Idea of the Day: Bottle cap instruments (“Sn...

Here’s a picture of a Snapple cap. You know them, they make the juices and iced teas “made from the best stuff on Earth.” Snapple has a cute gimmick going on with their caps. On the bottom of each one is a “Real Fact” such as ‘More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.’ Hmm. The other thing about their caps is the standard safety button...

Idea of the Day: Currency sponsorships...

Here’s one for you: try to name all of the stadiums and venues that carry the names of their corporate sponsor. Good luck! In the Boston area alone we have the Dunkin Donuts Center, Comcast Center, TD Banknorth Garden (or whatever they are calling it this year), the DCU Center, Gillette Stadium…see my point? Corporate sponsorship is everywhere. So why not put those logos on money? Yeah, that’s right…I’m...

Get your company on Twitter. Now....

Twitter is currently ranked as the 12th most popular U.S. website. International results are comparable. I’m not going to begin a conversation about “what” Twitter is or “How to use it” right now. If you want that kind of information, watch for the Free Marketing Made Easy kit coming soon. Instead, I’m just telling you to get your business on Twitter. Now. Why? Because I want to know...

Idea of the Day: Location-based dating application...

If you’ve used something like Google Maps, you are aware that there are different kinds of web-based applications that give us information based on location. Another good example is one of the Twitter applications I use for my iPhone; if I click the ‘nearby’ option I can see what everybody around me (say from my town of Hopedale) is Tweeting. I can imagine Match.com building an application based on...

Idea of the Day: Justice chickens...

It’s electric blanket season, which means I climb into a pre-heated, cozy nest each night. Commenting on that earlier this week, my wife said something to the effect of “Just us chickens.” I’m still not sure what that mean (I think she was half asleep) but I heard it as “Justice chickens.” Which makes me think of the Justice League…you know, the one with Superman, Wonder Woman,...

Idea of the Day: More than a drop...

This is a Poland Spring 8oz bottle of water (the kind you get on planes for free). It is the smallest product that Poland Springs offers. Here is a CapriSun 6oz pouch. 27 varieties (flavors) of CapriSun are available in this one-size-fits-all package. What’s the difference? The packaging style, yes. But more importantly, it’s the packaging size. The water bottle is over 30% larger. In real terms, I can put...

Idea of the Day: Sell me your frequent flyer miles...

My buddy Joe was in Finland last week. Before that he was in Boston. Next week it will be Washington D.C. Yep, Joe travels a lot. So when he finally gets around to taking a family vacation he’ll have tons of airline miles saved up and will go anywhere he wants for free, right? No so fast. With fewer flights available now Joe has to take what he can get. Sometimes it’s U.S. Air, other times it’s United....

Idea of the Day: Smart carafe...

Maybe I have a skewed perspective on this, since I practically make a living by networking at coffee shops. Still… It’s all too often that I receive my coffee from the counter, go to the condiment station to add cream and sugar, only to find…no cream. Or milk. Just skim. Empty, empty, empty. So I can wait until somebody can refill the half & half vessel, or just deal. Mostly I just deal. Hey,...

Idea of the Day: The start-up lottery...

Small businesses are under financed. That’s obviously not a shocking statement by any means. I meet a lot of folks who have really good ideas (a job perk…people seem to love discussing their concepts with The Idea Guy) and lack the resources to bring their vision to market. Some organizations like YCombinator are working to change that by placing more emphasis on the idea than the business plan. Still, lack...

Idea of the Day: Love Bites...

Vampires are in. What with the whole Twilight saga and all, people are all “Edward” this and “Jacob” that. I haven’t seen the movie or read the books, but everyone around me from tween to soccer mom seems taken with the whole thing. And I have just the product for them: Love Bites. What’s a love bite? C’mon, you know…a hickey stencil. Shocking? Maybe. But it happens anyway,...

Idea of the Day: Cover weights (stop blanket thiev...

I admit it…I’m a blanket thief! I don’t mean to be…but inevitably we wake up in the morning with two feet of extra covers on the floor next to me. Meanwhile, my poor wife is shivering. I know what we need! Cover weights! Now, Lisa might tell you that she should just have her own blanket. But that’s no fun. Instead, I’ll invent a 6 foot long length of fabric that will be about 5 inches...

Idea of the Day: Un-blendable iPhone (yes, it̵...

Watch this video (there’s a point, I promise)… David Meerman Scott mentioned it during his talk about Viral Marketing last night. Why was he discussing it? Because this video got over 7 million views on YouTube, and sold a lot of blenders. So why hasn’t anybody piggybacked on the idea yet? I would take the product shown here, a chromium iPhone case by Metallo Designs (also available in stainless steel),...

Idea of the Day: Talking (celebrity) weights...

Ok, so talking weights would be nothing new. Here’s a picture of a cool version from Yanko Design. Yes, they really talk to you. They are actually pretty smart, and can even warn you when your form is incorrect. These would be great for slackers (umm, not that I’m one) who can never seem to pick up those weights. But you know what would make them even better? Celebrity voices! Who cares about the trainer’s...

Idea of the Day: Light up braces (smile!)...

See this picture? No, my daughter isn’t radioactive. She has a little Halloween light up device in her mouth. It has red, blue, green and yellow LED’s that flash on and off. Quite the effect. It’s way cooler than the colored bands on braces that are all the range among tweens now. In fact, it gets me thinking how cool it would be if there were light-up braces! Imagine that…if there was a tiny...

Idea of the Day: Give a quarter (feed the fish)...

A few days ago I visited the Imperial Buffet. I’m not so sure what’s regal about it, but the kids love it. After all, what’s a meal without a plate of mixed pineapple, glazed donuts, chicken wings, pudding and crab rangoon? A funny thing happened while we were there. One of my kids noticed a quarter under the table next to us and mentioned the fact while a server was cleaning up. That waitress picked...

Idea of the Day: Multi-vendor commercial anthologi...

Here’s a concept for the real-life Mad Men on Madison Ave… I just saw the actor/comedian Matt McCarthy (of FIOS commercial fame) in a McDonald’s breakfast commercial. In FIOS ads Matt plays the displaced Cable Guy who is constantly running up against the confident and sympathetic Verizon rep. You genuinely feel for the guy. In the McDonald’s commercial Matt is the same kind of somewhat lovable...

Idea of the Day: Thigh-high sneakers...

My daughter’s new kicks look like these. They are knee high AirWalks (like Converse) that lace up but also unzip to make them easier to put on and take off. kinda crazy. Kinda ugly. Kinda cool. You know it’s only a matter of time until we see the thigh-high version…

Idea of the Day: Arbitrage software...

ar⋅bi⋅trage: the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices. Most businesses are founded on a simple principle: we want to buy something at a low price and sell it at a higher price. From a purely economic standpoint, the less we have to add to the mix, the better. Lots of ecommerce websites take advantage of this principle....