somersault

1. Creativity is BETWEEN Us (Not Within Us). Creativity emerges out of relationships; it’s the tension between different ideas and perspectives and so it is risky to define it as an ability that we inherently possess.

2. Creativity Must be Externalized. Creativity is driven by the ability to externalize ideas in a wide variety of forms.

3. Creativity is Driven by Social Dynamics. It comes out of a collaborative environment. How can we ever be creative without feeling [a] human connection and without being able to bounce our ideas off of each other?

Read this article in full.

Religion News Service (@ReligionNewsNow) reminds us that Handel's oratorio Messiah was first performed on this day in 1742. Back then, the Dublin Journal wrote a review (originating social buzz), saying, "Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crouded Audience.”

If you’ll recall last Christmas season, as a way to promote Alphabet Photography, Inc., a flash mob performed the Hallelujah Chorus at Seaway Mall in Welland, ON. The video of that event has now enjoyed more than 32 million views on YouTube.

Remember what elements comprise a successful viral video? What viral video can Somersault help you produce?

By the way, be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard created especially for publishing and marketing professionals.

Today is the 57th anniversary of the most boring day in the last century (Sunday, April 11, 1954). A computer scientist used the search engine True Knowledge (@trueknowledge) to search 300 million compiled facts and determine this date had "the fewest significant births, significant deaths, or significant events" of any other day. A pretty innovative way to get social media buzz about the True Knowledge brand! Read about it. Also see NPR’s coverage.

You haven’t heard Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring like this before! The music is the centerpiece of an innovative viral video (2 million views) for NTT Docomo’s Touch Wood Phone. Adweek (@adweek) gets behind-the-scenes in this article. 

An article by bhatnaturally (@bhatnaturally) explains what makes a successful viral video:

When it comes to TV commercials, placing it on YouTube either before or after airing it has become a default option. Some videos are placed on YouTube with an express intent of making them viral. Unfortunately you cannot ‘make’ a viral video; you can only hope the video will ‘go’ viral. Going beyond mere hope, certain aspects about the ads can help it to go viral. Like in the Touch Wood ad.

·         At first pass, it’s riveting. You are intrigued to find out what’s going to happen next.

·         There are certain moments in the film which have repeat value -- for me it was when the balls go off the bridge and fall in to the ‘net’ on the sides.

·         There is a reward for the viewer’s attention and engagement in terms of a message.

·         It evokes a ‘wow, that’s cool’ reaction.

What viral video can Somersault help you produce?

TIME magazine (@TIME) reports about a British company that successfully discovers new markets — and innovates new applications — for its product:

Hainsworth (@AWHainsworth), a 225-year-old, family-run wool mill in West Yorkshire, England, has developed niche uses for wool. Its product range includes the uniforms worn by the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace, the felt lining inside Steinway pianos and the interior headlining used in Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles. But it is one of Hainsworth's most recent, and most unique, new products that's making the company's competitors look sheepish: woolen coffins....

The idea for woolen coffins came about thanks to a bit of sheer luck. A marketing student who was interning for Adam Hainsworth discovered that in 1667, Parliament — hoping to bolster the textile industry — passed a law requiring all corpses be buried in a woolen shroud. Good idea, Hainsworth thought, though clearly in this day and age something sturdier would be required. So with the help of a funeral director he knew, he built a prototype casket — bulked up with recycled cardboard — and took it to JC Atkinson, the UK's largest manufacturer and distributor of coffins. The company liked the idea and agreed to help shepherd further development and act as distributor. Six months later, at a June 2009 trade show, Hainsworth took the wraps off the woolen coffin.

Read the article in full.

Let Somersault help you identify blue ocean strategies for your brand. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

According to Fast Company (@fastcompany), Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Nissan, Groupon, Google, Dawning Information Industry, Netflix, Zynga, and Epocrates comprise the top 10 companies that can be singled out for their mastery of creative contribution to their consumers.

An artificial heart and its lightweight power drive. A better airline for Brazil. Chocolate from Madagascar and a soccer shirt made of plastic water bottles. A fashion leader escaping its pattern, a smelter, and that little coupon startup in Chicago that's suddenly worth billions. All this from one simple word: innovation.

The 50 companies on our 2011 list have chosen a unique path. Today's business landscape is littered with heritage companies whose CEOs battle their industry's broken model with inertia, layoffs, lawsuits -- anything that squeezes pennies and delays the inevitable. How many of these companies will be dominant in 2025? Few.

That world will be ruled by the kinds of companies on this list. They're nondogmatic, willing to scrap conventional ideas. (A mere 30-second TV ad? Let's do 200 online videos in two days, say the creatives at Wieden+Kennedy.) They're willing to fail. (Google's search team runs up to 200 experiments at any one time.) They know what they stand for. (By making home-viewing as easy as possible, Netflix walloped Blockbuster, which thought its business had something to do with stores.)

