The Up-Side Down Innovation Bell Curve | Business Innovation - Stephen Shapiro

The old model of innovation is dead…and a new model has emerged. For months now, I have been writing about the Innovation Bell Curve. If you read between the lines, you quickly realize that it is no longer a bell curve but rather more of a bimodal distribution. Therefore I have re-drawn my frequently used graphic and replaced it with the new innovation bell curve.

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In Praise of Marketing

Many dismiss marketing as manipulative, deceptive, and intrusive. Marketing, they argue, focuses too much of our attention on material consumption. More recently, Benjamin Barber, in his 2007 book Consumed, claims that marketing is "sucking up the air from every other domain to sustain the sector devoted to consumption." He is correct. Coca-Cola, Nike, and Starbucks command more loyalty among many consumers than any political party, trade union, church, or mosque. Indeed, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz sought to make his coffee shops the "third place" in our lives, after home and work.

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Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

Think of famous brands you know: Hallmark cards and Coca-Cola soft drinks, for example. What do these products have in common for consumers? An emotional meaning that taps into thoughts and feelings related to the positive aspects of transformation, according to Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman

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