Live from the WAN-IFRA Study Tour
By Nancy Lane, President, Local Media Association
A&N Media, parent company of The Daily Mail and Metro (London), wanted to develop ideas from the ground up.
After visiting companies like Starbuck's, Dell, Virgin Atlantic and Glaxo Smith Kline, the head of their "Idea Management Process" launched their idea factory web site - Let's Start Something Brilliant.
This provides a platform for employees to share their ideas. A top prize is offered ($500 Pounds + a share of the profit) and lots of subsidiary prizes. The winner will also be part of the new idea implementation team.
Each month features a different topic. The first one was direct to consumer (intentionally vague) and resulted in 100 ideas.
The judging team consists of the most senior level staff including owner Lord Rothermere as well as top talent from outside of the company.
They promote this throughout the company with posters and ads/videos on their intranet site (for employees).
The innovation team also conducts workshops with employees to explain the process that is facilitated by an expert in idea innovation.
Future topics will be more narrow in focus. They consider this to be a top company priority for 2012.