Category Archives: Innovation

So How Did They Make that Penguin so Realistic?

Okay, I admit it. I was captivated by the John Lewis Christmas commercial and wondered, “How’d they do that?!”

Creativity went behind the scenes to find out. I’m glad they did.

Love it or hate it, John Lewis’s Monty the Penguin holiday ad is an unstoppable seasonal juggernaut, with YouTube views now exceeding 17 million. One of the reasons for the appeal of the U.K. retailer’s ad is its realistic depiction of an Adelie penguin, created completely in CGI.

Behind the scenes of the making of Monty the Penguin

In this fascinating behind-the-scenes film from VFX house MPC, you can find out exactly how Monty was dreamed up, created and rendered. It’s full of interesting nuggets — for instance, Monty picks up the Lego bricks the way that real penguins pick up fish — as well as providing an insight into the film’s production, casting and more.

 

A Boy and His Penguin: Different Slant on Holiday Ads

When it comes to holiday TV ads, very few here in America have the emotional ring  to them compared to those in the U.K. Creativity magazine highlighted one such holiday ad and I thought it was appropriate to share on this blog.

According to Creativity, retailer John Lewis’ Christmas commercial — the most anticipated ad of the year in the U.K. calendar — is here, and you’d have to be a real Scrooge not to like it. It has all the elements of a winner: a wonderful child actor, a cute animal (the kid’s pet Adelie penguin, brought to life in amazing CGI by MPC) and a heartwarming twist. It’s the music, though — a cover of John Lennon’s “Real Love” sung by John Odell — that gives it that extra touch that might make you keep the Kleenex close.

John Lewis' Christmas ad, a boy and his penguin

Like the department store chain’s previous much-lauded efforts “The Long Wait” and “The Snowman,” the ad, by Adam & Eve/DDB, was directed by Dougal Wilson.

John Lewis is also launching an in-store experience featuring Monty, the penguin from the ad, in partnership with Samsung. Kids will be able to see their own favorite toys animated in 3D using Microsoft scanning technology in “Monty’s Magical Toy Machine” and interact with the characters from the ad in a virtual world with “Monty’s Goggles,” using Google Cardboard, an experience created by Stinkdigital. They’ll also able to create their own Monty Christmas card, and of course there will be Monty-inspired merchandise.

Creativity: Not Your Typical Loaf of Bread

As Rodney Dangerfield would say, “I don’t get no respect.” Creativity is like that, as are, for the most part, the artisans and thinkers who practice it everyday.

Creativity is not a commodity, like a loaf of bread or a carton of milk. Those items are commodities.

But what if that bread was a special blend of pumpkin, barley, cranberry and wheat? It would still be a loaf of bread but the process of blending different ingredients to make the loaf atypical (and still tasty) is creative. A lot more than just adding ingredients goes into making this special bread loaf. The baker has to know what he or she is doing, what may work and what may not. It’s a process, and a creative one.

Do they teach that in culinary school?

Thanks to iStockPhoto

Thanks to iStockPhoto

The art of creativity is a disruption to the normal way of thinking. As a society, we need to be more disruptive, more open to solving problems while exploring opportunities. In being creative, one doesn’t accept the status quo; one wants to change and improve upon it.

This frightens some folks. They don’t like change, and don’t have a great deal of respect for those who do. They don’t understand the creative mind or the process. They merely view it as a commodity.

How do we change that? Maybe we don’t. We can educate and explain, and that will help, but we need to do that with the right audience – folks who are at least open to dialogue, are curious. They may even ask “Well, instead of pumpkin and cranberry, what about pineapple and mango blending with the barley and wheat?”

Hmmmm, a showing of respect for the process?

Who knows, if they’re really daring, they may consider introducing a new line of baked breads. Heaven forbid that the consumers get another choice!

This creative thinking is a disruption to the status quo. This won’t set well with those who don’t want the status quo changed.

Respect for those of us who do? Forget it!

Yet, creative ideas for the most part have flourished over the years. Along with this, various media have caused a different type of playing field to be formed with creativity serving up some new and different rules.

Creative options equal what-ifs. Commodities don’t care about what-ifs.

Creativity lends itself to storytelling. Commodities don’t (I suppose they can but it would be rather challenging). Creativity allows for storytelling to be transformed into Web, mobile, social, broadcast, print, wherever.  There’s a disruption in the creative process, and the art of storytelling is leading the way.

You can’t do that with a commodity. Long live creativity. Long live disruption.

 

 

Innovation: There’s Apple, Samsung and the Rest of Us

We hear it probably more than we should. Is it becoming an overused word or has it attained that status yet?

Yes, I believe “innovation” is an overused word. And, it’s applied by folks, some of whom should know better, who think every creative endeavor is innovative.

I wish that were the case. It’s not.

OK, reality check time.

According to Wikipedia, “innovation” is the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new that “breaks into” the market or society.

So, the next time you change that blue logo to green and make it larger (along with a change of font, of course), you’re not being innovative. It may still be questionable as to how creative you’re actually being.

