What are you doing to innovate for an obese America?

The Wall Street Journal reported this week on the huge price being paid in health-care spending due to America's rapidly expanding waistlines: $147B.

How are we as innovators leading companies to address this head on?

Lecturing, hectoring and "education" aren't changing what's on America's plate, or at least not quickly enough.

I recommend reading Hank Cardello's book "Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's Really Making America Fat." As a former exec at Coca-Cola and General Mills, he knows the institutional challenges of bringing Health & Wellness (H&W) innovation to market. He also has smart strategies for overcoming them.

Similarly at our firm, we refuse to give up on major Food & Beverage (F&B) category innovation that improves health.

We're especially excited by five H&W vectors we believe are poised to explode in F&B innovation. We advocate innovating with...

1. The Pleasure Principle - Healthier food that tastes better than not-so-healthy choices


2. Next-Wave Hybrids - Transferring ingredients from one F&B use to another to improve H&W outcomes


3. Ancient Natural Miracles - Going beyond green tea into previously obscure Asian fruits, cocoa and more


4. Process Leaps - Skipping incremental change to create a whole new thing, made a whole new way


5. Right For You = RFY - Appealing to needs for individuality, authenticity and community around food choices

Our 4-minute video "Beyond BFY: The New Spectrum in Heath & Wellness Innovation" outlines these vectors along with current and upcoming examples:





Eager to learn what you're exploring to grow your bottom line whilst shrinking America's bottoms!

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Joy Bergmann is Communications Director at innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212 in New York.

Building a Better Innovation Business Model

Whether you're a professional innovator or someone driving innovation to grow your business, chances are you need more support to get projects delivered to market.

Question: Does your innovation business model catalyze your goals or crush them?

When You Have To Deliver, You Learn To Deliver

In 1999, Jim Collins wrote a brilliant piece in the Harvard Business Review, "Turning Goals Into Results: The Power Of Catalytic Mechanisms." In it he addressed the problem that many managers face within their organization: they have a big goal but lack the organizational focus and courage to achieve it. Collins offered catalytic mechanisms as a potential solution.

By his definition, a Catalytic Mechanism is "the crucial link between objectives and performance, [the] galvanizing devices that translate lofty aspirations into concrete reality."

His article provided some poignant examples that span a wide range of industries. For this discussion, I'll break his thesis down into a simple analogy: If you're standing next to a lake and you have to catch a fish to eat, you will catch a fish.

Collins posits that this same philosophy can be applied to business problems simply by framing a firm's most ambitious goals in this type of scenario:

• Step One: Translate your objective (I would like to catch a fish) into an imperative (I will catch a fish)


• Step Two: Give it real teeth (or I will die)


• Step Three: Get to work (start fishing… with dynamite)

Our company translated this into a performance-based compensation model that provides us with a powerful catalytic mechanism - we needed to figure out how to generate true innovations quickly, consistently and across a wide range of categories.

And in so doing, it gave us a much better understanding of the core tenets of effective innovation.

Making the Leap from Idea to Marketable Innovation

There's a reason the number of ideas far exceeds the number of true innovations: The lightning strike is just the beginning.

Sure the blinding inspiration of a "eureka moment" is thrilling; but in reality, it's just the first step.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, the journey from conceptualization to commercialization is often when the real breakthrough thinking happens.

As a result, it's critical to have a well-defined understanding of what needs to be true for an innovation to get to market. Once you've defined "the how", the champion should surround herself with lateral-thinking people who can react quickly to new challenges without ever losing sight of the true vision.

Skin In The Game

The power of performance-based compensation is directly transferable to any innovation initiative. Giving people a material stake in an outcome will significantly increase your chances of succeeding.

Because when people need to eat, they will come up with brilliant ways to catch a fish.

Sometimes even without the dynamite.

For More

This video outlines benefits we've experienced with performance-based compensation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO6NMOXoZf8&feature=channel_page

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Pete Maulik is Chief Operating Officer at innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212 in New York. Fahrenheit 212 delivers bigger ideas, faster to market.

Determining Innovation's Sweet Spot

Now more than ever, companies need great new ideas, great new products and great new businesses.

However, innovators often fail to realize just how big the difference is between them. For example:

• Satellite radio is a fabulous idea, and Sirius is great product, but what a terrible business.


• Gillette Fusion isn't a great idea - but is a great product and a great business.


• In its heyday, Dell computer was a great idea and a great business, but its products weren't that special.

The Holy Grail is ascending the pedestal reserved for the great idea/great product/great business triumvirate. Contemporary triple-players include American Idol and Guitar Hero. We're also excited about Google's Chrome Operating System and eager to see how the monetization of cloud computing plays out.

Understanding commercial realities at the onset of every innovation project is crucial to delivering those great ideas that become great products and great businesses.

It begins by determining where to play.