Read the article in full.

What do these brands know that others (yours?) don’t? What lessons can we learn from them to adapt to innovating in the fast-changing world of publishing?

Grand Rapids, MI (Apr. 1, 2011) – International publishing strategy and services agency Somersault Group™ (http://somersaultgroup.com) (@smrsault) announces it has purchased the naming rights to the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) (http://www.christianretailshow.com) (@ICRShow), being held this year July 10-13 in Atlanta, GA.

The 5-year deal marks the first change in name for the 61-year-old conference since it became ICRS in 2005. Beginning this year it will be called Somersault International Christian Retail Show (SICRS).

“There’s no truth to the rumor that the pronunciation of the acronym is ‘sickers,’” says Jonathan Petersen, Somersault word-of-mouth evangelist. “It’s pronounced ‘sycrus,’ which is ancient Greek for ‘to buy.’”

In keeping with previous CBA initiatives, such as More from the Core and “What Goes Into the Mind Comes Out in a Life”™, the convention name change is intended to inject energy and focus into the Christian retail sector.

“SICRS is the opportunity for Christian retailers from around the world to join together and learn from each other,” says Nautida Konventsiooni, chair of the annual convention. She says it’s also a time when retailers can button-hole publishers about the crazy decisions they’ve made in the previous year.

“I’m pumped about the new SICRS name,” says Artificielle Nom, owner of the 50,000 square foot Nom de Plume independent Christian store in Dighton, NM. “It’s going to rejuvenate the entire industry!”

Included in the name change deal is the agreement to locate all Christian “schtick” products to a far corner of the exhibit hall and make certain to direct all media reporters covering the convention away from that area.

About Somersault

Somersault Group™ (Somersault™) is a partner-managed LLC with offices in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The company’s purpose is to enable publishers, agents, ministries, organizations, and Christian authors to quickly leverage rapid changes in communication technology, emphasize excellence in branding and marketing communication for an author’s business development, and extend the highest editorial standards to achieve the goal of helping people experience God’s kingdom. Somersault’s mission statement: to change lives by connecting inspirational content creators with readers using exceptional creativity, right-now technology, and old-fashioned personal care. To that end, Somersault has created SomersaultNOW, the online dashboard to keep publishing and marketing professionals informed. For more information about Somersault, visit somersaultgroup.com.

On his blog Innovation in Mission, Jon Hirst (@generousmind), draws lessons for marketers from the missing snake story at the Bronx Zoo. An Egyptian Cobra escaped from the New York zoo on Monday and “someone, realizing the opportunity for humor and attention, set up a Twitter account called @bronxzooscobra,” which now has more than 124,000 followers enjoying such tweets as “Getting my morning coffee at the Mudtruck. Don't even talk to me until I've had my morning coffee. Seriously, don't. I'm venomous.” And “On top of the Empire State Building! All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice.”

Jon suggests the following components comprise effective communication principles marketers should use in their campaigns to engage people:

1. A Real Event
2. Authenticity
3. Quality Content

Read this in full.

What other principles can we learn from the snake tweet’s follower success?

The company that brought us everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pocket knives has come up with a campaign to “promote the core values that have contributed to our 127 years of success and fame.” Called Time to Care, it’s Victorinox's (@Victorinox) yearlong initiative celebrating “The Spirit of Innovation and Sustainability.”

Running from late March through the end of September 2011, the Time to Care project showcases the innovative Victorinox Swiss Army Alliance line of watches and chronographs. It consists of two initiatives: a traveling photography exhibition celebrating sustainable design and an international sustainable design competition. The events seek to promote and generate innovative and design solutions.

What ways can you think of to promote your brand’s commitment to innovation?

On Fast Company’s Co.Design (@fastcodesign), Warren Berger (@GlimmerGuy), the grand inquisitor of the website a more beautiful question, says “breakthroughs are often born with someone asking ‘What if...?’”

What if someone sold socks that didn’t match? In his new book Disrupt, Luke Williams (@LukeGWilliams), talks about how that offbeat question was the impetus for the launch of Little Miss Matched, a company whose purposely mismatched socks proved surprisingly popular with young girls. It’s one of a number of examples Williams cites of new business innovations that began with what he calls “a disruptive hypothesis.” Another better-known one is Netflix, whose business model provided an answer to the question, What if a video rental company didn’t charge late fees?...

Innovation is driven by questions that are original, bold, counterintuitive, and perceptive.

Read the article in full.

What “disruptive hypothesis” will you use today to lead to game-changing innovation in your world? What questions should publishers, agents, organizations, and authors be asking?