Typically this would have included the creative challenge of turning a technical solution into a consumer friendly marketing proposition and communication – including the obligatory social media content to whip up the excitement levels with potential customers.

It would normally also include a rush to get it out of the door before your competition. Some of us would have also experienced this focus on speed rather than customer experience can have sub-optimal effects on our marketing success.

That was the case with the Jawbone Up when they first launched it in 2011 but whose success was quickly brought to a halt by soaring product returns and customer complaints due to the technology in the wristband breaking.

Jawbone quickly and bravely withdrew the product from the market – providing full refunds for all customers that had bought it – and went back to the drawing board to create a much improved customer experience.

Not only have they completely redesigned the technology of the product on the inside but they have also been busy making sure that the app and digital content it provides are really slick and a delight to use.

Well I believe that Jawbone are about to prove that an absolute focus on providing a fantastic consumer experience will ultimately win the day in market success. It may have proven to take longer and cost more than originally planned but in the medium term I think it will be the best thing they could have done to continue to build their brand reputation and ongoing commercial success.

Not only that but their dedication to creating such a great experience provides the quality of stories and digital content that marketers love to have to drive social engagement.

We all want to emulate some of Apple’s success and I believe it is their own focus on delivering the ultimate customer experience (think original iPod click wheel rather than iOS6 maps) that has been pivotal. It’s using and sharing our experiences of their products that has had a more profound impact than their advertising or social media activity.

Jawbone look set to provide the most elegant and fun way to track your sleeping, diet and exercise – and it will be the great experience that will really get it’s customers talking.

So I was amazed to see that E.ON – one of the UK’s leading energy suppliers – is to close its innovation arm.

Energy brands are often viewed as a commodity service and consumers are encouraged to switch suppliers based on the latest price deals – especially true when their prices are regularly increased as they are at the moment.

This is exactly when innovation needs to play it’s part by adding new value to customers.

Surely there are lots of opportunities for E.ON to help us change our consumer behaviour and usage of energy. Not just in providing innovations such as renewable energies and services that make our energy usage more efficient but also in amazing general customer service and marketing initiatives that create more valued & loyal customer relationships.

I’m sure that E.ON will say something like ‘innovation is core in our business and doesn’t need a separate business unit’ but from my experience a company as large and important as E.ON this is not enough to deliver the big changes that are possible.

At at time when there are a number of small businesses developing interesting new energy propositions such as the Nest learning thermostat in the US the big energy suppliers – like the big telcos before them – run the risk of becoming even more like a ‘price led commodity’ than ever before.

Still, all the time energy suppliers are able to set and follow their competitor prices in a ‘near-cartel’ fashion maybe they are content not to take the risk and effort to invest in innovation and simply suck-up the almost guaranteed profits that the sector provides.

I hope this is not about the lack of value of innovation to energy companies but perhaps more to do with their ability to harness and execute it properly in the business.

As someone that has recently got into the cycling boom in the UK and having spent well over £1000 on a lovely carbon fibre bike I’m intrigued about the potential of a bike that weighs about the same and yet could cost much, much less.

Clearly the bike isn’t designed to win the Tour de France but it has the potential to be truly great because it addresses a number of key innovation success criteria:

• An inspiring and exciting story that will be rapidly shared - ‘surely you can’t cycle on a cardboard bike’. Clearly both the intrigue and fantastic design create a really exciting story that has the potential to generate huge amounts of media coverage and of course offers the sort of ‘talkability’ that many brands aspire.
• Unique position in a large growing market - I’m assuming that there are not too many folk as creative and determined enough as Izhar to have been spending the last two years in their sheds creating the perfect cardboard bicycle. I trust he has also been smart enough to protect the IP then he could enjoy a unique position in a large market for some considerable time.
• Keeping the offer simple - Not only is the bike design beautifully simple but the idea itself especially the low-maintenance aspects of the bike are fantastically simple. It’s easy to know what this offers and of course how a sales person can sell it.
• Opens up big new customer market opportunities – not only could this address the obviously large market potential in developed and developing markets for ‘low-cost’ bicycles but the additional angle of ‘easy maintenance’ hits another massive consumer need for convenience. Not only that but the more environmentally conscious audience opens up yet a third key customer target group.

