Movements such as Occupy Wall Street (#7) and Recyclebank (#37) brought our missteps as a society to the forefront of our conscience. Kickstarter (#41) completely blew away traditional startup funding. As a health activist, I’m thrilled to see Genentech (#25), a brand I’ve been lucky enough to work with, get recognition for using technology to improve healthcare. And my personal favorite, Square (#5), turned our iPhones and iPads into super cash registers.

It’s childhood moments like the one Jack Dorsey recalls in an interview with Fast Company that become catalysts of innovation. Fast Co explains:

He tells me a story about how his father, an engineer and semi-serial entrepreneur, helped him build a model of a mass spectrometer out of Legos, ball bearings, and magnets when he was 11. (A few weeks later, Dorsey’s father, Tim, tells me his version of the story, taking the time to teach me the concept of mass spectrometry. In the Lego device, the magnets were there to encourage ball bearings of different sizes to arrange themselves by weight, just as a real device would do with gases of different weights. “Did it work?” I ask. “No! It was a disaster!” Tim Dorsey laughs. “But we had a great time!”)

And that’s exactly it. That’s what makes these brands succeed– having a great time. With all the discussions on Google’s cafeteria, toys and campuses, it’s no surprise the company continues to rock the charts, this year moving from #6 to #3 after bringing G+ into our social playgrounds. Apple, too, reigned supreme maintaining the top spot even as its late leader sadly passed on the crown.

These crowns aren’t easy to achieve, but they’re well-deserved and I hope to see even more breakout stars in 2012. To compare these shining stars, take a peek at last year’s leaders. For the full list of the top 50 and to view innovators by vertical, visit Fast Company and soak up the brain food. After all, you could be next.

1) Branding  - The logo redesign helps boost the company’s image from a place where grandma shops to a low-cost fashion department store that would rival TJMaxx. Though the simplicity of the design whispers Gap, it’s clear the brand took notes from their logo gaffe. Overall, it’s clean and multi-generation friendly. And, it throws in a little Americana that the company often references with their brands and seasonal ads.

2) New Look, New Motto, New Attention  - JCP launched their new look with a new promise– fair and square prices. And three to boot: 1) everyday prices – regular prices which are “always great” 2) month-long values 3) best prices – lowest prices twice a month. All without any coupons. Oh, happy day! My hope is that they continue to communicate this properly and gain the attention of new shoppers.

3) Ownership - JCP isn’t trying to be another brand. The brand knows where it stands, but it also knows it should be making smart moves to keep shoppers interested. In these times, they know how important price is, but also that shoppers don’t want to compromise value. Throughout the last few years, I’ve been pretty impressed with some of the designers the brand has attracted. Something they should continue to do as competitors like Kohl’s has had success with this, too. Another good move– the company is launching a new layout to merchandize labels instead of burying them in endless racks to re-invent the in-store experience.

Though it’s subtle, the new ads (sorry, can’t seem to find ‘em) demonstrate the core value of the brand as well as the new look/motto. A perfect combination for success.

But, the brand relaunch isn’t without its faults. The best price timing is a bit confusing. JCP says the company will slash prices on the first and third Fridays of every month. While I think doing so on more than one occasion is great, expecting customers to remember this is not. Moreover, this message isn’t front and center on their website or in the tv spots. This is something the brand must work on to communicate effectively and ultimately, reap the rewards. To learn more about JCP’s pricing strategy, check out this post by ABC.

Regardless, I have to agree with Forbes and say that JC Penney will be the retailer to watch this year.

What do you think? Does the redesign speak to you or totally miss the mark?

Infographic: Carlos Monteiro

Source: YouGov BrandIndex

Recently, Fast Company presented a social business case study cooked up by Vivaldi Partners and  examined the following brands:

• Mattel’s Matchmaking Marketing for Barbie & Ken
• Intel’s Museum of Me
• Flip Video’s Fatal Flop
• American Eagle’s Spring Break Style
• Blablablab’s Barcelona Bet

As FC reported, here are the lessons:

Mattel – When reviving an old workhorse, consider the entire target market. Ken and Barbie may be toys for children, but it’s the moms and dads on Facebook and Foursquare who have the buying power.

Intel - Any branding effort that focuses on the user/consumer will boost all-important sharing (Hey, look at what I made!) and narcissism can translate to revenue.

Flip Video - Even great campaigns can’t stop a shutdown. The initiative scored high on the Social Currency meter. As a tool for self-expression it was the best example of identity generators, according to Vivaldi. “The innovative and viral nature of this initiative helped it score high in building conversation and stimulating positive advocacy.”

American Eagle - To expand your reach and draw more customers, play in a different (and bigger) sandbox. Vivaldi gave American Eagle props for community building on a larger platform, “allowing them to comment on looks that were created and find styling inspiration from one other.”

