Forward Thinking

Trend Briefing Speed Summary: Clean Slate Brands

The latest trend briefing from the fabulous trendwatching.com is out today - focusing on the rise of 'Clean Slate Brands' - innovations conceived and launched under new brand names without heritage an...

9th April 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Top 40 Innovation Areas for Global FMCG Brands

The University of Cambridge recently ran a Dragon's Den style pitching event matching up innovators with a panel of senior execs from global FMCG brands; Bacardi, Mars, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline, Hei...

4th April 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Cool Innovation in FMCG #9: Dragon’s Den Pitching Events

One of the coolest innovations in FMCG right now is not a product but a new way that FMCG brands are finding innovations.  Last month, the University of Cambridge ran a Dragon's Den/Shark Tank "pitc...

2nd April 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Front End Innovation (FEI) Defined

Ask a regular human being what front end innovation means, and they're likely to hazard a guess that it's maybe about innovating front ends? But in the field of innovation, front end innovation (FEI)...

27th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Cool Innovation in FMCG 8: Box of Awesome

One big innovation opportunity that is often missed in FMCG is marketing innovation. Too often, front-end innovation projects are reduced to mere flavour/packaging variations of what is already availa...

25th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Innovating for FMCG: The 4th Dimension Technique [Video]

Checkout the brilliant slideshow above of consumer products evolving by decade - from milk containers to swimsuits. Published in the Guardian on Friday, and spotted by Brand Genetics design specialist...

18th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Cool Innovation in FMCG 7: Dominos Pizza Gig-in-a-Box

How do you put the fun into FMCG?  Take a cue from Dominos Pizza in Japan and augment your packaging with augmented reality.  Throw in some co-creation and a little star-dust and you'll have a hit. ...

14th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Cultural Mash-Ups: Why FMCG should follow the fashion

As regular readers will know one of the themes we often return to is 'innovation is a remix' - the idea that every innovation it built on a previous idea, just mixed up in a new and interesting way. ...

13th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Your Facebook Likes Reveal Powerful Insights – Including Sexual Orientation

Fascinating new research from the University of Cambridge published today shows the insight-generating power and potential of "Big Data"; massive, fast changing and diverse datasets characterized by t...

12th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

Innovation for the Ageing Consumer #2: eBooks

Continuing our series of surprising innovations that appeal to ageing consumers, this week we turn our attention to the likes of the Kindle - or more generically - eBooks. For many of us these will br...

11th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Speed Summaries

Influence: The Science of Persuasion [Speed Summary]

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Author: Robert Cialdini Publisher: Quill Publication: 2007 (Revised Edition) Hailed by the Journal of Market Research as "among the most important books ...

8th March 2013   |   3 minute read

Forward Thinking

African Innovation: The world’s fastest growing continent

This week the Economist has a special report on Africa which suggests that “Celebrations are in order on the poorest continent... Its economy is flourishing. Most countries are at peace…record n...

7th March 2013   |   3 minute read