Last week, Megan Hui hosted an Inspiration Workshop in the New York office sharing her recent travels through India.  During the workshop, she shared her personal experience volunteering in the slums of Delhi earlier this year.  The pictures, videos and stories about the people she encountered were both heartbreaking yet inspiring (she even climbed Garage Mountain)!

Organics also got to play a game that was used as a fun and educational tool for Indian youth.  The game involved building a scene with individuals’ bodies – which started with sightseeing in Central Park and ended with climbing mountains in the distance– and demonstrated that each person is an important part of a bigger picture and community!

It was a fun and humbling workshop that hopefully opened eyes to the harsh realities the rest of the world may face and that despite distance and cultural, social, economic differences, we can still make an impact and help the less fortunate.

Well folks, we are halfway through the mustachioed month of Movember (formerly known as November), where guys worldwide grow a ‘lil facial hair under their nose and raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and prevention.

A daring group of Organic gentleman are participating this year. We’ve checked in with a few of them for a mid-month status report:

Travis B.

“I regularly grow huge beards and shave them into mustaches, but have never gone from zero to mustache. My fiancée is less than thrilled, as it’s taken forever to get past the “total creep” phase. My mustache inspiration would have to be Duke Silver.” (editor’s note: For non-“Parks and Recreation” fans: look him up, it’s great)

Dustin F.

Usually so baby-faced, Dustin is a surprise mustache champ. He’s joined the team as a reminder to himself and other men that they should be more actively involved in taking care of their health and well-being.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nick M.

Nick is a Movember veteran. This is the South Africa native’s 4^th year participating. He definitely considers the ‘stache a conversation starter for men’s health. “Keeping it lighthearted is important. If I look idiotic for a month and can raise funds for a great cause, then it really is pretty easy!” (editor’s note: inspired by Selleck Waterfall Sandwich)

To see the rest of Team Organic’s ‘staches, check out our Flickr page.

To find out more about Movember, and donate to our team, visit our team page!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Padraic Wheeler is in Global Business Development at Organic

That is the question.

And for some San Francisco Organics, the answer is an enthusiastic “oh yah – let’s run!” We are hitting the streets, in the purely athletic sense, on Tuesday nights for “Run, Organics, Run.” And I’ll be honest, when I started this group I had visions of us bounding up the Coit Tower stairs or  persevering to overcome San Francisco’s famed hills. Imagine the sense of accomplishment one would feel after slogging and sweating their way up a 28% grade. The pride. The joy.

Now, insert the sound of a record screeching to a stop as I drift back to reality. Based on the death stares I received when proposing Coit Tower stairs, I am now rethinking my original vision.

My (secret) hope of securing product sponsorship and going for the gold may be dashed, but the group makes up for it in other ways. We can often be found at a local watering hole post run. Hard to argue with combining two worthy pursuits: exercise and adult re-hydration. We also recently took in a San Francisco Giants game. Because, if we can’t get product sponsorship, at least we can support a team who does.

We may not be lean, mean running machines (yet), but when people see us coming, they get out of the way.

Kerryn O’Connor is Manager, Human Resources at Organic

Feel free to check out the culmination of their hard summers’ work in the 10-minute presentation below.

Great job guys!

Anusha Sthanunathan, Josie Ng and Claire Camp

Imagine this:  I walk into my parents’ home to find my little brother sitting on the couch sucking lemonade through a squeeze bottle that Mom uses to put sweet n’ sour sauce in.

“Jackers–What the heck!”

“Mom says that we can’t put lemonade in a water bottle and I can’t have cups on the couch.”

This was the same brother, who at the age of four cooked eggs on the preheated waffle iron because our Mom was distracted by the six other little kids running around the house.  He cooked them to perfection, complete with separate compartments for ketchup.  He also claims to have invented cotton candy covered bacon.

The mind of a ten year old is tailored to innovation. They don’t have a grasp on the logistics, budget or if the project is too hard. Kids let their minds wander and imagine the unimaginable. They build dreams not on reality, but off limitless possibilities.

Thinking with childlike innocence, outside the boundaries of what is “possible”, is what spurs innovation. It brings new ideas and solutions to an industry that thrives off creative thinking.

So go ahead and try covering something with cotton candy. It just might be the next great thing.

