big money-saver on a long car-trip.

Yes, there are a lot of reasons this might now work, but try thinking about how it could work.  Perhaps a warming holder for coffee, or a plug-in for the cigarette lighter that could warm up small things. 

Beer - Mary Stewart McGovern

Mary was also a little surprised to get "Beer" because it isn't usually something think of when the topic of conversation is cars.  However, it made her thinking of ways to combat drunk driving.

"Why not take the technology used for the alcohol monitoring bracelets and use it to recreate the steering wheel?" she asked. These bracelets can detect when alcohol is in the wearer's body via ethanol that is emitted from the wearer's skin.  So, why not make steering wheels out of this material?  The monitoring system could block the ignition from starting using the same technology developed for the "breathalizer" ignition block currently being used for repeat DUI offenders.

Mint - Faisca

First thing that came to Faisca's mind was... breath mints.  And then he started thinking about how frustrating it can be to desperately need a way to fresh-up when a toothbrush is far away.  After all, "how many times have people gone on a first date and said 'holy crap, my breath smells like feet'?" he asks!

Plus, there are tons of other situations when a breath mint in the car could come in very handy.  As a result, Faisca suggested a mint dispenser would be a good addition.

I say, why stop there?  Why not create a "freshing-up" slot for people to store a couple quick essentials to make sure they're looking their best when they arrive to pick up a date, or have a job interview, etc?

Nose - Marilyn Wulfekuhler

Marilyn's Random Word "Nose" made her long for an improved way of scenting a car.  Forget the little hanging figures, she says, "how about a timed release of different scents every 30 minutes or so?"

This is actually an idea that is lifted from another area in a good example of "cross-pollination".  Marilyn loves how her air fresheners at home switch scents to keep the smell noticable, and wishes that the same options were available for her car.   

Then she goes a step beyond and suggest that the scents could be used to create moods--a whiff of fresh-cut grass or coffee to keep drivers alert, or a burst of air scented like spaghetti sauce when it's time to eat.

I like her idea, as long as there's an emergency cover-up smell to rescue everyone after driving past a skunk on the highway! (That happened a lot when my family went on road trips when I was younger.)

Alarm Clock - Annie Hall

As a mother, and "taxi driver" for two boys who are in multiple activities, Annie spends a lot of time waiting in parking lots for her kids.  For that reason, she thinks that adding an alarm clock function to the clock that is already installed in cars would be a great idea. 

There are many times when she's waiting for an activity to finish, or going over material before an interview, and needs a reminder that it's time to get going.  "The alarm clock would be great for saying "settle down and get in there on time for that interview or to pick up my kids!"

She notes that this would also be great on long trips when a stop at one of those roadside rest areas is necessary (especially when it's important to wake up at a certain time to start driving again.)  Just think of the use for long-haul truckers!

But, she reminds us not to forget that the common buzzer on the alarm clock is old news.  This is the age of customization!

Bubble - RennyBA

RennyBA choose to take a lighthearted approach to his Random  Word when he suggested installing a soap bubble blower on the car with a fluid injection remote control. He asks "Don't you think it would be fun for the kids to see colorful bubbles flying from your car while cruising around in the streets."

I agree.  So many people get caught up in thinking cars are only for adults, and that they're serious driving machines.  Why can't cars be fun and silly sometimes?

I read about a pizza delivery place in the UK that uses Smart cars for delivery... they painted the cars to look like giant wedges of cheese! They're getting fabulous responses: everyone wants to know about their company, and so many people want to get their pizza delivered in a cheese car.

Bubbles would definitely make me smile!

Mosquito - Edgar Valdmanis

As a native Minnesotan, I would do anything to avoid mosquitos, and I think Edgar agrees!  After drawing the Random Word "mosquito", he focused on ways to keep them away.

He suggests that a mosquito net could be included with the car for use when picnicking, or camping out.  Another idea was to come up with some 'non-stick'-substance so that dead mosquitoes and other insects don't get stuck on the cars. (Always fun to wash off.)

OR - best of all - to create a 'Mosquito-account', where drivers pay a small amount extra when they buy gas--which would then go to fight diseases spread by mosquitoes in poorer countries.  Then when drivers fill up with gas, they know they're helping others and fighting the evil mosquitoes at the same time.

