Ideas are Orange

Making American Soccer Work

Recently, there have been some major moves in order to revamp Major League Soccer (US). The most notable include signing David Beckham to the L.A. Galaxy, and a few days ago, it was revelad that Juan Pablo Angel (Colombian striker for Aston Villa) has signed with the New York Red Bulls.

These are bold moves, paying a lot of money for marquee soccer players! It assumes either Americans are warming up to soccer, or the market simply needs to be tapped using superstars.

But... did you know... americans don't like soccer. According to Harvard a Harvard Professor, whom I heard speak a few years back, and whose name I was not able to dig up, Americans don't like soccer because the scores are to low! Yup, americans are used to 100 point basketball games, 40 point football games, or 7 run baseball games. Very few want to stick around for a 1.5 hour match to see a 0-0 score.

So perhaps some changes or ideas to make MLS more [economically] attractive could be.

1. Eliminate or make off-sides more lax. Offsides make it hard for strikers to shine, and are the cause for a lot of anulled goals. What if offsides were ... but perhaps this would distort global soccer stats of goals scored and not scored. Or you could have off-side and non-offside goals.
2. Create new stats. Baseball game scan be just as slow. But in baseball you have runs, hits, and errors, you have batting averages, you have RBIs. Several stats. Soccer has less "activity" stats such as these and therefore people usually focus more on result measures. Think of it as "balancing the scorecard", including some new measures. They could include striking accuracy, or "near-scores", or out-of-area goal kicks. To get sportscasters and fans more interested, more stats are needed.
3. Allow power-plays. Much like in hockey, perhaps you could change the goalie for another striker... or 2 for that matter. I know it's controversial, and it would probably be suicide, but hey, it could be an opportunity to score more goals and keep stadiums full.
4. Crate a distinct food and gadget. MLB has cracker jacks, NHL has everything from octupuses to foam paws, NFL has beer hats, NBA has those soundsticks. Soccer needs its own tools. Perhaps something that resembles de "ole ole ole" chants for the tool, and smoething safer than fireworks. Some pop material gurus needed here.

With hispanic population being the most significant majority in the US, and americans saying in a survey that their favorite [american food] is tacos (official survey); the upside is huge, but the scores, the game experience and the regulations might need to change.

The RFID Anonymizer

As RFID becomes a mainstream technology in consumer packaged goods, the debate of its effects on consumer privacy also continues. There are a lot of interesting uses for RFID products when it comes to the supply chain, as this is what RFID was initially conceived for. Tracking razorblades that are easily stolen, or automating inventory count of crates, cartons and pallets are all fantastic uses.

But once those products hit the consumer's home, they might have a need to be anonymized. The supply chain benefits are beginning to get distorted by davvy marketers that want to know what's in your fridge, your closet, bathroom, etc...

As consumers, we need an RFID Anonymizer

RFID tags need to be anonymized. Perhaps there can be a product that allows to detect and RFID tag, and pull a trigger to disable it. Detection can happen in the same manner as keychains detect wi-fi networks, and disabling or anonymizing by pointing and pressing.

This creates two important things. First, the economies of RFID need to yield their benefits in the supply chain and not in the demand chain so that if tags are anonymized the RFID proposition as a whole doesn't fall appart. That is, it needs to focus on reaping the benefits before products hit consumers.

Second, the fact that RFID will inevitably will be used to learn more about consumer preferences, makes an RFID anonymizer an essential tool for paranoid and non-paranoid consumers. Consumers will not be able to opt out of buying RFID tagged products nor will all stores anonymize tags on exit, creating the need for a home device.

Reuters's retail end

I recently read the article by Carl J. Loomis in Fortune about Bloomberg's Money Machine. It is of course fantastic. It really got me thinking about where Reuters is in the market and some ideas on that.

