For those looking for some good reading, here are some interesting articles worth checking out:
Coming off the heels of the last issue of Fast Company, which ranked the 50 most innovative companies, Dev Patnaik of Jump Associates shares his thoughts on the list, who should've been on there, who shouldn't, etc. I love the description of how Virgin does process innovation, innovating "through lawyers and accountants."
Speaking of Fast Company, as Spreenkler pointed out in a comment to my post on Barack's integrated campaign, the new issue features "The Brand Called Obama," which outlines how business can apply lessons from his campaign.
Today I presented to my old ad agency, Cramer-Krasselt, sharing with them design planning, human-centered innovation and my belief that ad agencies are going to soon be relegated to executing brand strategy dictated by client innovation teams and the design innovation consultancies they hire. This Adweek article discusses the rise of design in ad agencies. I would argue, however, that they still need to move further upstream in helping craft new offerings and develop these brands as opposed to settling for solely the role of communicating at audiences.
More on Starbucks' attempt at reinvention.
David Armano has a great post on design gatekeepers. I love his comment regarding the masses participating in design "It's not a substitute. It's an addendum." That's spot-on and a reason why "traditional designers" shouldn't feel threatened.
I'm considering launching back into the design vs. design thinking debate and the role of business....wait...but...no, another time. On to the last two articles.
An article on Open Innovation and the benefits during a recession.
And finally, a column by Nicholas Kristof. It's not related directly to branding or innovation but I enjoyed it's call for a higher level of discourse, the intelligent debate of issues, and such. A great benefit of attending ID has been the ability to debate and discuss a wide range of topics with super smart people. Every day I can hop in on a conversation regarding everything from brand authenticity to how realistic sustainability is in a free market to cultural nuances of India. I love that! It gets me juiced! We need more.
Gotta run. I think I just saw a UFO!
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