As the world’s population doubles in the next 40 years, the Malthusian half of me wants to say there is no way on earth (pun intended) our planet can support this exponential growth.

But there is hope, and it is spelled D-E-S-I-G-N.

With each passing year, technology improves far beyond our expectations. But technology alone is not enough anymore. Coupled with design, this dynamic duo does, and can continue to do wonders for the impending perils of overpopulation, disease, war, famine, natural disasters, etc.

So why design? What design? So what, design? Here is my proposed equation:

(Technology + Design) x Creativityⁿ → Innovation

Creativityⁿ is just another way of saying “collaborative ideation” (the n representing the number of minds involved in the process). When great minds come together, ideas are not only shared but shot down, built upon, refined, and finally, polished. And voilà! Innovative design—it is already solving our world’s current—and future problems.

Case in point: from the advent of the Green Revolution and fast food came the onset of obesity, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

And though there is no cure for diabetes, Design for America, an organization from Northwestern University, developed an innovative approach to relieve the pressures a child faces with juvenile diabetes. Imagine a young girl with diabetes who is not allowed to care for herself for fear that she might make a mistake during a daily injection. Instead, her parents must routinely inject her and care for her. But this young girl doesn’t understand why it hurts, why her parents must do this everyday. After much observation, listening, collaboration, and ideation, Design for America created a prototype for an interactive teddy bear.

Here’s the interesting part: the teddy bear has diabetes. When given to the girl, she gives the daily injections, gives it glucose tablets, cares for it, loves it, and learns from it.  In the end, Design for America created a teaching tool for newly diagnosed children while helping them normalize the disease itself. (Design For America’s concept won Most Creative Entry in the 2009 Diabetes Mine Design Challenge).

I could name a dozen more ways in which design has alleviated and even solved some of the world’s growing issues. Thomas Malthus was wrong: despite our growing population and our growing problems, the art of listening, collaboration, and design has proven to lead to innovations that address several future dangers. Though many of these problems have no cure or solutions in sight (for which the root of the problem should be tackled), innovative designs and technology will continue to mitigate the negative effects of our growing population.

Anusha Sthanunathan is an Strategy & Marketing Intelligence Intern at Organic

What does innovation mean to me? For some, it can be mean design with a purpose, or a brand new idea that breaks through the clutter of today’s advertising. However, for me, innovation means a new form of art or way of thinking that extends beyond the initial stage of, “Wow! That’s awesome!” Innovation can be new, but it can also be smart and intelligent based on an age-old tradition or way of life.

Two words: QR codes. QR Codes are innovative because we can use this new piece of technology, a “smart phone,” and take a picture of a strange black and white image to send us to a link? While most people use it as a way of advertising or branding, no one has ever thought about using it by way of sending a message.

Way back when, pictures used to be used to tell a story, implementing images instead of words to portray a scenario. These days, images are used to stop you in your tracks, entice you, then trick you to tell you that so-and-so is having a sale and after spending all this time scanning in this particular QR code, you get a measly $5 off of from an obscure store you probably would never step foot in.

Instead of using these innovations for marketing and advertising, there are some people who would rather use QR codes as an abstract idea, not a business tactic. The ‘hobo code,’ for example, is essentially a system of symbols that homeless individuals use to warn other homeless individuals about a particular establishment or location. Think of it as a secret code of symbols and images, dating back to the cavemen days—using simple pictures to communicate a basic idea.

Taking this idea of simple pictures to tell a secret message, street and F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology) artist, Golan, has taken this timeless form of communication and implemented it in QR codes. Using stenciled QR codes, Golan can “inform ‘digital nomads’ about the dangers and benefits of the local establishments if there’s ‘bike thieves’ or ‘assholes’ about”. It is a beautiful blend of traditional art and technology to communicate a message and idea in today’s society.

Now, that, my friends, is truly innovative.

See ANIMALNewYork article here

Josie Ng is a Creative, Intern at Organic

As I grew up behind goofy, blunt bangs and big, round glasses between the ages of 8-14, I was born into a family of dual identities. Being the first child in my dad’s family to be born on American soil, there has been a constant tug-of-war of cultural conflicts between my traditional Chinese parents, and my ‘white,’ suburban surroundings. Little did I know that the seemingly epic war between old and new was really instilling in me a strong sense of empathy.

