InnovationCreation

This last week I was in Columbus, Ohio with a client helping facilitate a group of 25 people in an innovation camp. First, the meeting space was excellent! We used the Spark Space. Mark (Chief Imagination Officer), Cat (Sparketing Director), and Meredith (Director of Guest Happiness) were excellent in helping us have a great week! Super Kudos to Meredith and Cat on addressing all the crazy and spontaneous requests.



As part of the innovation camp we had several experience trips. The first one was a lunch time self exploration to the North Market. The goal was to explore the way food and other items were displayed and enticed people to buy (see related post on Experience Map). My experience trip encountered several interesting signs for food.


Best of the Wurst




Goat Milk?






Duck Fat










The second experience trip was a group dinner to Whole Foods in Columbus. We arrived by bus and were led into a true experience. When you think of a grocery store, you think of just the tasks of getting the food on your list, getting through the checkout as fast as possible, and heading straight home... When you step in to Whole Foods you have to experience and explore!!!

All the grocery store assumptions (see related post on SCAMPER and assumption) are challenged and re-imagined at Whole Foods.




The asparagus was not just racked up, it was displayed for your eyes. The cheese and wine was not just some section in the corner, it was an event for you to feel, taste, smell. And they had the unusual; in this case the unusual was an ostrich egg!

The experience trip provided fun for the whole group, challenged basic assumptions we have about products and services, and a take away of looking with refreshed spirit at current and new projects. BTW, the dinner and service was super!