Innovation Blog

Consumption is driven by emotional responses. That emotional response is more important in today's highly fragmented market than it has ever been.

While we all were attuned to classic segmentation in developing products, the highly fragmented market is now demanding we better understand what I'm beginning to call "Tribal" marketing. If you don't like that adjective, plug in "cult" or "identity".

Throughout the course of a day, consumers re-invent themselves. Think of your own "typical" day of which there really isn't one. Perhaps you start out being an athlete and working out prior to your "office" type day. Within that environment your personae changes to something else. Six o'clockish, and you become a different animal, and join a different tribe.

These multiple personalities also account for the "aspirational" you. The aspirational you is one of those drivers of emotional consumption. With the multiple choices available to us in our 10 second on-line shopping experiences, the emotion of design becomes the absolute driver. If you're not emotionally driven within a very short time frame, you're only one click away from something else that will give you the emotional charge. Better start thinking about that one, or you're going to be left behind.

Walter Herbst

Why would a man who has built some of the fastest super-computers want to build a simple clock... because this clock is no ordinary clock. The concept is not revolutionary, just another machine which tells time, but what is fascinating is the way by which is measures time. Most timepieces today are the digital variety, relying on the natural vibration of a quartz crystal or an internal electronic oscillator to track the passage of time. What is different about Danny Hillis' clock is how it records time, as a binary serial adder, but is built solely of mechanical components. No electronics, no transistors, or internal oscillators! How is this possible? Follow the link and read on

Researchers at Rice University have created the world's smallest car. Sorry but no amount of dieting will let you fit into this vehicle. The car is less than 4 nanometers across or slightly wider than a strand of DNA. Why you ask? Well it seems they plan on building some nanofactories and they needed nanotrucks to bring in the nanoconstruction materials. But where are they going to find the nanoconstruction workers?

Consumption is driven by emotional responses. That emotional response is more important in today's highly fragmented market than it has ever been. While we all were attuned to classic segmentation in developing products, the highly fragmented market is now demanding we better understand what I'm beginning to call "Tribal" marketing. If you don't like that adjective, plug in "cult" or "identity".