1. -Puneet Gupta -My Epoch -puneet@myepoch.in Creative Marketing and Problem Solving

2. Golden Circle

3. What: this is the circle of the products or services a company sells. How: companies explanation of how they do what they do. How can, for example, be a unique sales strategy or a specific differentiating feature. How is often used to explain how something is different or better. Managers tend to think that these are differentiating or motivating factors in consumers de- cision-making process. Why: this is not about making a profit, but rather about what companies be- lieve in, what drives them. Inspired companies, regardless of their size or in- dustry, think, act, and communicate from the inside out.

4. If Apple were more like most other companies, they would present themselves as a company that makes high-quality computers (what) that look nice and are easy to use (how). They would communicate what they make and how. That would, however, not inspire you as the customer to prefer an Apple product over products by other brands. In reality, Apple starts from the centre of the circle, with the why. They communicate the companys vision, which is to challenge the status quo by thinking differently. The way they challenge the status quo is by making products with an eye-catching design that are easy to use (how). And those products just happen to be computers (what). The products Apple sells are basically the realisation of their vision.

5. Brainstorming

6. 1. Lay out the problem you want to solve. 2. Identify the objectives of a possible solution. 3. Try to generate solutions individually. 4. Once you have gotten clear on your problems, your objectives and your personal solutions to the problems, work as a group.

7. Mind mapping and Brainstorming

8. How to draw the mind map Write the topic in a circle in the centre of a piece of paper (landscape position). For each of the main points, draw arms out from the circle. Write the keywords of the main point along each or at the end. Draw smaller arms out from the main arms and write the sub- points that relate to each main point. Continue with smaller arms if you have other points or examples for the sub-points.

9. Cause and Effect Diagram

10. Specify the effect to be analyzed. The effect can be positive (objectives) or negative (problems). Place it in a box on the right side of the diagram. List the major categories of the factors that influence the effect being studied. Methods, manpower, materials, machinery, policies, procedures, people, plant etc. are commonly used as a starting point.

11. Identify factors and subfactors.Use an idea-generating technique to identify the factors and subfactors within each major category.An easy way to begin is to use the major categories as a catalyst. For ex- ample,What policies are causing . . . ?

12. Identify significant factors.Look for factors that appear repeatedly and list them.Also, list those factors that have a significant effect, based on the data available. Categorize and prioritize your list of causes.Keep in mind that the location of a cause in your diagram is not an indicator of its importance.A sub-factor may be the root cause to all of your problems.You may also decide to collect more data on a factor that had not been previously identified.