innovative revolution

It all started with a dream.

A couple weeks before I started this project, I had a dream.  In it, I wanted a bowl of Lucky Charms and didn’t have any. For some reason, I woke up feeling disappointed, even though I very rarely have junk food in the house. The feeling stuck with me, and next time I was grocery shopping, I grabbed a box and brought it home.

It sat for a few days before I decided to have a bowl. My son beat me to it, and as I poured the sugary treat, I noticed a few errant pieces were rattling around in the box. I rarely do this (who likes stale cereal?), but I tipped the random pieces into my bowl. Something unexpected landed with the bits of marshmallow shapes: a small package.

I set the package aside – I hadn’t looked for a surprise in the bottom of a box of cereal in a couple decades and couldn’t imagine that it was something I’d be interested in. When I got to it a few minutes later, I realized how wrong I had been.

That morning, while enjoying my dream-influenced breakfast, I was messaging my assistant to help brainstorm ideas for a way to promote our new company: Innovative Revolution. We had just outgrown our previous brand of fifteen years and decided to switch gears from startups to corporate entrepreneurship, culture, and innovation. We had been heading in that direction for a few years, and decided that a rebrand was necessary to focus the business in the direction we wanted to go.

But first, we needed a way to stand out.

I opened the curious little package – it was about 2.5 by 3.5 inches, cardboard wrapped in plastic. There was nothing interesting about it on first glance, but between messages about brainstorming, I decided to crack it open. Inside was a small envelope-like item with instructions on how to open it. If you folded the pieces correctly, it changed shape. All of a sudden, Lucky the Leprechaun popped out of the package, and an idea popped into my head.

The process we use internally and with our clients for ideation is pretty simple and straightforward:

• brainstorm an idea
• work out the details
• figure out what entails a successful outcome
• prototype it
• test it

It’s called a sprint and is used by GV, the new venture division of Google. We started using sprints about five years ago and have had great outcomes and quicker to-market launches since. Anytime we have an idea worth moving forward, we create a sprint.

That morning, after finding a bit of luck in my cereal bowl, I started brainstorming. Within minutes I had disassembled the pop-up toy and created a pattern. A few minutes later, I was roughing out the initial design. An hour later, I was testing prototype #3 to see if the dimensions were correct. Within the next hour, prototype #4 proved to be functional, so I disassembled it and scanned it into my computer. I took the next hour to overlay the template with blocks of color and text in a graphics software. At every step of the process, I was sending pictures to my assistant from my phone, asking for feedback and another set of eyes on our newest project.

As soon as the final glance was given, I sent the design to a one-hour printer. In four hours from breakfast to pick up, I had created the design that lead you here: a pop-up light bulb. An idea – our idea – to get you to learn more about what we do and to hopefully learn more about how we can help your business.

We want to know more about the way you generate and utilize ideas. We want to know how strong your innovative culture is. We’d like to understand if you have a dedicated team or process for disruptive work that’s getting the results you expect, solving both internal and external problems. Ideally, we’d like a chance to get to know you and your business better to see if working with us is a good choice for your company.

By the way – if you received your pop-up lightbulb in a box, be sure to visit your company’s custom link – it’s written on the post-it note inside!