• We are heading towards an experience economy
• Owning the retail end of the business is where the experience is provided. That's why there's Apple Stores, Sony Style and Nike Town.
• In the next wave, you don't want to be in the back-end or being the provider of the guys facing the customer. Unless you are in India or China and your economy is at that stage.
• The experience requires great design!
• Reuters could use Jeff Han, to create a new kind of terminal that is organic in all features. That is touchscreen and motion enabled. That can be manipulated with fingers instead of keys. This would provide a great experience. I´ve seen and used a Bloomberg... not pretty.
• Reuters can beat Bloomberg in usability! If Bloomberg has the volume side of the market they can go for the margin side of that
• Reuters needs Microsoft for voice recognition purposes. With thousands of commands and options, these systems need some voice activated functions.
• Reuters should also apply some Wikinomics to the equation in order to get global ratings, build a massive investment guide, emerging markets information, etc...
• Reuters should be riding the ipod economy. Why isn't there a Belkin made accesory called the Reuters-Link that wirelessly downloads ll video and audio content to an ipod? Bloomberg can be accessed by a Blackberry... there are a lot more ipods out there. Reuters can learn from the Nike + Apple partnership.

I suppose it boils down to out-innovating your competition, but with a clear [blue ocean] differentiation, reducing features, raising content, creating usability, eliminating complexity.

CPG Mashups

The digital economy created the term mashup. At some point, the combination of content - be that audio or video - became a fad or a way to renew the old.

I wonder if that can extend to the industrial economy, perhaps in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry. Knowing that over 15,000 food products are introduced into the US every year; I would imagine there is an opportunity to extend certain brands that stand for similar things. Here are some ideas:

Red Bull Skittles: Red Bull has mistique and street cred and Skittles are impossible to stop eating. Wonder if you could create Red Bull flavored Skittles, taht only came in a pink and blue color, much like the can. They could come in a Silver wrapping.

Arizona Green Tea + M&Ms: Perhaps M&Ms can have other ingredients beside chocolate. How about some organic M&Ms that are made of green tea or other natural ingredients?

Snickers with [Danone] Activia: Hungry why wait + health and digestive benefits.

The important bit is that some consumer products can be balanced or extended by others on several aspects:

• The consumption mechanism (e.g Red Bull being consumed in bite size vs. in drink)
• Balancing exclusive brands and mainstream brands (e.g. combining an Activia benefit with a mainstream snickers)
• Balancing health and functionality (e.g. add green tea to an existing product that craves many needs)

Just an idea trying to understand new delivery mechanisms for existing products and the need for some brands to work with others.

Apple TV - Quicktime - Youtube - Bollywood

Apple is out to change the movie business as it seems. Both through their software (itunes) and hardware (appletv). Part of getting people to use Apple TV and let apple grab the market, will have to do with the same two critical success factors that got people to use the ipod. Those are software and content.

Software

• The more I think about it, itunes (reads tunes you know) shouldn't have flicks.
• The software should be iflicks and be a new tab, new piece, etc... or simply be a souped up version of quicktime. Why is the quicktime offering (which delivers movies) not aligned with the appletv-video content initiative?
• Quicktime could be a movie library, the same way itunes is a music library.
• Let video sites use some Apple web services to promote their content on the software.
• Let it have a powerful search engine... what about "search inside the movie"?

Content

• Go global... not just US. How feasable is it to get Bollywood movies or Chinese/Hong Kong movies on board? There is a lot of content there. Perhaps create a geo-reference of where movies come from.
• Let people upload movies, much like Youtube lets people upload video. Host an "Apple Oscars" ceremony handing out awards.
• Link Youtube in there. Get Youtube to deliver a Tubefeed, which via xml lets quicktime (or iflicks) know the latest and greatest. Its podcasts for video... or videocasts -duh. They could just be videocasts, but they could come from youtube mass users, specialized users, etc...
• Use a "meme" approach to crate a new Pixar hit. Post the script online and let people work out scenes with common characters. Pick the best scenes.

There are endless possibilities, but it seems to me that the more they try to fit the round peg in the square hole (the movies into music software) the more it limits them from expanding the offering.

The Corporate Nintendo DS

I recently bought a Nintendo DS with games Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. I have to sharpen up for some tests and decided to try all available alternatives. I am stunned at how effective and fun this is. These games take the rust off the basic skills that help you think an react fast.

