Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers, developers, and innovators be heroes.

Product Innovation Tips Around the Web

4 ways big companies can foster innovation – and yes, it is harder when you are bigger. “Once considered the top of the business food chain – too big and too strong to fail – established corporations now face an interesting dilemma. Their industries are being bombarded by innovative disruptors that are embracing the digital revolution, staying relevant to ever-evolving consumers, and optimizing their processes. As trust in big brands erodes, consumers are migrating to these companies that are more authentic, relevant and engaging. Corporations must evolve or face extinction.” Read more at Marketing Land http://marketingland.com/big-evolve-foster-innovation-enterprise-129166

10 tips – If you can engage people like Homer Simpson in innovation, you’re already halfway home. “Enlist executive support, identify challenge champions at other levels of the company, promote your challenge as a contest with social rewards and recognition, encourage your champions to promote the challenge, to align expectations and outcomes circulate submission templates, adopt the model of reality TV shows such as Dancing with the Stars, treat your organization as the audience, involve top executives at all judging stages, publish all submissions, sustain your new innovation culture.” Read details at Financial Post http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/10-innovation-lessons-inspired-by-homer-simpson

Why Coca-Cola is turning to startups for innovation. “Despite being a 129-year-old mega corporation with more than 500 brands, Coca-Cola is always looking for ways to innovate and do things differently. For instance, Coca-Cola has eco-friendly beverage containers made of ice that simply melt away after use and smart vending machines that mix and match flavors. These ideas don’t come from within Coca-Cola; the odds of unearthing an innovative idea or technology solely in-house are virtually impossible.” Read more at CIO http://www.cio.com/article/2925960/innovation/coca-cola-finds-innovation-with-startups.html

Another example of a big company using skunk works to create a product – the Ford GT. “The team was small and hand-picked to include a mix of young talent with fresh ideas and seasoned employees with the experience needed to pull off a new GT in a record 14 months. Only a handful of people had access to the GT design studio initially. The project grew to a core team of about 15 and only about 20 people had access…” Read more at The Record http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5640945-ford-developed-gt-super-car-in-secret-lair/

4 elements to put in place to inspire innovation. “So, change and innovation at work are undeniably important. However, companies often find themselves in a rut, because it can be challenging to innovate on…well, innovation. And that’s why we’re here to help! Here are a few ideas to add to your initiative repertoire if you need to spice things up…” Read more at Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/business-innovation/culture-initiatives-to-inspire-innovation-at-work-01231888

The easy steps for creating customer personas. “Buyer personas help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better. This makes it easier for you to tailor your content, messaging, product development, and services to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups. In other words, you may know your target buyers are caregivers, but do you know what their specific needs and interests are? What is the typical background of your ideal buyer?” Read more at Hubspot http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33491/Everything-Marketers-Need-to-Research-Create-Detailed-Buyer-Personas-Template.aspx

Still Valuable – Flash from the Past

Design Thinking: a tested method for creating breakthrough innovation. “Design Thinking is a method for solving complex problems. Think of Design Thinking as installing a new operating system for life: it’s that revolutionary. Looking at the world with an inspired eye for redesigning every aspect that could be improved is the mindset. There are few experiences that could not be improved. As noted by Tim Brown, now the CEO of IDEO, there are three spaces to explore, which overlap: inspiration, ideation, and implementation.” Read more at Innovation Excellence http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2015/05/18/design-thinking-a-tested-method-for-creating-breakthrough-innovation/