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Mike Walsh on building businesses for the 21st century @ IRI CPG Summit, Orlando-FL...


As I am recovering from the 2 months of prep-work that culminated in IRI’s premier annual event last week in Orlando, I was thinking of some of the keynote speakers and this guy Mike Walsh popped up in my mind. Mike is a self-described “globally renown (ed) futurist and keynote speaker on future trends, innovation and how to build companies for the 21st century. BTW Mike if you read this, not sure if you noticed the typo on your home page meta id descriptor, I know it is nit-picking but Google indexer  has already picked it up with the typo J.
So in his very entertaining presentation, he had these things he calls “mind grenades” (basically key takeaways) and two stood out-
1.       If your kids had your job, what is one thing they would do differently? First I thought, is he asking us to bring the Crayola set or the Wii to work (depending upon how old your kids are)? Then as I thought more, it made perfect sense. Mike's point was to recruit the next generation of thought leaders and see how they would approach your tasks from their vantage view. Cool.
2.       What is something that your customers do today that drives you crazy? (Hmm, where do I start?) So the point here is that the points of friction between the service you are trying to provide somebody and how they are trying to consume it is an opportunity for innovation, and therefore, engagement. Freakin awesome! (and simple, why didn't I think of this??).

My two cents- every business today and in the future needs to create a “simplicity filter”- a device or process that takes every product or service you design and score it- a plus for features that make it simple and a minus for things that make it complex. If the pluses are not twice as many (at least) as the minuses, pull it off the market. Life is getting increasingly complex and if your product adds to that complexity rather than taking away from it, you are doomed from the get go...

IRI CPG Blog Post: Surf’s up! Time to Ride the Online Video Wave?

Posted on the IRI CPG Blog a couple of weeks back about the traction Online Videos have been getting in the industry in direct competition to traditional TV advertising.

The post highlights 3 reasons to get in on Online Videos today:
  1. Efficiently enhance your message reach on traditional TV
  2. Test your TV campaigns
  3. Reap early adopter benefits
Check the original post out here.