Introduction:

When I was in University, we were all part of something called Management Festivals. This was done to make us unleash our creativity as managers. We were given various topics to innovate upon and produce a result.

An Example:

If I were to choose a Compact Powder (in New Zealand we have a product like this called Thin Lizzy), what could be used as:

1. A foundation
2. Lipstick
3. Skin Toner
4. Eye Shadow
5. Rouge
6. A Skin Tan

It is an all in one product that the fashion conscious woman could carry in her handbag (I hate handbags and make-up by the way) and spruce herself up after a daily workout or perhaps a trip to the bathroom??

Here is the Product for you to Innovate on:

Presenting the Humble UMBRELLA.

How would you innovate an Umbrella???

1. Think of your experience with an umbrella
2. What is it that you hate most about it??
3. How would you as a consumer want to change it??
4. Why would you want to change it??  
5. What will be the viability of your idea??

A Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company always goes according to what the consumers want and not according to what they think would be the best suited for the consumer. Remember the statement: Necessity is the Mother of ALL Inventions.

1. Volvocame up with seatbelts which is their patent and us loaned to all other car companies around.
2. Dunlop made the first tyre from a water hose to smoothen his ride.
3. Cave Man used charcoal to draw stick figures in caves to depict stone age as we see it. No two guesses that the charcoal of then is the pen of today.
4. Oh!! By the Way they also created Fire by hitting two stones together and then cooking their food.
5. Charles Babbage created the Analytical and the Difference Engines using Boolean Algebra to make the worlds first computer which was as big as a room. You know how big a computer of today is, we even have the Laptops which are portable and light weight too.

The Drawbacks of Too Much Innovation

Well although we are very creative in nature, it is hard for the world to think like us, so many ideas propel the inventor to be classified as weird, crazy etc. Even the Concorde which was much ahead of its time was grounded after few years of flying and an air crash.