Nintendo should make corporate games! A DS is not a kids toy and corporate games could be a great alternative to engaging in business situations. Games such as>

• Virtual stock exchange (Stock simulator, could connect to the net to get daily close quotes for example... or have them be fake.)
• Supply Chain Manager (imagine a fictitious country where you can chose a fleet and have to stock different sales channels)
• Selling & Marketing (something around building brands and building brand value with consumers with several sorts of experiences and advertising)
• HR Management (something like a tamagotchi, except you recruit, train, develop, compensate, etc...). You could build a workforce... perhaps "export it" to second life.
• International M&A - A game on acquiring and merging companies through several mechanisms like LBOs, reverse mergers, equity swaps, etc... You could dominate the globe and create funds.
• CBM- Certified Busines Manager practice test questions. Why isn't there a GMAT, SAT, GRE, or LSAT preparation game?

I was not a DS fan, but think there is application for this beyond the traditional video games.

This makes interactivity accesible and portable, vs. carrying a laptop computer to "train your brain".

There could also be a market around getting companies to create their standard competency models and Nintendo getting them to be assessed on a DS. People could train with situations, cases, questions and other elements to build up their skills.

Anyways, I found it tremendously fun and will continue training my brain.

Making the Gootube awards the new oscars

The Internet over time has proven the difference between most well designed, well built, etc.. and most widely used applications. This is a notion from way at the beginning when we were told (Michael Porter) that what mattered wasn't the technology, it was the use given to it.

The Youtube awards are the formal milestone that is testament to that affirmation. Video is a global phenomenon, so much that it warrants a complete award ceremony. It is most viewed videos and that is not exactly related to best filmed, directed, profuced, etc...

I had an idea to make the Oscar's more like the World Cup of soccer. Make it a truly global event. I doubt it will happen, no point in trying to change a 70+ year old legacy award show. They won't decide to change until it is to late.

But Google and Youtube can innovate here. Perhaps they can make the Video Awards a global event. Something massive. Something that is held annually across borders, in several countries and with several categories - expanded beyond those that exist now. It would draw millions of virwes, just what the Oscar's needsa. The post on the Oscar's might be insightful, and innovative if put into practice by an innovative company.

Middle East Mega Projects

• Ideas, Innovation, and Brands come from the US
• Products come from China
• Services come from India
• and Experiences will come from the Middle East

Here are some of the Middle Easts's Mega Projects to deliver engaging experiences, staged in spectacular settings:

The Palm involves the creation of the world's largest three man-made islands known as The Palm, Jumeirah; The Palm, Jebel Ali; and The Palm Deira. Located just off the coast of the city of Dubai, the three palm tree shaped islands are expected to contribute to the city's position as a premier global tourist destination. www.thepalm.ae

The World was conceived by His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, the development consists of 300 islands that together form the image of the world map. www.theworld.ae

Burj Dubai will be the centrepiece of Emaar's US$20 billion Burj Dubai District and the new emerging Downtown Dubai taking its place as one of the world's modern landmark buildings, alongside the likes of Empire State Building, Taipei 101, Malaysia's Petronas Towers, Sears Tower and London's Canary Wharf. Upon completion, Burj Dubai will hold the record in all four categories as recognized by the New York-based global authority - Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat - highest structure, roof, antenna and occupied floor.

A syndicate of three UAE banks, Mashreqbank psc, Emirates Bank International and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, have signed the agreement to provide the required contracting finance for the consortium chosen to construct Emaar's iconic Burj Dubai Tower, valued at AED3.2 billion (US$869m) and soon to become the world's tallest building.

The project, the Dubai Waterfront, is a conglomeration of canals and islands studded with luxury hotels and homes. Larger than the island of Manhattan, the development will reconfigure the map of this tiny desert emirate by adding 500 miles of man-made waterfront. www.dubaiwaterfront.ae

The 'The Mall of Arabia', due to open in 2008, will have four levels, around 1,000 outlets, its own theatre, and enough parking for 10,000 cars. The size of the mall will be 10 million square feet GLA (gross leasable area) when completed, making it the world's biggest mall.

