World Affairs - Business & Finance, page 5.

What will iPad and tablet computers offer us? What will the experience be like?

With all the talk in recent months about the iPad, e-readers and tablet computing as a whole we've seen very little about the actual experience of using one.

Steve Jobs was clearly presenting the common denominators of the iPad for it's broad appeal. What was left out was the true potential of the multimedia experience of magazine/media content. What will the iPad apps be capable of with so much more screen real estate?

Gaming

While I'm not a big gamer, game development is essential to pay attention to because it often represents the cutting edge of user interface design. We're on the cusp of really developing a new physical language of interaction here. Think Nintendo Wii.

"We need to talk..."

Uh-oh. You know what that saying means. When business is slow and sales are down many owners and business folk begin to panic and call for meetings. These meetings are thrown together frantically to discuss what went wrong, what doesn't work and why. 

The finger pointing begins. Leaders will look from the top down at the sales, the marketing, the figures, the processes - only to discover that most of the time they'll never figure out the answer. Then the infighting begins, sales points at marketing, marketing at sales - rinse and repeat.

The battle of blame destroys careers, departments and sometimes the businesses themselves. The irony of the situation is that while running around like headless chickens, they fail to see what is right in front of them...innovation is the answer. 

When you focus on the problem, you'll never find the solution.

This series of posts will detail why innovation continues to be the most important aspect of business growth, especially in today’s flat business world.

The advent of the internet and the freedom with which information travels today has leveled the business playing field, therefore it must be understood that creativity and innovation have become increasingly valuable for future business growth.

Why should I care?

Why is this whole attention economy and it’s relationship to innovation important to you? Because we’re talking about how to engage the mind of your average customer. 

For instance, the average consumer is spending the majority of their recreational time online, doing the exact same thing he or she used to do pre-Internet, watching video, playing, reading researching, etc. The difference now is that they have a mobile phone, browser windows open, music playing - among other things. 

So the customer’s ‘attention’ is relatively scarce and developing offerings that break through and deliver is essential for business growth. Innovative packaged products will need to not only be developed, they will need to bake the marketing message into the delivered solution as much as possible because return business will be much harder to come by. 

The competition

An article at Mashable.com got me thinking one morning.   Growing a business is serious stuff.  But occasionally a little humor, a novelty, or even a contest or prize can help you business gain the attention of your target market and grow that much faster.

After all it's about getting your customers and your potential customers talking about you and eventually actually buying from you. 

Whether your business is B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer) a dash of creativity and a bit of buzz can help move you up the growth curve.
 

A great way to see a selection of creative marketing ideas is to spend a little time on YouTube ... so that's just what I did.  And here is what I found...