Unique Products - Printing the face on protective masks - Interesting innovation - New products - Corona Innovation- Necessity is the Mother of Invention

24-05-2020

Face printing on protective masks: Very interesting video. As a marketing teacher, I look at everything from a deeper perspective.

My two bits about the video. 

1) Very dangerous, the scanning machine can be a deadly carrier of many diseases including our own dear friend CoVid 19. 

2) Masks are for protection and are a  serious health precaution. They need to be used and thrown quite frequently. So is spending Rs 60/- worth the effort. Think about it. 

3) To me my face is not so attractive that my world will collapse if part of it is not visible for the next 3 months. I am sure that people around me including my students can bear with my masked appearance and I am not narcissistic that I need to look beautiful in a mask. 

4) And most people don't wear the mask properly at all times. And god forbid if they slide the mask down or if the mask is out of position. The result would be hilarious and the wearer would look like an animated cartoon from a Disney movie. 

N.B: this is what happens when an academician writes about an issue. He rambles on and on. With sincere apologies.

Comments: 

Aditya Sunkara: Hi Sir, I think your point number 1 might be invalid. Given the number of interactions, these masks have to undergo to reach hands of consumers. They can be contaminated anywhere.

Also, Scanning machines and printing machines operate at high temperatures at which viruses don't survive. But if this printing promotes the usage of masks and stops the spread of infections, isn't it good?

Anil Ramesh: That is the point, Aditya it is not a frivolous product or a cosmetic product. This is the manifestation of a concept called "Empty mind is a devil's workshop" I would run at least 1,000 kilometers from such shops!

Rashmi D Rao: The whole point of wearing a mask is protection and maintaining hygiene. Styling isn't necessary. Yeah styling isn't wrong.. As I said Styling isn't necessary, which means people have a choice if they can afford it and really want to focus on styling and want matching masks or stylish masks of course they can wear them.

From a business point of view, it's perfect, the guys are and will earn superb money. And from a hygiene point of view, it isn't, I personally won't prefer such masks. And you can't just stay with 1 mask all the time. If you are using a cloth mask you need to wash it every time before you reuse it. From the price point of view, not everyone can afford Rs. 60 per mask. And one mask won't be enough. As far as N95 masks are concerned i know they are the ones that actually work but at least wearing normal masks and throwing it away after every use can be a good practice to stay away from flu-like diseases.

Krishna Panyam: You can wash them after printing. If this makes masks more acceptable, that is a good thing. In fact, we should encourage people to personalize their masks so that they can comfortably wear them for long periods.

New Products ideas from MBA students TAPMI, Manipal

I had undergone a training Programme at TAPMI, Manipal, India. One of the marketing faculty told us about new product ideas that his student had come out with. The two most interesting product ideas were

Wake up pillow: The most important for any student is the ability to wake up early in the morning. Students do set the alarm with all good intentions. The good intentions evaporate early in the morning. The students would simply shut the alarm of their clock and promptly go back to sleep. When they wake up it is already too late.

The wake up pillow is actually an alarm clock. The alarm clock is set inside the pillow. It can’t be reached at all. In that sense it is sealed. The alarm can be set with a remote which has to be connected to an electrical switch. The alarm would go off at the designated time. The noise level would keep on increasing with every 3-5 minutes. Most people would get up by the racket that the pillow is generating.

For the brave hearts who won’t wake up the pillow would continuously start shaking after 10 minutes and after 15 minutes the pillow will admister very mild but irritating electric shocks to the still in the slumber land sleepers. The only way to stop this pillow would be to walk up to the electric switch (set at some distance away from the sleeper) and switch off the product. By this time the sleeper is wide awake.

Auto dip: Drivers on a national highway have to be very careful. Driving at night can be a big hazard especially in India where there are not many 8 lane or even 4 lane roads. The roads have no divider between traffic going in two different directions. Many of the roads have two lanes with no dividers.

The vehicles coming from two different directions would blind each other with their bright focus lights. So it is an courtesy for one of the drivers to dip his head lights. This would make the other driver to see the dipped vehicle in low light. The driver would be able to gauge the size of the vehicle, its speed and also the caution he needs to take so that both of them can pass each other safely. The second driver would do the same (dip his head light) so that the first driver could see the second vehicle.

But in India it is very common to see that vehicle owners do not dip their head lights leading to blinding flashes of bright light. This leads to many fatal accidents.

The students of TAPMI came out with an very interesting product. They came out with a microprocessor controlled product that can be fitted into the headlight of a vehicle. The same product has to be fitted into all the vehicles that ply on the roads. When two vehicles that are fitted with this product came in contact (distance of 100 meters) one of the headlights would dip automatically (without the drivers intervention) for three seconds and would become normal again. The headlight of the second vehicle would dip automatically once the first headlight becomes bright. This would happen automatically.

What took my breath away was the simplicity of both the ideas. It once again proved that simple things are very difficult to achieve.

New product ideas

I had given my students of MBA ISM at UPES recently a project about New Product Development. They came out with three products. The products were

1.      Hair care taker: According to the students this was an electronic microprocessor controlled hair care consultant. The group claimed that this product was capable of letting the users know many things about hair care. The users can know about their dandruff status, when they would need a hair wash, the type of shampoo they should use and even the type of hair style they should sport. The group claimed that the product would be available at a cost of Rs 2500/- and it would be marketed through upmarket hair salons like the Habibs. 

2.      Pen +:The second group came out with an idea of a Pen+. Pen+ is an intelligent pen. This pen can be used on any surface and it works like an ordinary pen. This pen has a display that can tell the writer if he had committed any spelling, grammatical or punctuation mistake. It can scan copy and edit any matter. The pen comes with an internal memory. The one issue that is a bother is the different hand writings that the pen will encounter. The pen will have to get used to and learn to read the writer’s handwriting just like a voice activated automatic typing facility that is available in a laptop. The auto correcting facility when one is writing could create confusion in the writer. The cost of the product is Rs 1,995/-. 

3.      Easy Auto Wrap: The third group came out with an equally interesting product. They talked about an easy wrap product. According to this group the water in the overhead water tank of a house would become too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. The Easy auto warp can be wrapped around the water tank. The warp around would create an air pocket and would reflect the hot air in the summer thus ensuring that the temperature dose not increase in the summer and would see that the water does not lose the temperature in the winter by insulating the water tank.

But the problem would exist, how the auto warp will ensure that the temperature would reach a comfortable temperature in the summer before the auto warp steps in and controls the temperature from reaching uncomfortably hot level. Same would be the case in winter. The water needs to be heated up from the un comfortable level to a level that is comfortable for the water to be used for taking a bath. This product inherently has many issued that need to be tackled. The group claims that the product can save around 20,000 to 40,000/- rupees per year on less electricity usage.

All in all very interesting new product ideas. But they need to be worked upon. The products need to   be tested both in the lab condition and in real life. The customers should be willing to shell out the hefty money that is being demanded. Products will be a success only if the consumers feel an acute need and would feel stressed if they are denied the products.