CREATIVITY

Creativity
(However

is
there

the
is

ultimate

nothing

called

SPHERE
skill

of

u l t i m at e

mankind
in

c r e at i v i t y )

December 2009 / 62

Innovation thro Marketing

I have been travelling a lot. Sometimes

when the travel is for brief periods, say
one day, I used to use bathing soap itself
for shaving as well. (Carrying that huge
container
of
shaving
gel
was
cumbersome.) Thanks to Albert Einstein
for this idea. For him two different soaps
one for bathing and another for shaving was complicated and confusing. So he
was using the same soap for both. Even
though using normal soap for shaving
was OK, I was facing another problem.
The shampoo sachets were too large for
me. (Those of you who have seen me
might wonder whether at all I require any
shampoo!) I use a little and the rest is
thrown out. Once I experimented by using
shampoo as shaving gel and what a
beautiful experience I had. Thats it a
new use for shampoo is found. (I know,
shampoo companies will be happy about
my finding and shaving gel companies
will curse me no wonder if they also
start packaging shaving gels in sachets for
the convenience of travelers.)
3M has thousands of adhesives and
abrasives in their portfolio. Where and

how do they get ideas for developing as

many varieties?
Their marketing people bring those
ideas. Their works dont just end up in
selling their wares. They dont stop just at
the front office. They go to the shop floor
and see how people are using their
products what are the inconveniences
consumers face while using their products
while applying their adhesives or while
scrubbing with their abrasives. Are they
spending extra energy or efforts or time?
Is the packaging convenient for them to
handle? Are they able to take out the
required quantity? Is the application
completed in time? Are they happy while
using their material or are they restless?
IDEO engages highly qualified people
such as PhDs as observers. Their work is
to watch people in railway stations,
shopping malls, cinema halls, hospitals,
government offices, banks, schools etc.
What do people do in their waiting time?
How are their faces? What can be done to
keep them engaged during their waiting
hours? How can we bring bliss in their
faces? How can we reduce their waiting
time? What added services can we offer?

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony Mahatma Gandhi

An IDEO person was watching young

children brushing their teeth. Adults used to
hold tooth brushes with fingers, while young
children were holding with full grip. They
were struggling to hold the thin-handled
tooth brush with full grip. IDEO sold the idea
of thick handled tooth brush for children to
tooth brush manufacturers. At the railway
stations passengers were restless while
waiting for the next train. They were
alternatively watching the signboard of the
next train and the clock. IDEO sold the idea
of putting advertising displays near to both
the places where people were continuously
looking. They also sold the idea of putting
snacks bar in the platform to keep the people
engaged during the waiting time.
Keeping the people engaged during their
waiting time is a fertile area for new ideas and
businesses.
We
see
people
waiting
everywhere in trains and buses till they
reach their destinations, in airports till they
board the aircraft and in the aircraft till they
land, in banks till they are serviced, at
doctors chambers till they are called in, at
traffic signals till green is seen, while standing
in queues till they reach the counter, in
hospitals till their wives deliver babies (or till
relatives are trollyed away from operation
theatres), till results are published, till
decisions are made and several like situations.
People waiting in any situation are not a
happy lot. A goldmine is there as ideas and
opportunities.
Suppose you are selling tools for dentists.
Watch a dentist while he is using your
products. Is he comfortable while holding the
tool? Is he able to use them conveniently?
Look at his face when working? Is he relaxed
or is there tension in his face? What about the
patient? While the dentist is putting the tool
in the mouth, do you see aversion / irritation?

Do you see relief when the dentist takes out

his hand from the mouth? These data will
provide opportunities for new designs of
tools and new applications.
Start watching the faces of people both
when they do work or when they do service
others and also when they receive service
from others. Look at the faces of painters,
truck drivers, house wives, teachers,
policemen, lawyers, students and others. Is
your product or service give them bliss and
freedom, or binding? How many such
products and services bind us with the
company, once entered, can never return
cell phone numbers (let us hope that
portability of number from one service
provider to another becomes a reality soon),
internet / broadband services, LPG suppliers
etc.
Start searching for new markets (batteries
for uninterrupted power supplies, toys, and
even in tooth brushes), new applications
(viagara and paracetamol for heart
diseases, rejected adhesive for post it slips),
new manufacturing approaches (spray drying
for milk powders and instant coffee), new
customer segments (Big Bazar, Star Bazar
like shopping malls for middle class
customers, blue tooth technology for music
systems), new selling methods (direct
marketing of DELL Computers, Amway),
new services (super marts in petrol pumps,
railway tickets from post offices, insurance
products from banks, banking services from
post offices), new adaptations (cyclone
separators in domestic vacuum pumps), new
improvements in the existing products (pest
proof fertilizers, diet sugar) etc.

