As I try to apply it to discover unique value propositions of different businesses, I am realizing that the metaphor of “blue ocean” has a problem. It suggests that you have to set on a “long  journey into the unknown” in order to find non-competitive markets. Not always. Sometimes, blue ocean is right underneath you in the middle of the red ocean as the competition fights itself to death.

Conventional business school wisdom suggests offering value-cost trade-offs through product-line extension. That approach has created so much clutter and craziness in the marketplace. BOS approach suggests otherwise. It says: Break the value-cost trade-off. I feel that in some industries (like appliances) that is all you have to do: simplify the damn product line.

Apple is the obvious example (sorry, seems like we don’t have much else to talk about now-a-days). Motorola, Sony, Blackberry, even HTC are still looking at their versions of the consumer perception maps and treating it as a battle ground. They are too busy playing the game of positioning new product offerings to cover gaps in the market. You know what? That’s the deadly red ocean right there. Stop the craziness. Consumer is pissed off.

You know how hard it is to find a washer, or for that matter, a toothbrush. Now, I understand the problem that CPG brands  but for high-involvement products like appliances, I think someone just has to go for it. Eliminate all models. design one washer that does everything but has one button on it, like an iPod. I know, it only takes courage to break the fixed cost structure and convince people who would think you are crazy – a classic blue ocean hurdle.

Since I am on a war against that demographics-based targeting that media companies and advertising agencies have plagued us with, I was really excited to hear what she had to say. “The crazy thing” she says, “is that media companies think if you fall within a certain demographic category, you are predictable.”

YES!!! finally someone else said that this is CRAZY. I’ve been saying this ever since I took my first Marketing class and my common sense started having issues with my MBA professors. Seriously, I want my money back.

Anyway, the good old days of post-industrial revolution are over. The rise of middle class in the developed world is history. David Ogilvy’s ideas were great but his books are not even available for Kindle.

Wake up people. It’s over. Age, gender, marital status blah, blah, blah is a hoax. Internet is too measurable and you can’t hide it anymore. Break the spell. Move on to psychographics and behaviors and create new value for your business (or just manage to survive).

Here is her talk. Enjoy:

Now, this is sort of a crowd-sourcing event on IDEO’s platform. I am more interested in the platform itself and its concept. The navigation is simple and sequential. I had the rare “I get it” feeling within seconds and I love the concept.

We have to wait and see how it goes. I am sure IDEO will figure out a good outcome even if it does not yield any original creativity. Or may be it is designed as a PR stunt to “raise awareness.” It would be interesting to see if 584 inspirations and 194 concepts are any better than a few people brainstorming in a room.

I think the problem of bias of order is still there. Ideas are listed one after the other. The threads of conversation are not random. Or even if the exposure of ideas is randomized, pure serendipity is missing because I don’t think pure serendipity is random (different debate but you get the idea). Also, in live brainstorms, really bad ideas get killed right away, no matter how much you try to avoid it. (I think that is a good thing as it reduces clutter.)

What do you think? Here is the link:

http://openideo.com/open/how-might-we-give-children-the-knowledge-to-eat-better/evaluation/

Very interesting that Apple iPad pitch is all about basic intuition uses lines like “holding internet in your hands” and “you don’t think about it, you just do!”. I think the next sustainable revolution is intuitive devices like these.

When he mentioned the example of Cirque De Soleil, I instantly connected it to the Blue Ocean Strategy. We are kind of talking about the same thing. Just more creativity and intuition in decision making. I will read the book and post again. But I do think that people struggle with the idea of using too much intuition in business especially in public companies with stockholder pressure and a epitite for short-term gains.

At the same time, if wall street is OK with taking ridiculous risks with “mortgage backed securities” why not take a risk with some of these other “crazy” ideas.

Take long awaited mobile revolution? After years and years of text messaging being the coolest thing Sony, LG and Samsung “smartphones” could offer, Apple finally invented something that stirred something up. All of a sudden everyone has figured out how to make touch-screens work.

We seriously lack real innovation. There is just too much marketing fluff. Is this a side effect of our version of free market economy that does not have a real solution to the ’short term gains’ issue?