| Shake That Brain!® Solutions
Volume 2, Issue 6 |
| Shake
That Brain! Volume 2, Issue 6 IN THIS ISSUE: 1. TRUE STORY 2. TRULY REFRESHING ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In 2003 Staples held a contest to solicit product ideas from its customers. Out of 8,300 entries the winner was a man named Todd Basche, who questioned a basic assumption about combination locks. Instead of "assuming" – like the rest of the world – that combination locks depended on dials or tumblers labeled with NUMBERS, his idea was use LETTERS instead. Why letters? With letters, you can use easy-to-remember code words to unlock your WordLock. Mr. Basche's reward? $25,000, plus royalties. Now really??? How tough was that to figure out!? True, Basche could simply have had a spontaneous "brain storm" while crossing the street one day. Or, he could have arrived at his "winning idea" by following three simple steps: 1. Consider an everyday product. A combination lock, for example. Or one of your own products or services. 2. Make a list of everything you can think of you absolutely know-to-be true about that product or service. 3. Go back and question each and every assumption. 4. (Optional) Submit to Staples and collect $25,000. Imagine you’re a copywriter in charge of drafting the words on the label of new bottled water. What are your ASSUMPTIONS about what to say? And can you CHALLENGE those assumptions to arrive at a “new” solution? Following are examples from three bottled waters currently on the market. See which words appeal to YOU the most. Trader Joe’s Natural Mountain Spring Water: Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water: Glacéau Smartwater: That’s the first part of the label. There’s also a sidebar: “Your brain on glacéau smartwater.” As you drink more and more water – progressively lowering the water level – the indicator reads (top to bottom) from “capable” to: kinda arid electrolytes flowing clever enough getter there (nice and moist) witty 85% hydrated genius (mensa material) Question 1: You spot all three bottles on your grocer’s shelves, each priced exactly the same. Which do you choose? Question 2: Smartwater is priced just one penny more. Do you STILL consider buying it? Question 3: How many MORE pennies could Smartwater add and still get you to favor their product? Question 4: Regardless of price, does Smartwater’s label help it to stand apart from the crowd? Remember Burt Rutan? "We
ought to be doing something more fun!"? If necessary, "refresh" your memory of Burt by going to:
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