This deep understanding of empathy has always been prevalent in my early youth, as I recall attending a mostly Caucasian elementary school. I never noticed that I was different, except that I was better than all the boys at tetherball, and pretty terrible at remembering where all 50 states were on the concrete map of our country.

Until, one day, a new girl arrived to my fourth grade elementary class from another part of town. The boys made fun of her appearance, because she had brown eyes, not blue or green, and she had a funny haircut. When I looked in the mirror, I saw the same, and could not understand why the kids were so mean to her, but not me—she had a ‘funny sounding’ last name too, that wasn’t Scott or Jones, and was also in a secret society I thought only my family was in, and that was the ability to speak Chinese.

At recess, I grabbed her hand and together we walked onto the playground, beaming amongst a crowd of blue and green eyes. There was a moment as we looked at each other with our dark brown eyes, a feeling of “It’s okay, you’re not alone,” that was transferred from me to her; slowly, she smiled her first smile in her new home.

Venturing through my first weeks here at Organic, I began to recall this childhood memory as we discussed business and consumer empathy. A particular campaign that I thought tied the two  successfully was McDonald’s Wrapped Campaign, by Leo Burnett Jakarta in Indonesia.

The campaign revolved around Ramadhan, a Muslim tradition of month-long fasting between dusk to dawn. In order to honor fasting Muslims, McDonald’s offered dual menus for the two times of the day, during and after Ramadhan. During the day, the images of food on the menu were wrapped in paper, in order to avoid tempting Muslims from breaking fast; after dusk, the menus were switched to regular images of food and lit up, a sign that it was time to break fast, for the Muslims waiting patiently in the restaurant. Lastly, because the golden arches of McDonald’s logo are a symbol of great tasting, mouth-water food, the large logo was also covered up with cloth, as a guerrilla segment of the campaign.

McDonald’s Wrapped Campaign was so overwhelmingly successful because of its cultural consideration, by showing that they do care about their consumers.

Brands in today’s world need to prove their understanding of consumer empathy by showing that they can listen, watch and tune into cultural consideration and value. Without empathy, it’s impossible to break through the clutter of today’s advertising and truly reach consumers’ hearts and desires.

Josie Ng is a Creative, Intern at Organic

Earlier last week, a 95-year-old woman with Leukemia was allegedly asked to remove her diaper at a TSA checkpoint in a Florida airport. Because the woman was confined to a wheelchair, she was unable to go through the body scanners and instead needed a pat down. Transportation Security Administration inspectors claimed that they wanted to investigate a lump in the woman’s pants that they believe could have been a bomb. The woman simply needed her diapered changed but with the length of the inspection, the woman nearly missed her flight. Many people are in an uproar over this incident and believe that a major change must be made to our airport security. Others believe that these incidents, although unfortunate, are inevitable and necessary in order to keep us safe from terrorists.

To me, the unsettling part of this story is the way that TSA handled the situation in the days following the incident. The TSA released a short statement the following day essentially claiming that the officers had done nothing wrong. Now, whether or not the officers did in fact follow the guidelines is another topic entirely, but the fact that there was no mention of the woman involved highlighted a serious lack of empathy from the TSA.

The TSA’s lack of empathy shows a divide between their administration and the public. The organization’s goal should be to make the public feel protected while also being emotionally sensitive to travelers by not making them feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. Clearly, respecting people’s privacy while ensuring their safety is not an easy task, but it is one that the TSA must attempt to accomplish if it hopes to regain positive public awareness.

The TSA may want to follow the lead of one of the most successful companies employing empathy today; Apple. Apple has achieved the positive reputation they have now by listening to their consumers and by being sensitive to their needs. Apple is able to produce some of the world’s most innovative products by first understanding the needs and wants of consumers and pulling insightful analysis. It is with these insights that Apple has developed products such as the iPhone and iPad, providing ease of use and intuitive features to its dedicated customers.

In the TSA’s case, empathy at the emotional level is the biggest concern. Rather than providing a tangible product, the TSA must work to fulfill the needs in the hearts of the public. By practicing empathy, they can give the public what they want by making them feel both protected and comfortable. Although this innovation might not be easy to achieve, it is important for the TSA to make that connection with the public in order to improve their image.

Anthony Dostal is a Marketing Intelligence Intern at Organic