Category Archives: Innovation

Why Would Burger King Sell Red Burgers in Japan?

Sell red what? That’s what I thought when I first saw the headline, “The Inside Story on Why Burger King Sells Red Burgers in Japan.”

I didn’t think someone would make this up, especially since Advertising Age was reporting the story. Well, I became intrigued and felt like this may make for an interesting blog post on a site like this, exploring all forms of creativity and innovation.

Even in a land of relentlessly wacky fast food innovations, Burger King Japan has nabbed a lot of attention with its all-black burgers.

BK's Black Burger

Burger King Japan’s black burger.

Yeah, you heard right. The sight of pitch-black buns and cheese, evidently, really gets to people.

Pass the Pepto, please!

But wait, that’s nothing.

Burger King Japan recently launched an all-red burger, with red-colored cheese, buns and, obviously, hot sauce. A Google search turned up more than 150 headlines in English alone on the new creation.

What Better Way to Get Brand Attention on a Tight Budget?

The Aka Samurai from Burger King Japan. Also comes with chicken.

BK's Red Burger

As some of you may be gasping about now at the sight of the Red Burger (personally, I prefer the sight of the Red version over the Black), the question arising in my mind was “why?”

Obviously, the folks at Ad Age were curious, too. So, Burger King Japan’s general manager for business management, Masanori Tatsuiwa, who worked previously at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather Japan, answered a few questions about the red Aka Samurai Burger (buns and cheese tinted with tomato powder), the black Kuro Burger (which used bamboo charcoal and squid ink), as well as the brand’s “flame-grilled” personal fragrance.

Here are excerpts from that interview . . .

Ad Age: Where do these ideas come from, and what’s your process?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: We sit down with marketing and R&D look for something unusual. When we start to think about something, we have taste tests inside the restaurant. We have 93 restaurants in Japan.

At the moment we don’t have much ad budget in our hands, so we do almost everything by ourselves. We are not using any creative agencies for these products. This way we don’t need any big money to expand our awareness in the market.

Burger King is not big compared to the competitor companies in Japan. McDonald’s has about 3,000 restaurants in Japan. The local MOS Burger chain has almost 1,400 restaurants. (Editor’s note: Burger King re-entered Japan in 2007, after a first attempt had failed after eight years in 2001 amid tough fast food competition.)

Ad Age: How big is your marketing team?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: Five people. Including R&D.

Ad Age: So, why red this time?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: This is the fourth year we’ve had a black burger, and we wanted to have something new happen this year. And we were also thinking about the Burger King “Angry Whopper,” (a jalapeno-laden rendition of the classic), that launched in some markets, but with the color the same as usual. Brown. We thought making it red would make people curious and express the hot taste.

Ad Age: Are other markets picking up on these ideas?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: Burger King Singapore has a black burger and a white burger this year. Burger King Malaysia has a black burger called the Ninja.

Ad Age: On April 1 you had a one-day-only sale of something called “Flame-Grilled Fragrance.” (The 1,000-piece limited edition flasks sold for $41 and came with a Whopper. They sold out.) Why a perfume?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: The idea came from Burger King in the U.S., they had a perfume several years ago. We thought we could use that on “Whopper Day” in Japan.

We were thinking if we announced a launch for this kind of perfume for April 1 (yes, April Fool’s Day), some people might think it wasn’t true (and that would generate more conversations about it). But we seriously produced this product, and that was very effective. We collaborated with a local perfume company and asked them to produce a flame-grilled smell. It was a very unique order for them. They worked very hard on it. (I’m not making this up, gang. Sounds like the perfect White Elephant gift.)

Ad Age: How were sales?

Mr. Tatsuiwa: It was a record for one-day sales on a weekday.

Now, honestly, even as promotion-crazy as we tend to be in the US of A, I wonder if either one of these would fly. What do you think, marketers and creative folks? Would any of you client companies have the guts to try something like this or to let your agencies develop this kind of special promotion?

I doubt it.

Hell, if it tastes good, why not. Just put on a blindfold while eating one (especially the black version).

Do You Really Want to Park There? Beware the Hologram!

I was taken with this ad the first time I saw it. I was also quite unnerved. Why don’t we see more of this kind of campaign in the USA?
More than 30% of the drivers in Russia take disabled parking spaces without caring about the signs on the ground. Dislife, a Russian non-profit organization, came up with a powerful campaign to stop this inconsiderate behavior.
They installed projections of a real disabled person that popped up every time a non-disabled driver tried to park in their space. Special cameras verified the presence of the disabled sticker on their windshields and if no sticker was detected, the hologram would appear to confront the driver. Watch the stunt in action below.

Unnerving as it may be, the campaign is a great use of technology to deliver a powerful message. The agency is Y&R, Moscow. Bravo!

Feel free to share this post and your views in the comments below.

Could This Be the “iYacht”?

New Photos of Steve Jobs’ Yacht

American Luxury Magazine (from which you can view additional photos) recently sent out an e-newsletter featuring a variety of super-luxurious items. Among them was a select group of photographs featuring Steve Jobs’ yacht. Yet again, creativity and innovation done the Apple way.

A 256-foot yacht designed for the late Steve Jobs was captured in numerous photographs as it sailed in to the British Virgin Islands.

Steve Jobs Yacht

The yacht, called Venus, was designed by Philippe Starck. Jobs reportedly commissioned the building of the yacht after sailing on his friend Larry Ellison’s Yacht. The yacht was not finished until 2012, nearly a full year after Jobs’ passing.

The yacht has six bedrooms and features high-tech automation systems. The exterior is crafted from aluminum and steel and looks strikingly similar to an Apple product.

The yacht is now owned by Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs.

(Photo credit: Beth Colt, photographer and owner of Woods Hole Inn, @woodsholeinn on Instagram) 

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!