Of course, innovation goes far beyond a logo or font change. Today’s innovative spheres are super competitive. Just look at the escalating war between Apple and Samsung.

In a recent article by the Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle, the two are back in court this week, accusing each other of stealing ideas and features on their smartphones. Litigation could lead to more expensive devices for the consumer and slow the overall pace of mobile innovation.

The Chronicle article cites Rutgers Law School professor Michael Carrier as saying, “What’s even more worrisome for the effect on innovation is the impact on small innovators. Apple and Samsung can afford this litigation. The next upstart cannot.”

Apple and Samsung are in a league of their own. They share that “super league” with the Googles, Amazons and Microsofts.

For the rest of us on this planet, how should we approach innovation? What should our mindset be?

Well, according to a creative team leader at Google, one should only start looking to innovate when:

– one has totally nailed every best practice and has tapped out on what that can deliver,
– one has an insight to justify an innovative approach.

Otherwise, he says, what one ends up making is gimmickry, inevitably destined for the digital landfill.

One thing is for certain:  We cannot stop innovating, thinking differently, and, yes, counting our failures (they will come, ya know).

So, what’s your take? 

Agree? – Disagree? – Thoughts? – Comments?

 

International Creativity Month: Bah Humbug!

Did you know that this month, January, is International Creativity Month? I didn’t; in fact, I’ve never heard of this before. Its notification sort of came to my attention by accident while I was glancing over other “interesting facts” about January.

As I wanted to learn more, I found out that motivational speaker Randall Munson founded International Creativity Month to “remind individuals and organizations around the globe to capitalize on the power of creativity,” according to his web site.

I can understand why he designated January – the first month of the year provides an opportunity for us to take a fresh approach to problem-solving and renew confidence in our creative capabilities.

My only problem with that is why limit reminding ourselves of the power of creativity to just one month! We should be practicing this mindset all 12 months of the year, at the beginning of each month.

Why? Consider this:

As pointed out in a recent article on this subject, businessman and author Harvey Mackay, cites a study by the research firm Strategy One. The study discovers about 52 percent of Americans consider themselves creative, but only 39 percent of Americans feel they’re living up to their creative potential. That’s one finding from a survey of 5,000 adults in the United States, the U.K., France, Germany, and Japan (1,000 participants each).

To me, the percentages above are pretty dismal, especially in light of these stats:
•    85 percent of Americans feel that creativity is the key to driving economic growth.
•    82 percent feel that the US isn’t living up to its creative potential.
•    62 percent believe that our nation’s creativity is being stifled by our education system.
•    88 percent agree that everyone has the potential to be creative.

Time and money (no surprise) are the biggest obstacles, say Americans: 54 percent say lack of money prevents them from being creative, and 52 percent cite a lack of time. The lack of time conundrum is one that particularly irritates me.

Everyone is in a rush for brilliance; yet, the work won’t be brilliant (usually) because of a lack of time to do it. Particularly troubling is that clients tend to accept it anyway or they don’t understand why you didn’t have enough time or that the time frame was unrealistic in the first place! Most just don’t “get it.”

No matter how creative or wonderful we believe our idea to be, a great way to test how good and understandable it is, is to present it to an eight year old. If she doesn’t “get it,” you’ve not made yourself clear. Children are to be envied because of their unbridled creativity and imagination.

Then, as we grow into adults, we screw it all up. Pablo Picasso, one of the most creative artists who ever lived, said, “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”

One of my favorite inspirations comes from another notable thinker, Dr. Seuss (aka Theodore Geisel): “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.”

Amen!

Nurturing one’s creativity takes a lifetime. So does feeding that child inside all of us. We need to remind ourselves of that every day and every month, not just in January.

Apple’s New Spaceship Campus: Innovation being rewritten

If you haven’t seen or read about Apple’s proposed new campus in Cupertino, CA, this “sneak peek” via Wired magazine will give you something to contemplate. Recently Cupertino city officials gave the go-ahead on development of this new campus.

This blog is partially about innovation and all things creative. When I read this article and looked over the sketches of the soon-to-be “Apple Campus 2,” I began to think of new versions of how that iWord could be applied.

Quoting from Wired, “At this point, there’s a good chance you’ve seen pictures of Apple’s proposed new headquarters — a 2.8-million-square-foot spaceship parked in a verdant man-made forest in the northeast corner of Cupertino. Since the first dozen or so renderings trickled out in 2011, however, we haven’t gotten a much better sense of what all the new campus will entail or what it will be like to work there.

“Until now.

“Apple may be known for its secrecy, but buried in Cupertino’s municipal archive is a wealth of detail on the project — including more than 20 previously unseen renderings of the new campus.

Sketch of Apple's new HQ

Image: City of Cupertino

“Seen for the first time is the space port-like entrance to the development’s subterranean parking lot, a cavernous cafeteria that spills into the grassy landscape beyond, and the glass pavilion that will serve as the entrance to Apple’s new underground auditorium — a secure lair where press will gather for future product launches.