Opening its doors in 2008, Restless Planet will set a new standard for imaginative theme parks, with three rides, including a special 'dark ride', and more than 100 lifelike, actual size 'animatronic' dinosaurs.

Ski Dubai is a formidable engineering feat, an incongruous 25-storey structure rising from the Gulf emirate's sands as some 1,000 labourers work round the clock building the Middle East's only indoor ski resort and the world's third largest. www.skidubai.com

Kiva + LinkedIn = Contribution

"Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back." Source: Kiva

LinkedIn, on the other side, is the premier site to register your professional network, keep track of business relationships, get business recommendations, create people-to-people connections that can bring new business; as well as provide other services as business answers.

Kiva is enabling a global objective, the need to contribute by way of lending to those in need.
LinkedIn is contributing to another global objective, the need to connect.

Kiva is basically creating visibility for a large set of small entrepreneurs that do not have access to capital, which in developed economies translates into small sums. This comes after largely know initiatives such as the Grameen Bank. The interesting bit is these people need the visibility because people are willing to contribute (lend in this case) but there is a need for more contribution platforms or mechanisms.

LinkedIn is interesting because it is mostly based on the concept of connection on a group level, but visibility on an individual level. People want their career and expertise to be visible, they strive to have several relationships, to the point where it exceeds those people you actually know, they strive to give expert answers to business questions posed, and ask for recommendations from others to certify their expertise.

Kiva could use LinkedIn

• By allowing LinkedIn people to lend money to entrepreneurs in regions of interest, areas of interest or others - linking Kiva into the profiles.
• By making loans a visible aspect of a persons LinkedIn profile. That is the amount that a person has lended and its global impact.
• By making contribution evident and showing members that contribute the most. The richest men in the world (Bill Gates + Warren Buffet) are now hip because they contribute, not because they can buy the world. You could have www.toplenders.com as they have www.toplinked.com
• By providing tools to show a global footprint of needs. Think a global map of where loans are required. If Kiva uses the crowd appropriately it could be satisfying capital needs in key areas of the world.
• LinkedIn could get "smaller" profiles in exchange. Is any profile to small in a world where we are all people? Although there is definitely a challenge in getting these entrepreneurs to use the net, and LinkedIn. US$ 100 laptop with the loan anyone? (that's another post... but every entrepreneur needs a laptop)

For Kiva this is a way to tap into a savvy business network willing to contribute and lend. The community is the judge, and the community is willing to judge how much people contribute. If [developed economy LinkedIn] people don´t mind, having not-developed economy people in their profile, its a way to start bridging the digital and economic divide. This is a practical way of putting capable individuals in touch with individuals in need.

The H Racer and Harry Potter marketing

One of the breakthrough 2007 HBR Ideas is Harry Potter marketing. What this means is that some brands can mature over time with their audience instead of focusing on a specific segment for life and acquiring, and losing customers over time. Instead, it aims at keeping those customers and evolving the brand with them.

I saw an innovative product that might have the potential to leverage Harry Potter Marketing. It is the H-Racer manufactured by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies (HFCT).

• Small children could get their parents to buy the H Racer. HFCT could brand it around a key message of clean performance, cutting edge design, sustainable fuel and others. The main objective is to build a loyal fan base throughout different parts of the world that buys this message and loves this car.
• Then teenagers might have another H powered innovation that is more suited for them. Perhaps an H powered model airplane or helicopter, certainly something more advanced. Again, a small innovation to keep the brand maturing with the group.
• In the future perhaps HFCT might even make an H Racer for grownups, or license the technology to another company (like BMW). They will bring a brand and a loyal fan base (fans not customers) that would consider purchasing the car or other inventions that are H powered.

The H Racer is one of Time Magazine's best 2006 inventions. It would be interesting to see if they can pull off new inventions in the coming years catered to this evolving group of customers until that group reaches a purchasing power age.