Brand Bloodlines

Mark Dziersk — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:16:02 -0400

Why Design Still Has Such Limited Corporate Impact--and What to Do About It

Mark Dziersk — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:40:38 -0400

Despite the best efforts of the design community to the contrary, design is still struggling to influence companies in meaningful ways. The fault lies mostly within the design profession itself, which is unable to supply leadership equal to the current demand.

Six Ways to Avoid Landing in the Product Failure Bin

Mark Dziersk — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:45:09 -0400

A decade ago the ability to generate ideas for businesses was a terrific and unique offering, and often a good business. Many companies and consultants were conducting workshops aimed at coming up with ideas, hundreds of ideas, and getting paid handsomely to do it. Today, it seems most of the businesses I deal with have more than enough ideas, it's determining the right ones to invest time and energy into that is the trick.

The Myth of the Rational Buyer: How Too Much Thinking Can Hurt Your Brand

Mark Dziersk — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:10:56 -0400

What if something you thought you knew to be true, turned out to be exactly the opposite? What if an approach you imagined was working for you was actually working against you?

Design's Boom-and-Bust Cycle: Ten Years In, Ten to Go

Mark Dziersk — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:05:56 -0400

The topic of design has generated a lot of buzz lately--so much, in fact, that some suggest that the renewed interest in all things creative is a passing fad. Not exactly. If we let history be our guide, we'll see that there's a cycle at work here, and in my view we are presently half way through it. Let's call it the Design Cycle. Case in point: JC Penney.

Ten Things to Demand From Design Thinkers

Mark Dziersk — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:53:33 -0400

Design thinking is currently an "It" concept, the topic of countless books and blogs and conference panels. While it can mean a lot of different things to different people, for me, design thinking is a methodology, a tool, a killer app, and a problem-solving protocol to be used on virtually any problem. It can be equally effective in designing a new product or creating a new brand, to envisioning a new approach to health care or to reinventing city management.

Design Matters; Using Design Thinking to gain competitive leverage

Mark Dziersk — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:23:11 -0400

Recently, to prepare for a talk at Northwestern University’s - Master of Product Development (MPD) lectures series, I put together a title list of ten top things design thinkers will need to embrace in serious ways in the coming few years.
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recession proof....points

Mark Dziersk — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:31:20 -0500

Recently, I was researching an article and found out that CNN and MTV were both launched during the double dip recessions of the early eighties. Also the 1974 recession led to the creation of discount brokerage Charles Schwab. So I bounced this off a colleague Julie Anixter, and she cam up with five other proof points of how advantage can be seized regardless, because or in spite of downward trends, by delivering what people want.

Recession Possibilities

Mark Dziersk — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:43:55 -0500

In a down economy the natural instinct is to draw inward. Cut spending, slash budgets pull back initiatives and horde cash and resources. The problem with that approach is that a down economy may in fact be the best time to win by being creative. That means investing in creativity when the competition isn't. When it comes to leveraging an investment in innovation and "Design Thinking" it requires an investment in not only capital but risk as well. To succeed by design in a down market not only will require the opposite of withdrawal but ad some risk thrown in for good measure.

A Bigger Design Tent

Mark Dziersk — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:10:28 -0500