“In short, these documents give us the most complete picture of Apple’s new home yet, a campus that Steve Jobs himself thought had a shot at being ‘the best office building in the world.'”

Progress would suggest that more buildings will be developed across the country with the same environmental and creative foresight the folks at Apple are showing with this design.

Architects and designers should never feel constrained about introducing new elements into the work place. Yes, money will always play a significant role, but isn’t it more important to develop an environment that is not only welcoming to Mother Nature, but inspiring to employees (and stockholders).

As you’re nodding “yes,” and you should be, keep in mind that society needs to do more of this. It’s not always about the bottom line.

Now, here’s a peek at the forthcoming mothership. Enjoy!

Lessons learned from SXSW

Recently at an American Advertising Federation Houston luncheon, Hugh Forrest, the interactive director of the ever-popular SXSW (South-by-South West) festival held each year in Austin, Texas, summed up lessons learned from the experience. While Hugh may be looking at these teachings from a SXSW perspective, they’re not exclusive to the festival.

They’re very applicable to life.

1.) If you try to innovate, you will inevitably fail.

2.) Failure breeds success.

3.) Turn weakness into strength.

4.) Patience. Patience. Patience.

Innovative thinking, let alone innovation, scares the heck out of people. It evokes change, and we all know what that means; the status quo is under attack. Attacking the various challenges inherent in putting on a wildly popular festival every year is risky business. You have to adapt, though. You have to appease, as best you can, your customers’ desires and needs.

If you’re lucky, innovation will lead to failure. Then, failure leads to success. Strange thinking, isn’t it.

Of course, we all need to learn from our failures, our mistakes. That’s the only way to realize some success.

In business, as in life, unpopular decisions are made.  They’re made for, hopefully, the good of the whole rather than the one.

Along the way, you discover different aspects of what makes you and your organization tick. There will always be areas (weaknesses) that need to be improved until you become quite good at them (strengths) or at least good enough to be acceptable.

Because of its popularity, SXSW has out grown Austin. You can still get tickets to go, but getting a hotel room is just about forgettable. Weakness. So, the event’s organizers are considering introducing a virtual element: Experiencing the festival from anywhere you happen to be. Strength.

You don’t have to be great at everything. Life doesn’t work that way. You must constantly improve, though, or else you’ll stagnate.

And in doing all of this, you gotta have patience, sometimes in rather large quantities.

As with any company or organization that tries to innovate, SXSW is continually learning . . . and growing . . . and failing . . . and succeeding . . . and learning . . . and, well, you get the drift.

Not a bad cycle to be in really.

The iPod, iPhone, iPad, and now . . . the iDesk?

Since this blog talks about and attempts to showcase creativity and innovation, the following piece came to my attention via a newsletter from American Luxury Magazine. Give it a read sometime.

I couldn’t resist sharing this. It’s really cool and yet hard to believe it’s just a concept. For now.

Mac|Life (another good publication) has come up with the iDesk, a desk where much of the normal clutter on your desk will be replaced by apps and widgets. It is essentially a huge iPad.

idesk-concept-by-maclife

According to Mac|Life, the entire top of the desk is a touchscreen that can sync with all your iOS devices by just placing them on its surface.  You will have the option of using a digital touchscreen mouse and keyboard or sticking with a traditional keyboard and mouse.  The iDesk will have apps available for everything you need, from setting reminders or marking dates in a calendar, to posting updates on Facebook or sending out emails.

Custom desktop themes would allow you to give your desk a classic look or  you can work on the water.idesk-concept-by-mac-life-water

The iDesk is still just a concept, but  considering the Microsoft Surface windows-based touch-tables have been available for awhile now,  it could be hitting Apple Stores sooner rather than later.

So what do you think? Will this be something to which consumers would be attracted?

Innovation, at times, can be fickle. So what? Kudos to the Mac|Life gang for bringing this to light.

Depending on the price (if it ever gets that far), this reminds me of something  appropriate for the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog.

The Ark Project: Noah’s version has come a long way!

I recently received an email from American Luxury Magazine about a variety of inspiring stories. Even though luxury items and the lifestyle associated with them is evidently the market for the magazine, I was stopped in my tracks when I saw the visual and started reading about a modern day concept called the Ark Project. Talk about innovation! This really got my attention, especially the visuals of this thing.

Quoting here, “Keeping in mind things like climate change and extreme environmental conditions, Russian architect Alexander Remizov, has come up with an eco-friendly floating home that could be constructed in just a few months anywhere in the world – the Ark.

“The Ark has its own independent life support sources and is built to withstand floating through rising sea levels if need be. The Ark works all within itself to heat, cool, and sustain energy. Planting greenery is also a part of living in the Ark, in order to produce oxygen and for decor. Constructing this 151,000 square feet living space would cost roughly the same as building an energy-efficient house according to the Russian architect.”

the-ark-floating

the-ark-floating-inside

Alas, creativity and innovation know no bounds. Our society needs more of this, especially when mankind’s betterment is at stake.

Plus, the Ark looks like fun, if not a little imposing!