At first blush (okay, pun intended), it’s hard to imagine anything that would be fit for print in a post on a marketing blog.  But in reality, NASA and the nudists in question are but two examples of an increasing trend we are seeing as marketers.  If I said the answer is “open source innovation” would that allow for too many bad jokes?  The truth is NASA has been a proponent of open source innovation since 2003 and in 2002 market researchers at Moen Faucets recruited 20 nudists to be videotaped while bathing to enhance their product development efforts.

Whether co-opting outsiders into helping you innovate as NASA does or getting creative with your ethnographic research as Moen did, we are seeing more and more members reaching out to their customers – and even their non-customers – for innovation help.  Already NASA’s Centennial Challenge Program has resulted in technological breakthroughs orchestrated by a “regular guy” from Maine working alone in his dining room as well as a group led by an undergraduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Read More »

By Laura Morris

Whether you want to get smart or sound cool, here’s what ten commonly used social media buzzwords mean in layman’s terms.  What other jargon is your digital agency (or, more likely, your 14 year-old) throwing your way?

1.  Social Graph: A visual representation of the different connections that an individual has within a larger social network.    Click here to learn more.

2. Social CRM: A process to monitor, engage and manage conversations and relationships with existing and prospective customers and influencers across the internet, social networks, and digital channels.  Click here to learn more.

3. Geo targeting: In geomarketing and internet marketing, the method of determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location.   Click here to learn more. Read More »

A few weeks ago, I pulled 10 nuggets from The Economist’s special report on social media. Fittingly, The Economist followed that this week with a special report on managing information.

Managing and making best use of all the data trails that consumers create via digital and social media is critical for marketers (see this prior post on managing information richness). This capability is one of a few that will separate winning marketing functions (and even enterprises) from losing ones in the next 3-5 years.

So, without further delay, here are 10 of my favorite takeaways from the report. Read More »