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Open Innovation in Lifestyle BrandsGlobalization has not only introduced global brands with their respective products and services, but alsomodified an individual’s lifestyle pattern. The modern day consumers are conscious about every productthey choose and analyze whether it would cater to their taste and preferences. More than a productor service, it’s the brand image that decides how a consumer will to relate to it. As a result Lifestylebrands are becoming increasingly cautious about the ways in which they connect to their audience. Tostrengthen this connection they are resorting to idea management and open innovation techniques.Lifestyle is individual and unique to a person and holds a distinguishing factor to it. Swarovski, thefamous luxury product retailer resorted to open innovation with its Lifestyle Electronics Competition2011. This competition encouraged consumers to incorporate Swarovski gems into lifestyle electronicsuch as earphones, e-books, mobiles, notebooks and the like. Innovative designs created by the publicwere asked to be uploaded on the company website and later were judged by a team of Swarovskiexecutives. The end result of the competition of was 2,000 configured and 600 freely created designs.The designs attained through this open idea capture gained prominence and got added to the brand’sproduct/service portfolio. The idea that got promoted was irrespective of the electronic device youcarry, it becomes unique with a Swarovski in it!The term “Lifestyle” essentially means a way of life, that is never static and forever changing forbetterment. New and creative ideas help lifestyle brands create product awareness and also in productdevelopment. Philips, the global leader in lifestyle, healthcare and lighting has frequently adopted openinnovation strategies to bring greater innovations to the market, quickly and efficiently. In the year2005, Philips established its One Philips Innovation Campus in Shanghai, by investing 40 million Eurosannually. The aim was twofold. First, the brand aimed to promote internal collaboration and increaseefficiency in bringing multiple R&D centers in one campus. The second objective was to open up thecampus to external teams, facilitating R&D cooperation and open innovation. The main objective ofthis open innovation to set up an environment that promotes networking, interactions and knowledge-sharing, resulting in joint projects and ventures amongst the HTCE organizations.Thus we see that the procedure of idea management has stretched beyond the confines of a seminalhall or corporate meeting room. Today, entrepreneurs are aware of the fact that every individual is

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capable of “out of the box thinking”. It has been proved time and again that the best of the ideas comein from a mixed, unidentified and unorganized section! However, there lies its uniqueness, that thecrowd to whom brands sell their products can well be contributors to their success.Read More About: idea management system, idea management solutions, capture ideas, innovationproducts