Trapeze - Bill Austin

Bill initially came up with all kinds of circus and carnival references and thoughts (lots of clowns crowding into a tiny little car, etc.), then he went to Wikipedia and discovered that the trapeze was invented by the same guy who invented Léotards!

This got him thinking about creating a whole new line of colors for cars.  No more blue, red, black, brown, silver, etc.... why not paint cars in all the fun and wild colors Léotards come in?

Of course, that begs the question: Will cars be available in Fishnet? And is Nude for a car the human flesh color, or more of a bare metal look? ;-)

And, can these cars also fly through the air with the greatest of ease?

And, that's all folks!  Tomorrow we're back to our regularly-scheduled programming!

Ways to Improve Cars - Ideas from the Random Word Contest (Part 1)

The winner has been named, and all the ideas are in, so now it's time to take a look at all the fresh ideas!

Here's the first half.  The rest will be coming shortly.

Needle - Srihari

With his random word, Srihari thought of the sharpness of a needle and the dangerous of sharp edges.  His idea is to improve cars  by creating a way to ensure that there will be no sharp edges after an accident, so that it would be easier for passengers to escape, and less dangerous for people to help.

WrightHandBlogger, Vincent, decided my words weren't tough enough for his thinking.  He decided instead to go with "Homunculus"!

A way to improve cars using "homunculus" is to make cars even more tactile-oriented. Design cars to not just grip a steering wheel but to actual help our hands relax.  This could perhaps lessen "road rage".

Or, to make cars that are more conducive to our natural desire to talk. Make it easy to communicate without hav ing to take our eyes off the road as it is with most current car, phone, human interactions.

Carousel - Sparkbugg

Sparkbugg noted that it's very frustrating to have to root around for things while driving. 

He suggested that the left half of the glove compartment be a compartment carousel: 6-inch high vertical pie-shaped sections, containing elastic bands and pockets to hold all of our necessities on a sort of lazy-susan.

BONUS IDEA: Have a larger, but flatter carousel in the unused space under the front seats, for larger items like an umbrella, armorall wipes, window scraper, flares, emergency supplies, etc.

Lace - Misa

Misa followed an interesting thought process.  She started thinking of things that can be laced. Then she moved to thinking about "lacing" things with other things. That made her think of impurities.

Then she connected it with the fact that she's often had problems with her allergies when bad air is sucked inside the car.  Her idea was to create a heater/air-conditioner that doubled as an air filter.

Interestingly, when I put "lace" into the Random Word generator, I was thinking of the clothing decoration!  Misa took a less-common direction for her thinking.

Mermaid - Carl

Carl had one of the difficult words I put in there to really test contestants.  "Mermaid" reminded him of water, which resulted in two ideas.

1. An in-car, filtered cool water dispenser.  Has a reservoir that you fill up periodically and a 'mini' cooling cell that runs off the engine. A great way to have water available on-the-go, which could have interesting applications for people going on trips.
2. The Bond like submarine car that men coveted for after seeing The Spy Who Loved Me.  Fantastical, yes... but also a completely different direction than most car designers are going.  What about an "off-land" vehicle?

Concert - Stephanie

Stephanie started thinking about the origin of her random word--to plan/act together.  That made her wish that all cars and drivers acted in concert with none of those jerks who pass on the right, change lines like their hair is on fire, sneak up the exit lane and then cut back in...etc. 

But then she decided to make it more fun by coming up with a way to tell drivers they're driving "off key."   Cars would come with something like a paint gun with universally recognized colors (yellow -- driver thinks he's in the Tour de France; red -- major &*(&!!!@#; blue -- cuts in traffic) for drivers to "mark" the bad cars so others would be warned.

Vacuum - Vicki

As a mother of 3 young boys, Vicki has a lot of fun keeping her car clean. (Or not.)  She thinks (and I bet a lot of other moms would agree) that it be a huge improvement to have an in-floor industrial strength vacuum to suck up all the bits of crushed orange goldfish, crayon tips, and mystery crud that settles to the bottom of the floor boards.

This is one of those practical creativity moments that often get overlooked.  It's not something to impress the young guys who want flashy cars, but it solves a problem a lot of people face.