Let your marketing people do a

little more than selling, let them
start watching people.
*

Dont bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be

better than yourself. William Faulkner

Competition 62 CLEVER DOCTOR

A doctor used to predict the sex of the to-be born babies

exactly. He claimed 100% success. (This was several years ago
when the sex determining scans were not available.) What tricks
he might have used to take the patients for a ride?

Ideas
by SRI AUROBINDO (Reproduced from CS 12, June 1997

How blind is the man who fancies and plans a matter in all true forms and
angles and when he cannot prove completely with superficial measurements and
word proofs, believes that his idea and his imagination were empty objects! But if
he contemplates with sincerity and meditates upon these happenings, he will
understand with conviction that his idea is as much a reality as is the bird of the
sky, but it is not yet crystallized, and that the idea is a segment of knowledge that
cannot be proved with figures and words, for it is too high and too spacious to be
imprisoned at the moment; too deeply embedded in the spiritual to submit yet to
the real.
Every beauty and greatness in this world is created by a single thought or
emotion. Everything we see today, made by past generations, was, before its
appearance, a thought in the mind of man or an impulse in the heart of a woman.
Revolutions that shed so much blood and turned mens minds towards liberty were
the idea of one man who lived in the midst of thousands of men. The devastating
wars which destroyed empires were a thought that existed in the mind of an
individual. The supreme teachings that changed the course of humanity were the
ideas of a man whose genius separates him from his environment. A single thought
built the pyramids, founded the glory of Islam, and caused the burning of the
library of Alexandria.

LETTERS
Rajesh Puneyani, Bengaluru: Thank You very much for providing us this constant doze of Creativity.
I have become a die-hard fan of your newsletters and things mentioned in them.
P Bheemaraj, Nalgonda: CS is very interesting and it is helping in reviewing what we have learnt in
the training and also in keeping connected with new developments in this area.
V Rahul: we are always eagerly awaiting your mail and it is not only encouraging for me but also for
my staff members and family members.
K Rajagopal, Chennai (now in Washington): I do have as many projects as you have, nevertheless I
want to do something original as the case with cement.

A man can fail many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody
else. John Burroughs

LETTERS
R V Srinivasan : I eagerly wait to read your Creativity Sphere. It keeps giving lot of ideas. I try to
implement to make myself effective in my job. I was answering some yahoo questions. I came to
know that by publishing good hubs we could earn some money. I started writing hubs. They will not
disclose certain aspects. I come to know that we need to keep a rating of minimum seventy-five.
The minimum period to get Google Ad sense account is six months from the date of opening our
account in hub pages. I remembered your saying that we need to make an attempt to know the
things. I have written seventy-five topics related to health, entertainment, travel and general. It all I
got inspiration after reading the Creativity Sphere which keeps me alert all the time. It can be
accessed through www.google.com search rvsrinivasan. I thank you once again for your valuable
suggestions.
Baskar, Chennai: I feel that my brain is activated when the competitions are in.
Ajaya Gupta, USA: Another good edition. Its a pure joy to read and elucidate. I have started
circulating it to my friends and family members...all like it.
Ajay Jain, Mumbai: Its pleasure to receive CS and recharge our creative battery.
R Parthasarathi,Mumbai: Im 71 years, a qualified [M.Sc., M.S.] and a practicing counselor and
psychotherapist. I am impressed with your untiring energy and enthusiasm with which you render a
valuable service to the commnunity through sharing with your 'Creativity Sphere.'
Our country will remain great and continue to grow further only with the participation of persons of
your calibre.
God bless you, Annamalai. I am proud of you.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die

tomorrow - James Dean
Discussions
COMPETITION 61 (CS 61)
There are three boxes of flowers, one containing one dozen roses, one with one dozen carnations,
and a third with six roses and six carnations. But all the labels are switched. Now imagine that you
can select one box. Shut your eyes, open the box, take out a flower, and close the cover. When you
open your eyes and see what flower you have, can you tell which flowers are in each box?
Select the box marked Roses & Carnations. If the flower you pick up is a rose, then the box
marked Roses contains 12 carnations and the box marked Carnations contains 6 roses and 6
carnations. On the other hand if the flower you pick up is a carnation, then the box marked
Roses contains 6 roses and 6 carnations and the box marked Carnations contains 12 roses.
Congratulations!: Udayan Das of Kalwa, S Kumar of Ludhiana, R V Srinivasan, Nitish Sinha of
Rourkela, Shankar Upadhyay of Hyderabad, Ankur Singh of New Delhi, S B Singh of Gwalior, S A
Khan of Kolkata, M Muralidharan of Chennai and S Pattabi of Coimbatore.
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. M Kathleen Casey

Dr N ANNAMALAI

Tel: 044 23719267, Cell: 09444269395

annamalai_n@vsnl.com / www.CreativitySphere.com