Innovators must uncover gaps in the current market. And, more importantly, decide whether there is a market in those gaps:

• If the answer is "no", that is not defeat. Getting to a fast "no" is invaluable for improving innovation's ROI. Which is why determining where to play is a Phase One priority.


• If the answer is yes, we call that a sweet spot for innovation. And we get to work creating those great ideas that become winners where it counts - in market.

For a lighthearted look at "Innovation's Sweet Spot," please check out this video:

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Mark Payne is President and Head of Innovation at Fahrenheit 212 in New York. Fahrenheit 212 delivers bigger ideas, faster to market.

The Ten Tenets of Transformation

THE POINT: How you think about an innovation challenge determines how well you deliver game-changing ideas. Our 10 Tenets of Transformational Thinking may be practiced by anyone, in any industry, at any scale, any time. Farewell, light bulb myths. Hello, consistent performance.


THE TEN TENETS OF TRANSFORMATION

Transformational thinking is all too often thought of as a once-in-an-eon lightning strike moment. Banish this belief once and forever. In our innovation practice, we've found that with the right orientation, transformational thinking leaves the realm of serendipity and becomes a bona fide discipline, as repeatable and scalable as any other.

Commercializing transformational ambitions of course requires more than just coming up with the ideas. But in this chicken-and-egg game, you'll need those ideas first to get the support and resources you need to make it happen, and get famous for it. To abet that pursuit, here are 10 ways Fahrenheit 212 practices the mental gymnastics we call Transformational Thinking. It's our approach to consistently generating game-changing ideas...

1. BUILD A HEALTHY DISRESPECT FOR PRESENT REALITY


• Glory awaits those who successfully overturn the things we most take for granted. Why shouldn't every note of music I own go with me everywhere I go? Why can't alcohol taste as refreshing as water? Get stupid again. It's empowering. If you didn't know you were supposed to run inside when it rains, you'd discover great things.


2. MOVE THE CAMERA TO ANOTHER PART OF A ROOM


• Practice the art of changing perspectives on a dime. With every new constituency considered, every new angle tried, your exploitable assets inventory grows exponentially. Look through the eyes of different consumer segments, your retailers, the guy driving your truck, your suppliers in Fujian Province and new things will come into view. If you're designing a car, know that even the bug about to get splattered on the windshield has a unique point of view that may unlock big ideas.


3. LOOK BACK ON THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE


• Changing the world isn't about inching forward from where we are now, but about defining great destinations, and looking back from them to figure out what must be true to make them happen. If you're in technology, a few years is probably as far as you can credibly look back from; but in FMCG, thinking in five or ten-year leaps is not out of bounds. What could the world look like if today's opportunity were pursued with great velocity?


4. THINK IN JAZZ


• Jazz musicians institutionalize the art of listening while playing. Picking up on other players' themes and reinterpreting them, sending a new provocation back to the first player that is then pushed again. Encouraging chain reactions exponentially increases human creativity. Choose jam session players from across your organization, outside your industry, beyond your comfort zone. Such cross-fertilization breeds a bigger, more joyful noise in market. And while some of your colleagues may be tempted to copy your competitors, the transformational approach is to treat it as inspiration to riff on in new directions.


5. LOOK FOR THE PROBLEM BEHIND THE PROBLEM


• Ninety percent of the time, there is a much larger issue behind the challenge you're staring at all day. If you first define and solve that bigger one, the other problems will take care of themselves. If the thing that's costing you sleep is that 21-year-old guys don't love your product anymore, maybe your real problem is that you've got a huge, broadly applicable technology stuck in the small business of pleasing fickle 21-year-old guys. Opening that bigger market is the thing that will restore your share and your dreamtime.


6. SEEK THE ONE-DEGREE CHANGE THAT MAKES A WORLD

OF DIFFERENCE

• Heating water from F211 to F212 unleashes catalytic power. What happens when you muse on the minute? Oh, let's sell the computer before we make it. Let's sell coffee for five bucks a cup. Little changes spawn multi-billion dollar businesses.


7. PRACTICE THE ART OF COLLISION


• The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is a metaphor for life. What seems completely new is often just an unexpected combination of the familiar but previously disconnected. This is Innovation 101, but too often we forget, and think the one asset we have is the answer, rather than asking what we can bundle it with to transform its value.


8. POWER YOUR BRAIN WITH LAUGHTER


• Landmark studies proved decades ago that people solve problems far more effectively when they're told it's no big deal and primed with Three Stooges movies than when they're grimly told to work carefully. There's science behind it. Laughter sends endorphins to our brain's lateral thinking areas. Sure, the world is going to hell in a bucket, but lighten up: you're more likely to land on a transformational idea.