Whistle - Nora

Clean as a whistle was the first thing that came to Nora's mind.  This led to an idea about an automatic way of removing debris (food peels, old coffee cups, peanut shells, food paper bags, etc) from the car....kind of a sweeping breath of wind cleaning all the food debris.

Expanding on that, she envisioned a porous material being used for the car sides, which allows a special "air wind" to go through: pushing all the food debris to one corner, and compacting it in a small disposable trash ball. This special cleaning up would be called "whistling" because of the sound produced...very high pitch and short! Then, lo and behold, no food debris whatsoever would be left in the car!

Notice that two people have separately noted that new ideas are needed for cleaning a car.  Attention, car makers!

Surfboard - Jason - "JibberJobber Guy"

Jason, despite complaining that he was not-creative, eventually caved into my pressure to participate in the contest.  His word, surfboard, made him long for his old Toyota Avalon with the generous trunk space.

He says "Of course you aren't going to put a surfboard in a trunk, but how about figuring out more creative ways to allow us to use a trunk?"

According to Jason, the truck is just not designed very well. The biggest problem is the size of the opening, followed by the total volume space.  He suggests that a double hinge system, or maybe allowing the part with the tail lights to lower like the back on a pickup truck.  Two simple suggestions to make it easier for customers to fully utilize their trunk.

Giraffe - Chuck

Chuck came up with a "good idea and an obvious one".  He notes that the worst part about trying to sleep on car trips is that there's no convenient way to stabilize your neck without becoming unsafe.  (In other words, our necks are too long!)

So he proposes a button in the car that makes our necks disappear so that we can place our heads securely between our feet on the floor and then sleep in comfort.

Probably not going to happen, but creativity sessions need wacky ideas too!  Crazy ideas can really open up thinking to new possibilities.

Onion - Chris Johnston

Chris asks, "Why don't they make layers of paint like layers of an onion. They could use those car wraps. You could peel them off every few months and have new paint color."

I like it!  People could have the chance to personalize their cars more easily, and there's plenty of opportunity for car companies to come up with new services to take advantage of this.

Shoelace - Kent Blumberg

Kent started thinking about ways to close shoes and hold them on our feet. The comfortable Velcro closures on his walking shoes led to a thought about safety restraint devices that rely on Velcro rather than metal buckles? 

But, he noted, his easy-to-slip-on-and-off loafers are even better.  From that, he came up with an idea for car seats that wrap around passengers comfortably when they sit in them--still restraining in the event of mishap--but still requiring no effort to get into or out of.

Fresh thinking about seatbelts--a very vital part of a car that never gets much attention in the design process.

Stay tuned for the rest of the ideas!

And the winner is...

Today wraps up the first creativity contest on getFreshminds.com!

First, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all the people who visited, and especially to the contestants who contributed ideas.

The last week has been a lot of fun.  There are funny ideas, ideas to make life easier, ideas that solve problems, ideas for new services, ideas that inspire more thinking--it's been everything I hoped it would be! 

I'll be talking about all the fresh ideas in the next couple days.

But, that's not why you're here, is it?  You want to know who won!

The Nominees for the first-ever Fresh Mind Award are...

Annie Hall	SparkBugg (Matt)
Vicki	WrightHandBlogger (Vincent)
Chuck	Chris Johnston
Nora	Michael Meyers-Jouan
Carl	Scot Herrick
Utkarsh	Faisca
RennyBA	Bill Austin
Stephanie	Mary Stewart McGovern
Carolynn	Kes Sampanthar
Misa	Marilyn Wulfekuhler
Srihari	Edgar Valdmanis

And Kent Blumberg--who is not in the running because he's already a subscriber to JibberJobber--but decided to play anyways!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  The hat, please...

The first Fresh Mind Award and 6 Month Subscription to JibberJobber goes to Scot Herrick of Cube Rules.

Scot's word "onion" made him think of peeling away layers to reveal the core.  His idea is to build in layers of crash protection into the structure of the passenger car by designing the car to break apart in a way that still protects the occupants.

THANK YOU to all the contestants.  I loved all the ideas that came out, and am so thrilled about how this contest went that I'm looking forward to doing it again next month.

 

Special thanks to Jason Alba of JibberJobber for challenging me to find an interesting way to give away a 6 month subscription to his premium JibberJobber service!