Not only am I hugely impressed by the innovation in the product itself and the massive potential market opportunity but mainly I’m struck by the sheer focus and determination of this great innovator to prove that the impossible can be possible.

Whether this cardboard bike would really survive the often wet and pot-holed roads of the UK or even ever be produced at such aggressively low costs still remains to be seen but this is the kind of simple but challenging innovation that gets me really excited.

Good luck to them.

Operating systems aside – and it is a big bet that Windows Phone 8 can be successful without a larger list of quality apps and games – it does seem that Nokia have been really thinking about creating a simple and enjoyable consumer experience that can differentiate them from the masses of Android manufacturers.

I believe this focus on consumer experience can provide real competitive advantage in a sea of similar smartphones – and I think Nokia might just have found the right touch.

Firstly, it looks like they will be among the first with a good consumer use of NFC technology – with a simple touch their new Lumia smartphone can automatically pair and start playing music on their new wireless speakers made in partnership with JBL. Sony have also announced a similar solution with their new NFC enabled speakers but it looks like Nokia will be quicker to market and could maybe give this greater focus in their marketing.

With Apple seemingly going to change the accessory speaker market for good with their new connector this gives great opportunity for players like Nokia to accelerate the growth in wireless speakers by making their usage so simple.

Secondly, and maybe more significantly, It appears that Nokia are going to use the simplicity of touch to charge their latest smartphones. Of course this isn’t the first time this proposition has been offered with Palm Pre back in 2009 but that was a paid-for accessory whereas it appears Nokia will offer free.

Not only this but it seems that Nokia have applied a touch of colour and fun to their designs which really stand out.

I believe there is a big chunk of the market looking for the next big cool factor. Maybe the simple combination of ‘touch to play’ and ‘touch to charge’ could be enough to encourage a sizeable base of people away from another Android phone – and who knows how excited the Apple fan base will be with a slightly longer slimmer iPhone.

With a focus on bringing new technology to life in a simple, fun and colourful way I believe there really is life left in Nokia yet. How much we will have to find out.

At the same time as marketers we are constantly looking for new ways to use digital to add greater value to our own consumers, finding ways to differentiate our offering from competitors and of course hoping to find the holy grail of also increasing revenue/arpu for the business.

One really interesting area that is changing fast and opening up new commercial opportunities is online gaming and potential linkage with betting.

In UK at least, and despite the ongoing economic hardships with 17m people now considered to have wealth below the acceptable living standard we continue to see a significant rise in the propensity for people to gamble. In May Paddy Power reported a 28% increase in revenues driven largely by an increase in online betting and a UK survey by UK Gambling Commission saw a 15% increase in Gambling from 2007 to 2010.

Gambling/betting is increasingly socially acceptable to the point where I was almost surprised last week when we couldn’t place bets for the rowing races at Henley.

Where does this trend and opportunity leave us?

Many brands are looking to create exciting content including online games to drive greater engagement with their customers. At the same time online games are increasingly being integrated with ‘virtual goods’ to buy (it is estimated that over $4bn will be spent on virtual goods on Facebook by 2013) offering exciting new and highly profitable revenue models for those brands who can get this model to work.

Now this shift in brand and consumer behaviour may take a step further with a new betting service to be integrated into online games and mobile apps.

So the question is – can your brand tap into this increasing trend of providing online content to not just engage consumers but to give them exciting ways to spend their money online through either virtual goods or even providing a competitive gaming experience that supports elements of gambling/betting. Can this be a new and fun way to increase your interaction with your customers as well as increasing your profits?

This is of course is a difficult area for many brands to consider and won’t be right for many. But don’t be scared to at least look at how you could get this ‘new world’ opportunity to work for you.

At a time when consumers’ use of digital games are changing rapidly, their attitudes to gambling/betting are becoming more acceptable and you’re under increasing pressure to innovate and bring new profits into your business there really could be opportunities for you to take a considered risk too.

Just think this is another exciting new opportunity in the marketing proposition toolkit for us to consider as part of our innovation growth agenda.