9. READ UP ON HOWARD GARDNER'S OCTO-THINK


• One-dimensional ideas are rarely transformational. They're easily replicated in a world where competitive response cycles shrink by the day. Harvard's Dr. Howard Gardner delineated eight ways people take in ideas, including verbally, visually, logically, musically, physically, emotionally, spatially and mathematically. Run like the spider using all eight legs. Your ideas will be a whole lot stickier.


10. THERE IS NO TENTH TENET


• Less really is more. The simple idea beats its complicated, overcooked cousin every time.

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Mark Payne is President and Head of Innovation at Fahrenheit 212 in New York. Fahrenheit 212 delivers bigger ideas, faster to market.

Our Modular Electronics Future

THE POINT: Leading electronics companies can lead a movement to future-proof their businesses by innovating updatable products that encourage customer loyalty, sustainability and pragmatic fun.

Creating Consumer Electronics 2.0

It's easy to blame tighter purse strings for falling electronics sales figures. But it's not just lack of money that's keeping customers away; it's fear of instant obsolescence.

Today's consumer consideration set has fundamentally shifted. We now want long-term value, not just the latest and greatest.

Yesterday we used an electronic device until it broke or a better one superseded it. We disposed of the old with great dispatch. Brands using a Parallel Model of product development kept us enthralled with a constant churn of new shiny objects and updated versions. Durables were recast as disposable. Sales and stocks soared. Best Buy created a whole new business, Geek Squad, to help us keep up. We wanted new toys, but needed Geeks to show us how to use them. We delighted at every new feature. We also started feeling pangs of "buyer's hesitation" as Moore's Law kept shortening product life cycles. Particularly as we started replacing devices that still worked just fine.

Oh, how we loved our first iPod - 5GB of musical magic for $399. But oh, how quickly we tossed our still-working sweetie into a drawer, lured by ever-smaller, higher-capacity, ever-cheaper iPods. As prices fell and capacity increased, however, internal conflict also rose. We could never be sure of our decision to buy or when. Wouldn't something far superior be just around the corner?

Today's economic realities compound these past experiences. The consumer technology industry has inadvertently trained us to delay purchases. Though it drove 15 years of unprecedented growth, this Parallel Model won't hold for the next 15. Lowered components costs will not be enough to spark demand.

What might tempt us to spend? An assurance that we're investing in technology rather than playing silicon hopscotch.

Manufacturers and brands need to move from a focus on this year's model to a focus on a whole new model.

Consumers now demand enduring goods we can easily update ourselves. We welcome a new Series Model age of product development.

Imagine how transformative it would be to have an industrial/retail structure where product parts are swapped out [and recycled], where the upgrade is built in, where the form can completely change to answer new needs or aesthetic desires.


It's not such a new concept, but a return to the long-term pragmatism that skipped a generation. Grandma insisted on products that were built to last; tech-savvy Millennials expect the same. Favored Serial Model brands would reflect their values: respecting resources and sustainability; nurturing networked relationships; promoting self-reliance and utility as the height of style.

Consumers embrace smart series strategies in other sectors. We don't throw away our cars when a new set of tires or a paint job is needed. We put energy-efficient bulbs and new shades on perfectly functional lamps. We buy the latest razor blades for our enduring shaver. Why not make consumer electronics as easy to update?

Switching to series production requires moving from a focus on design to a focus on the well designed. It's a long-term view with manifold benefits.

Series Model: Answers both producer and consumer desires for Value and Profit:

• Creates a deeper bond between consumers and a brand, provided that the producer commits to improve and evolve the technology.


• Eliminates the waste of a churn-n-burn model, freeing up investment capital for developing huge, category-creating innovations that radically improve consumers' lives.


• Generates a can-do dynamic between manufacturer and consumer. Since service people cost more than manufacturing labor, it behooves the manufacturer to make swapping out updating / fixing so easy that the consumer will happily take on the task.

Series Model innovations might include:

• Swapping out a circuit board like we do memory cards


• Placing more functionality in parts that can be easily replaced like controllers & remotes


• Designing for aesthetic/functional switching thru more attachment inputs


• Creating energy-improving refrigerator cooling unit upgrades that utilize existing casing


• Making upgrading a 3 mega-pixel camera to an 8 mega-pixel as easy as switching lenses

Activating this Series Model will likely require both producers and consumers to pay more upfront. But these costs should be framed as an economic offset for all stakeholders.

The extra dollar spent on a modular manufacturing schema saves countless dollars on retooling for new gadgets, shipping, warehousing and more. Value-conscious consumers are now ready to see the long-term savings of buying modular products from trusted brands.

The first mover in this space has an opportunity to bond with customers. To cement an enduring relationship with Millennials. And to innovate for this recession in a way that future-proofs its business for decades to come.

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Marcus Oliver is an Innovation Director at innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212 in New York. Fahrenheit 212 delivers bigger ideas, faster to market.