I am surprised there has been no consolidation in the micro brewery market. The only quality beers that come to mind that are public and have relatively decent distribution networks are Boston Beer (Samual Adams), Pyramid Brewing and Sierra Nevada. Would it make sense to consolidate a lot of the smaller breweries, keep them independent but combine distribution channels?
Simple and easy ideas:
Picking up Doggie Doo Doo is not fun. Picture the advertisement. A driver of a BMW gets out of his car with his exquisite dog. They go on a nice walk. The dog does this ‘doodie’ and our friend has to lean over and pick up stinky, wet and gross dog doodie.
This product idea aims to make this task less disgusting and less demeaning. This product idea consists of a carry bag, spray can and cover disks. After your dog does his business, the can of activating microbial agents will be sprayed on the waste and aid in waste breakdown. Then a cover disk made of biodegradable material such as recycle news papers and coconut husks will be placed on top of the waste so not to upset others. The disks will be marked with advertisements for non-profits, ecological ideas, insightful thoughts and tips for pet owners.
A novelty item for SUV owners. Most 4X4 driving SUV owners never get them dirty. Most SUVs are sparkling clean. This novelty item is “’Off Roadin’ in a can’ for that SUV owner that doesn’t…”
Picture snow in a can, but this is mud in a can to be sprayed by the wheel wells to give an SUV that overworked and official look. Obviously the substance in the can has to look like mud and actually not harm the paint but make provide some protection to scratches and dents and dings. For novelty purposes.
Last idea is for the kitchen. A two part sponge for wiping down counters. Top part of sponge contains soap and water and the bottom half of sponge has just water to wipe up the soap. Picture the moisturizing strip on a razor. Same concept but with a sponge. Instead of moisturizing the sponge picks up the soapy water.
An evolution of financial planing software is Life Planning Software. Intuit and Micorosoft may want to explore the possibilities of building upon the finanacial planning software foundation they have laid. Afterall, once you have the money what are you going to do with it?
I believe this concept should be marketed with a blogging and community aspect. People talking to people about their dreams and transitions into new phases of life. For example, the life planning software will ready an individual transitioning in his or her last year of working into retirement. It will assist him or her in establishing a blog to talk abou the transition, tie him or her into a community of like minded individuals and prioritize his life planning priorities with the dollars needed for each concept. It can directly tie him or her to an active adult community and meet the people that will be his neighbors.
The LPP (or Life Planning Priorities) is the basis of the life planning sofware. The software tool will assist the user in identifying his or her goals and aspirations. It will weight the varying goals with the variables of time, effort and dollars. This tool will walk the user through to the end point they actually want to reach, but may not or have not been able to articulate.
The products on the market today will assist in saving money, investing money, making a will, paying off a car, paying for college, what type of life insurance to buy. But all of these factors are means to an end. Most users are not sure what their end is. Without an end in mind, how can you have any means.
"If you don't know where you are going, you will probably wind up somewhere else." Yogi Berra
SC Johnson and Company, maker of ZipLock storage bags, should offer it's ziplock branded bags to store snacks and breakfast cereals for company's such as Frito-Lay and Kellogg. The newly designed bags, specifically for 'Snack Freshness', offers ziploc and additional market, the orginal product packaging market. It offers the snack and cereal makers a packaging competitive advantage over other snack makers.
Microsoft has attempted the impossible. To dethrone the king of the MP3 player hill. So far it looks like the Zune is going to come up short.
Microsoft has an advantage that Apple doesn't. A beachhead has been established in the digital living room. The Xbox factor needs to be incorporated into the Zune's functionality. Microsoft needs to do several things:
Establish its concept of a digital ecosystem. Which involves how each piece of this ecosystem and how they are going to play together. It must be in the Zune's future that it will play with it's counterpart, the Xbox. Why wait? Start now.
Microsoft needs to create a name for this network of devices to avoid confusion. And they all need to link on the web via the live concept. Right now it is too confusing and fractured. They have live.com, xbox live, and Zune marketplace. If they are going with the 'live' marketing it should have been 'zune live'. Then everything can interact on live.com. Go with something catchy, "EcoLive". Counter the Ipod, "I", that is being incorporated in all things Apple. Good marketing. It creates a one vision for the consumer to to identify with.
Downloading songs to the Xbox makes sense. Easily transfering those files via wifi to the Zune should have been implemented.
The Zune should build upon the Xbox gaming capabilities. Your zune could be a 'mini map' of a game board that each player is privy too. The zune could display your 'hand' in a game of poker on the xbox. The possibilities are endless and a new and novel approach to the gaming ecosystem and give micorosoft something to boast about to fend off the Wii new controller. “look, we have a nifty gizmo too...can't do that with your ipod or Wii...”
The intent here is for a partnership between Apple computers I tunes software and radio operated by Clear Channel. The I Tunes radio stations will identify new music for the listeners. Stations will have different hosts, focusing on different genres of music, interviews with bands, and insights. These stations will have minimal to no advertisements since they drive customers to I tunes. The stations should be run in a manner similar to high school and college radio stations with different themes. The stations will be connected to I Tunes such that the user will be able to identify what song they heard and at what time. If heard on the radio station a slight discount code can be applied. Clear Channel obvious benefits. They evolve an ability to compete in a world where more people listen to ipods instead of the radio. Implement in one or two major metro areas.
