Full Description

“You will never look at ‘new ideas’ the same way again.” —H. Wayne Huizenga, founder and former chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Inc.

“I would strongly suggest that all marketers read this book before they decide to launch a new product, line extension or enter a new line of business." —Mark R. Goldston, chairman and CEO, United Online, Inc., which includes NetZero, Juno, Classmates and MyPoints.com brands

David Minter and Michael Reid know innovation. For more than 25 years, they have contributed to the growth of such companies as Blockbuster, Dole, Viacom, Sony and Einstein Bagels.

Lightning in a Bottle presents Minter and Reid’s simple seven-step system for creating ideas that work—one that improves new-product success rates from the standard one in 10 to one in two or better. Lightning in a Bottle also explains the top 10 reasons ideas fail, plus the dirty secrets of the research world, such as:

-Why focus groups don’t work for new products
-How market segmentation is often a sham
-Why brainstorming in not effective in creating great new products

In the tradition of Execution and Good to Great, Lightning in a Bottle is the new must-have guide for business leaders.

Table of Contents

Preface -

1. Lightning in a Bottle
2. A Blockbuster (Video) Idea
3. The Problems with How New Products Are Developed Today
4. The Upside-Down Pyramid—Or How Ideas Are Developed in Corporate America
5. Why Nine Out of Ten New Products Fail
6. How a Good Idea Can Go Bad: The Battle of the Bagel
7. Top Ten Reasons Ideas Fail
8. Less Is More
9. Market Segmentation and Aggregation
10. The Creative Genius of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch
11. Idea Engineering: Seven Steps
12. Idea Engineering: Let’s Start a Record Label
13. Bedrock: It’s More Than Fred & Wilma’s Hometown
14. What Interviews with Thousands of Consumers Taught Us
15. Don’t Wait for a Miracle

About the Authors
Index

Excerpt

This book is about creating and developing ideas that will
drive your business.

Ideas that drive a business are the “lightning in a bottle.” It is exciting to be part of the process that comes up with new ideas for products and services, and to execute them successfully. It is thrilling to make an impact with an idea you created. It is the most fun part of business. Nothing else compares.

This book talks about three kinds of ideas that are the heart of business growth:

--Ideas for new products
--New services
--Ideas for new marketing programs

These three fuel American business. Without them, business stagnates and eventually dies. There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Consider Blockbuster Video. The advent of the VCR in the early eighties gave birth to a new way of watching movies at home. American households couldn’t rent movies fast enough. And Blockbuster couldn’t open up stores fast enough—even at the torrid pace of a new store every seventeen hours. When you’ve got an idea that’s working, it is electrifying.

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