As highlighted in some of my earlier posts I am really excited about the opportunities new technologies allow smart companies to provide a greater experience of interaction with their customers – in essence creating the hallowed ‘greater engagement’ through gestures and physical interaction.

This new app from Bump allows you to simply share your photos between users simply by tapping your smartphones together. Not only that, you can store them on your computer by simply tapping your phone on the spacebar.

No more digging out the cables. No more hooking up the WiFi. No more uploading & downloading. Simply tap the two together and your photos will be easily sent across.

This is not about replacing Instagram and Facebook that have their own great photo sharing benefits for those far and wide. It’s about providing another simple way to address the need for an instant and physical share of the photo.

The new breed of smartphones with ever improving accelerometers and NFC will allow us to take this physical interaction with your brand to new levels as Barclaycard’s current PayTag campaign reminds us.

There are many benefits to this more physical gesture approach. Not only is it normally more simple that finding your way through a string of menus but we know that physical interaction is normally a fun and enjoyable experience.

As a marketer it allows us to focus on creating a more emotional connection with your brand and service. We know that if well executed this is a strong driver of brand satisfaction and desire.

There are many ways that we can look to use this and create more physical engagement with our customers.

Recently I have been asked by a couple of marketing agencies to think about the new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers and store staff using the emerging mobile and digital technologies. Needless to say that many include a simple and fun physical interaction that delivers a much richer benefit.

Of course these are still early days but a great time for you to plough a little investment of budget and time to think about ways that you could put more smiles on your customers’ faces by creating a valued physical interaction with your brand.

In the meantime, if you want another opportunity maybe it’s a good time to invest in companies that produce mobile phone screens.

Of course, like me you may read this and think well that’s great but surely it’s just good business and marketing sense. But how often do we really do this? Or do we find ourselves looking too much at the operational challenges and the next new campaign ahead of us.

How often do we really think about how to create these genuine ‘wow’ moments and what they could do for our business success?

We are all taking about social media strategy but like all media its success will be largely driven by the content. I really believe creating these genuine wow experiences will not just create the stories to make your social media a success but will also make your business performance a success too.

I’m sure we can all think of many examples like the Disney toy example that have caused us to smile and think ‘that’s cool’ and share it with friends & family even before Facebook & Twitter came along.

Personal current favourites include: Flipboard giving me a simpler and more enjoyable way to read my favourite media, Sky+ mobile app giving me a simple way to record my favourite TV shows when I am out and about and the Pure salad bar on Beak street where you’re presented with great choices of salads all served up and customised for you in a fast and fun way. And of course there is always Apple with their relentless stream of wow moments for us all to talk about.

Clearly digital services like Flipboard and Sky can easily build their wow moments and the ability for consumers to share them within their social media presence. For offline companies like Pure this requires a little more thought.

The rapidly expanding Tortilla Mexican Grill chain are enjoying long queues of customers waiting to be served their choice of fresh mexican food and seem to be driving a very active social media plan at the same time with various online promotions and community chatter.

The key to this approach really has to be to set aside some time and bring the right creative resources and really put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Really think about ‘the day in the life of’ when a customer would be using your product/service and what it would feel like. Compare where your competitors might be putting extra smiles on their faces.

Challenge yourself to create the wows that you think would really put a smile on your customers face and then give them an easy way to share their story.

Also, don’t forget to do this regularly and create new wow experiences otherwise your social media and business performance will suffer.

A couple of years ago Ocado would have been a top example. However, I don’t feel they have added anything inspiring or useful to their service of late and other brands have copied and caught up. It’s not surprising that they don’t seem to be getting as much buzz and their business performance is stalling.

Interestingly it looks like Flipboard are going to keep me happy and talking about their service by allowing me to listen to interesting content as well reading articles.

I trust that Sky are planning the next wow for me to keep enjoying their mobile app and Pure certainly need to think about how they will keep me excited about going back before they are overtaken by the 100′s of other great places to eat in Soho that I will read about on Facebook.

So don’t just think about your social media strategy – think about how you can first fuel it and your business success with wow customer moments and encourage them to share it.

The 5th screen’s role in life is simple – to tell you something useful and in a way that is easier and more beneficial than just getting your smartphone out of your pocket. It has to be designed to be useful in even more fleeting glances than the ever increasing times we spend engrossed with our smartphones.

