[Imagination Club] A New challenge to Innovate

Fri Aug 12 12:08:06 GMT 2005

Thanks to Jeffrey, it was fun to read his ideas :)

Harmony, here is my version.

Solution to the problem is 'personalized marketing'. You require superb 
customer relationship department.

List 50 prospective customers for the first month campaign. Get their 
personal details like their hobbies, favorite dish, reading habits. You 
can use detective service to get this information. It will be cheaper than 
bulletin board ad campaign.

Now use your brain to send them personalized courier. For example, 
proposed customer's favorite dish is say 'FISH'. Send a frozen fish 
trapped in icebox to him/her with message 'Dear XYZ, if you use our 
environment control system, this will never happen :) blah..blah..blah'

Make sure message is written on his/her name and courier gets delivered 
right into his/her hand. Be creative in deciding deliver time and place. 
Like you can deliver right after 10 minutes he/she gets into office. Or 
may be while they are on business tour to Europe, deliver it right in 
their hotel room. That will be surprising (but may create negative 
impression too if they feel you are breaking their privacy).

Next month, target another 50 customers. But, make sure each gift packages 
are unique. They might talk to each other and if they find out you have 
given them separate gift based on their liking, they will really feel 
good.

Out of this 100 you will get minimum 10 customers!! And if your quality 
assurance & customer relationship department works well, you will get 10 
more customers just by mouth publicity. Then you can stop this detective 
business and rely on ad campaign.

Whole point in this idea is getting immediate attention of prospective 
customer using target/personalized marketing. I don't know what can be the 
cost of this kind of campaign there in Vancouver, but I still have a 
feeling that it will be lot cheaper than any other regular medium.

Regards,
MD

PS: One idea for customer relationship -  The data you have collected you 
can use later too. Like if one of customer likes to see action movies, 
send them theater tickets when big hit is released.

"Jeffrey Baumgartner" <jeffreyb at jpb.com> 
Sent by: imagine-bounces at lists.supertrade.com
08/12/2005 04:23 PM
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Re: [Imagination Club] A New challenge to Innovate

Thanks to Harmony for sharing a real life challenge with 
the Imagination Club. 

A few good suggestions have been proposed. But I think we 
are not pushing the envelope far enough. Remember this club 
is about stretching your imagination. So, go ahead. Push 
your ideas to the limit and don't be afraid to suggest 
crazy ideas. That's what the imagination club is all about.

Here are some ideas of mine - bear in mind that I do not 
condone these ideas - I only suggest them.

1) If the company is selling to your southern neighbour 
(ie. the USA), why not promote the software as "The only 
environmental software that complies with all US Homeland 
Security provisions on Environmental Terrorism". Of course, 
the company will want to look at the Homeland Security 
legislation. But with any luck, it won't actually use the 
term environmental terrorism anywhere with in ;o). 

2) Get a copy of the competitors' letterhead. You could 
probably do this by posting them a letter that requests an 
answer. If nothing else, you could always create a 
letterhead using the logo off their web site.

Make a copy of the letterhead and on it write a letter to 
all top prospects in North America. invite them to attend a 
free workshop on environmental automation in Bangkok. 
Inform them that first class air fare will be paid and tell 
them that rooms have been booked for them in the Oriental 
(probably the most expensive hotel in Bangkok).

Then send each participant a letter, care of the Oriental, 
informing them that the seminar has been cancelled at the 
last minute and as a result, the participants will not be 
compensated for their travel expenses. 

Participants will doubtless not have a very good feeling 
about the competition after that!

3) Again, using fake letterhead, write press releases to 
the main business publications denying that the CEO has 
been arrested for running farm animal pornography web sites 
and that such accusations are completely untrue. Further 
state the the CEO most certainly did not star in such 
pornography and that the main actor in "Farmer Jones Gets 
Naughty with the Sheep" only looks and sounds like the CEO 
but certainly is not the CEO.

Jeffrey
Your Fearless Moderator

On 11 Aug 2005 at 17:34, Harmony Thiessen wrote:

> Thank you to each one so far, for sharing your profiles.  I
> have an increasing sense that this group has some excellent
> Mastermind potential and relevancy. Would you care to apply
> your creative insights to the following? 
> 
> A Vancouver developer has invented an improved software
> application of environmental automation to offer to the
> global market. In fact, Vancouver has several manufacturers
> of various software in this discipline. The inventor also
> owns a reputable service company which specializes in the
> maintenance and repairs of environmental controls, and has
> had the unique opportunity to find out the "bugs" first
> hand.  Approximately 1 million dollars has been invested in
> the design. 
> 
> They have won the bids and installed their units in a few
> city (government) buildings and ice-rinks (for curling or
> hockey). They do have a technical website for those who
> understand the lingo - which are probably not the decision
> makers in this case. 
> 
> The competition in NA anyway is with a couple large 
> companies who have been in the business for decades, but are
> using antiquated systems (by comparison) and take their
> market share for granted as they have had no reason to fear
> competition to this point. They have the name, and years of
> identification in the market to rely upon. 
> 
> Our new company has superior product, but is now in the
> research rich and inventory poor position. They do offer a
> very completive price however to prospects and can compete
> with the "big boys" effectively on bids. Their Problem as it
> appears to them: Product not known, therefore not trusted. 
> 
> We want to take this product to the NA market. Our target
> markets are: mechanical engineers, property management
> companies, and finally the dealers who supply the controls
> to the aforementioned. 
> 
> How does the small company introduce their product with the
> highest level of credibility and finest use of financial
> resources? 
> 
> I look forward to your responses.
> 
> 
> Harmony Thiessen
> Vancouver, BC
> 

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