Category: Marketing Insight

The difference between ‘Innovation & Different’

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

While watching entrepreneurs pitch their business earlier this week at the Pitch Club in Melbourne Australia, and colleague and I were disappointed at what some people believe to be innovation.

   

Shannon from Shannon says and I agreed that what many people call innovation is simply – different.

Here’s a clear delineation of the two which is a startup blog mashup of multiple dictionary definitions.

Different: unlike in form, quality, amount, or nature. Distinct or separate. Unusual or differing from others.

  

Innovation: a creation, new device or process. The result of study and or experimentation which improves the desired outcome / usage of said device, process or creation.

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Sometimes we only need to understand the true meaning of our words to determine if we are ‘on track’.

Quote – Larry Page

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

larry-page.pnglarry-page.pngLarry Page said:

 

There is a phrase I learned in College called ‘having a healthy disregard for the impossible’. That is a really good phrase. You should try and do things that most people would not.

larry-page.png          ….squint to see Larry….

     

Chances are we’ll still fail to do the impossible most times.

If we don’t try we are certain to fail every time.

Slow is the new fast

Posted on by Steve Sammartino
WAS (fast) IS (slow)

Fast food, take out

Slow food, cooking, dinner parties

‘Super’ market, processed food, discounts, shelf life, conveniencve

Growing vegetables, farmers market, gourmet food, butchers, real ingredients, less packaging, joyful inconvenience and hence quality

Get rich quick, money making schemes, flipping –shares & property assets, asset accumulation

Passion jobs, wealth in doing, not keeping score, grand designs, experience accumulation

Instant coffee – isolated ergogenic aid

Café latte, macchiato, espresso cappuccino – discussion and social facilitation.

Cheap, more, value

Premium, less, gourmet,

Doing more, expectations

Taking time, internalizing

Ladder climbing, competition, job hoping

Ladder building, collaboration, sabbaticals

Long hours, skipping meals, avoiding exercise, financial objectives, excuse making

Work (no such thing) ‘life’ balance, not skipping anything worth doing. Late on purpose.

Spending less on more

Spending more on less

Pay rates, fringe benefits, promotional opportunities

Mind growth, real flexibility, independence

  

This is some, not all…. but all follow the path. Feel free to add ‘some’

What path is your start up on? The slow path or the fast path?

*reader warning. (none of the above refers to doing reacting slowly in your startup. Just the ’real’ trend of getting our lives back)

Hema – Wow!

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam.

Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany.

hema.png

Take a look at HEMA’s product page (switch sound on first).

You can’t order anything and it’s in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

  

Click here to see it.

Click on ‘nog een keer’ to replay, it’s worth a second look…

Startups – get Wow !

Brick walls

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

We were told that our business was a great idea. A super concept.

So we went for it.

Then we started work on the blue prints, and they looked great. Everyone said it was a sure thing.

   

So we built it.

 

Then once it was built everyone was in awe of how we took it from concept to reality. They told us we we’re sitting on a gold mine of potential, they starting asking us what life would be like when we made millions, if we’d still be their friends!

So we marketed it.

Then all new and potential customers loved it and told us how they’d buy it and tell everyone. sell it for us and keep coming back for more.

 

Then we realized there was a lot of brick walls between enthusiasm and reality. A lot of brick walls between a great idea, and that great idea becoming a great business.

There was a lot of brick walls. Walls which were hard to climb. Walls that almost ‘consumed us’ to the point of forgetting the easy, early days of enthusiasm.

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These walls are put here to test us. They are asking us if we really want it. They are in fact our best friend. They make climbing over hard, and keep the pretenders out. Those who don’t really want it (maybe competitors?)

We ought thank the walls.