Innovative Thinking and Trend Watching
I subscribe to a lot of e-newsletters on topics from healthcare to financial marketing. One I make sure I read every day is called “Innovation of the Day.” It’s just one of those that makes you believe the future will be brighter than today.
One post has been haunting me for its simplicity and revolutionary thinking — and it hit home this week. Amazon and UPS, which deliver to my house sometimes daily, told me my address was wrong on one of my orders. On the day the email was delivered, I got a package from Amazon. As you know, Amazon is one big robot, and besides the expert drivers, UPS is just one big computer. So try to get the robot and computer on the phone.
Zalando in Denmark has developed a novel idea of using private homes as delivery points. The private homes — made up of seniors, homebound and unemployed individuals, who are home most of the day — serve as a pickup and drop-off service in neighborhoods. The delivery hubs are more personal and have better information than the robot and computer. And they’re safer than leaving a bunch of packages at your front door all day.
As “Innovation of the Day” says, “Unpacking this innovation is like trend bingo: The GIG economy! Peer-to-peer! Eco-logistics!”
Brands that can tap into the growing at-home market will win on the front lines. I’m not sure I want Amazon to put things in my car trunk. They have trouble just figuring out where I live sometimes.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