So the winners in the 5th screen device market will have learnt from the 3rd screen (smartphone) and 4th screen (tablet) and be those that get the user experience right so that consumers actually want to view and in this case actually wear their screen.

As someone lucky enough to have used the Sony SmartWatch for the last couple of months I can tell you how important it is to get the design and navigation right. This is pretty cool but you really don’t want to be spending time fumbling around with your watch and looking a geek. This needs both a good resolution display and of course simple software UI.

This is what I think will define the winners and the good news is that that it doesn’t have to be Apple. I say this because:

1. The smartphone user base is now much bigger than just iPhones given the massive rise in Android
2. Hopefully enough players have hooked onto simple & smart UI design and can develop as quickly as Apple would need to for this new type of device

As an entrepreneurial lover of technology and gadgets I think it’s great that the Allerta Pebble smartwatch has raised so much funding to hopefully secure a successful launch. It does appear to have taken further steps in the right direction but the areas that I think need to be delivered by whomever wins in this area are:

I’m not sure about you but I have had many nights’ sleep ruined by my dreams being distracted by thoughts of work, things I have forgotten to do and other mundane things. I certainly know that I sleep better when the dreams are about enjoying a relaxing family holiday, shooting a 68 at Pebble Beach or of course doughnuts if you’re Homer Simpson!

What a beautiful and simple innovation – giving people better dreams and helping them improve their sleep. How much would you pay for that as a business proposition?

But can this dream become a reality? At the moment the Dream:ON service is linked to a study at the University of Hertfordshire so isn’t really a commercial venture but I tried it myself last night and here’s my thoughts:

Well initially I was struck by the simplicity and ease of use of setting up the service. I wasn’t too sure how the 2 free soundscapes would influence my dreams but I went to bed excited about the night’s sleep ahead.

Sadly, I guess you can argue that it didn’t work! I didn’t get to hear any of the soothing music and I certainly didn’t get any better dreams. In fact, I actually had a worse sleep as I was worried about my iPad laying on my bed and even had to rescue it when it fell off and smashed against the bed side table.

However, looking at it optimistically I can see that there is real potential for developing the service whereby it works better both functionally and commercially based on a few tweaks:

• using a specialist device such as the Jawbone UP to monitor your sleep patterns rather than leaving your mobile phone or tablet laying on your bed. This should give much more accurate results and save you worrying about your phone as much. It would also allow the service to work on memory foam beds!
• having the Dream:ON app working with wireless/bluetooth speakers so that the music can be played via your existing bedside audio system
• a simpler business model that gives a two-week free trial to a wide range of dream soundscapes so that consumers get happy the service works for them before then charging a small monthly fee – something I would happily pay for a proven way to better dreams and sleep!

In the week that we have seen Facebook’s staggering $1bn acquisition of a non-revenue generating business we have also seen the recent results showing that revenues at the UK’s leading mobile operators have declined by 2.3% in 2011 as their customers are simply using their latest smartphones & data packages to communicate and entertain themselves in many other ways than the high margin voice business.

Clearly the mobile operators are not starting from scratch and some such as O2 have had a business innovation unit going for some time looking at creating new services in areas such as health, mobile payments and monetisation of mobile search and web.

However, this week clearly demonstrates the need for them to accelerate their innovation even faster and I just hope that they focus the resources and take the appropriate risks to make this happen.

Don’t forget if the operators don’t get this right and help find new profitable revenue streams they will be forced to continue ongoing cost-reduction measures.

And the worst income in this would be a continued reduction in their subsidy of the shiny smartphones and tablets we are all using to drive the innovation in the first place.

Of course another scenario is that the over-the-top services such as Apple, Amazon & Google continue to drive the innovation themselves. However, even though Amazon are reportedly subsidising the Kindle Fire to a tune of $50 per unit that’s an awful lot of incremental margin they need to make and even then it’s a much smaller subsidy than the mobile operators have typically been able to support on new devices.

So let’s hope that between them they can get this right -  especially how the operators can better partner with the OTT service providers as they plan the build of their new 4G networks – so we can continue to enjoy the shiny new smartphones and tablets driving this fantastic innovation.