INNOVATION – DREAM IT, THEN DO IT!

Innovation – going from idea to impact

This morning I applied a fresh FreeStyle Libre 14-Day Sensor. It’s a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). You apply the sensor to the back of the upper arm. Load the FreeStyle app on your mobile phone. Click where indicated on the app, point the top of the phone over the sensor, and you get a reading of your glucose level in less than one second.

There are no fingersticks! Importantly, with the FreeStyle Libre CGM, you get a current glucose reading, trend data, and a logbook that allows you to add comments (like what you ate or did). What good is this? It enables one to gain valuable insights to help manage their blood glucose levels (BGL) and, hopefully, to improve metabolic health and head-off health issues. 

I’ve learned what foods impact my BGL—driving it and keeping it high. I’ve also learned the impact of exercise in reducing my BGL. For example, when I engage in HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), my BGL raises but retreats to lower levels than pre-exercise. When I go for a walk-run, I can reduce my BGL significantly (e.g., 40+ point drop by the end of my exercise session). I’m learning that when I exercise is important too.

With the FreeStyle Libre CGM, I can conduct numerous experiments to find out what works and doesn’t work to manage MY (as we all respond differently) BGLs.

However, I’m not trying to sell anyone on the merits of the FreeStyle Libre CGM, which I believe are invaluable, and many, for health-conscious adults who want to remain healthy or improve health as opposed to treating disease. Instead, this article is about breakthrough innovation. Namely, dream it, then do it!

More than 20-years ago, I wrote a case study for a product, the Guardian Glucomputer, inserted under the skin and continuously recorded BGLs. No fingersticks! We used the case for our High Impact Brand Positioning and Advertising training programs. It enabled us to train marketing managers from diverse sectors to work together. Our programs’ participants could address it as a direct-to-consumer or HCP (Health Care Professional) case (pharmaceutical or medical device).

Now, this thing that I dreamed-up is a reality. (Dream it, then do it!) While the FreeStyle Libre CGM requires a prescription and is costly, I expect that in the not too far future, it will go OTC (Over-the-Counter), where no prescription is needed, and costs will come down as the market for it grows.

The FreeStyle Libre CGM is not the only dream that has become a reality. (By the way, there’s another CGM, the Dexcom, which ran a TVC on SuperBowl LV. See the ad here: 

We live in a world where dreams have become or are becoming realities. You are undoubtedly reading this article from a personal computer, which doesn’t require you to program or occupy an entire room like the early mainframes (the UNIVAC weighted 16,000-pounds—try lugging that to work!). Moreover, you use (actually, you don’t believe you can live without) a smartphone, which is significantly more powerful than the computers that guided the first spacecraft to the moon! Launching humans to the moon and back was a dream turned into reality. Dream it, then do it.

As a young boy, I enjoyed reading the hard-boiled detective Dick Tracy comic strip by its creator, Chester Gould. Detective Tracy had a two-way wrist radio watch. It was pure fantasy. Or was it? The Apple Watch goes beyond Mr. Gould’s and Dick Tracy’s fans’ fertile imaginations. 

Attend a meeting in Darmstadt, Germany, without boarding a plane to get there? You can do it from your home. Just Zoom it!

Win the war on cancer by boosting the body’s immune response to defeat it? Well, immuno-oncology brands such as Opdivo and Keytruda reignite the immune system and provide sufferers with a chance for longer life.

Avoid passing along specific genes to your baby that could lead to disease? Edit the DNA in the embryo with CRISPR technology. 

I’m using my FreeStyle Libre CGM to improve my metabolic health so that I might have a longer life- and healthspan. Thanks to innovation, I can dream it and, perhaps, do it.

Innovate to enhance the relevancy and appeal of your brand. Lack of ideas is the mark of a dull brand. Read my most recent book, AVOIDING CRITICAL MARKETING ERRORS: How to Go from Dumb to Smart Marketing.  It will provide you with a list of common marketing errors to avoid and, importantly, effective ways to make your brand marketing matter more. Learn more here: http://bdn-intl.com/avoiding-critical-marketing-errors

Peace and best wishes,