Innovation is a buzz word that is being thrown around a lot right. And it should be. Technology is changing so much about our world at a crazy fast clip. This sort of innovation makes it an exciting (and scary) time to be alive. So innovation is a good thing, right. Well…not always. As someone that travels quite a bit, I spend my fair share of time in hotel rooms. For the most part, I really enjoy travel. I love to see new places and meet new people. But it seems like in every new hotel room I check into, the designers have decided to innovate in one unnecessary area…the shower. To me, if there is any place that uniformity would make sense, it would be a shower in a hotel room. I mean, by definition, you have new people using the room nearly every day…in every place. And in many (if not most) of these establishments, you have road-weary travelers that just want to start their day off on the right foot. They don’t need to start their day with a puzzle. But in nearly every room there is a new and creative way to turn on the water, turn on the shower, and adjust the heat. (Oh…and if you need to have directions on how to turn on your shower, it’s a dumb design). You might look at this as designers who are trying to innovate. They are exploring creative ways to make the showers function differently, and in many cases, scald the visitors. And you might be right! But they missed one very important point about innovation. It needs to solve a problem. Many times, we create new and different ways to do things…because we can. But the best innovation (and dare I say the spirit of innovation) comes when we have looked at the way we are doing things, and think of something better. That is when we truly innovate. If we are just changing things to change them, we are not innovating in a way our customers will appreciate. We are just getting them wet…and making them made. Oh…and don’t get me started about taking away the headphone jack in my phone! Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. Oh…and if you want to check out some innovative promotional premiums, you can head to our website here.