Blablablab - Most quirky and fun initiatives don’t necessarily lend themselves to mass market replication. Beyond obvious technical challenges, Vivaldi says the initiative doesn’t “score much on advocacy, affiliation, and/or utility due to the fact that the interaction is mostly between the brand and the users, and not as much between the users themselves.”

These are all good lessons every marketer could, and should, learn. Then again, these hard lessons could also be avoided if marketers took cues from social biz expert David Armano’s recent post on Social Business Planning in 2012. Worth the read!

100. Leonard Cohen – Ten New Songs

99. The Hold Steady – Almost Killed Me

98. TV on the Radio –  Return to Cookie Mountain

97. Wilco – Blue Sky Blue

96. The Streets – Original Pirate Material

95. Alicia Keys – Songs in A Minor

94. The Libertines – Up the Bracket

93. Johnny Cash – Unearthed

92. Bon Iver – For Emma Forever Ago

91. The Hives – Veni Vidi Vicious

90. Amadou & Mariam – Dimanche a Bamako

89. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief

88. Brian Wilson – Smile

87. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere

86. The Postal Service – Give Up

85. Coldplay – Viva la Vida

84. Eminem – The Eminem Show

83. The Black Keys – Attack & Release

82. Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R

81. Ryan Adams – Gold

80. Kings of Leon – Youth and Young Manhood

79.  The New Pornographers – Electric Version

78. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise

77. Yo La Tango – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

76. Sigur Ros – 0

75. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

74. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

73. Coldplay – Parachutes

72. Sleater Kinney – The Woods

71. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

70. Missy Elliot – Under Construction

69. Bright Eyes – Lifted or…

68. U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

67. Bjork – Vespertine

66. Antony & the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now

65. Manu Chao – Proxima Estacion Esperanza

64. Gillian Welch – Time the Revelator

63. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak

62. Johnny Cash – American III: Solitary Man

61. The Shins – Oh, Inverted World

60. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

59. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

58. Danger Mouse – The Grey Album

57. Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism

56. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

55. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

52. Norah Jones – Come Away With Me

51. Kings of Leon – Only By the Night

50. M.I.A – Arular

49. Spoon – Kill the Moonlight

48. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning

47. Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine

46. Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds

45. Kanye West – Graduation

44. The Killers – Hot Fuss

43. System of a Down – Toxicity

42. Elliott Smith – Figure 8

41. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not

40. Kanye West – Late Registration

39. Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak

38. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker

37. 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’

36. U2 – No Line on the Horizon

35. PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

34. Outkast – Speakerboxx: The Love Below

33. Daft Punk – Discovery

32. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III

31. My Morning Jacket – Z

30. Radiohead – In Rainbows

29. Sigur Ros – Agitus Byrjun

28. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

27. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

26. The Greatest – Cat Power

25. Radiohead – Amnesiac

24. Bruce Springsteen – Magic

23. D’Angelo – Voodoo

22. Green Day – American Idiot

21. Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head

20. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

19. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells

18. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

17. Beck – Sea Change

16. Outkast – Stankonia

15. Bruce Springsteen – The Rising

14. Jay-Z – The Black Album

13. U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind

12. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

11. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft

10. Kanye West – The College Dropout

9. M.I.A. – Kala

8. Bob Dylan – Modern Times

7. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP

6. Arcade Fire – Funeral

5. The White Stripes – Elephant

4. Jay-Z – The Blueprint

3. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

2. The Strokes – Is This It

1. Radiohead – Kid A

There you have it. I’m pretty pumped to see Fiona Apple, Cat Power and Sigur Ros get some love, but I don’t think Coldplay and Kanye West deserved as many accolades on this list as they did. I don’t like anything by M.I.A. and can’t believe The Strokes made it to #2, but a majority of the albums make sense to me. I’m disappointed not to see Alice in Chains / Black Gives Way to Blue and Pearl Jam’s self-titled album (Binaural, too, but I don’t expect RS to agree). I don’t like that Animal Collective didn’t make the 100 and I’m a bit surprised Clash, Modest Mouse, Muse or Gorillaz didn’t either. I also have to agree with a commenter, the 2000s were nothing without the lyrical battles between Taking Back Sunday and Brand New.

Well, what do you think? What’s missing or overrated? Weigh in below!

Courtesy of SnowPeak on Flickr

As a junkie for catalysts of innovation, each year I eagerly await Fast Company’s list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. This year didn’t disappoint.

Naturally, Apple proudly sits atop the list, climbing from No. 3, and it makes me wonder if they continue the success of the Year of the iPad, will they’ll reign supreme in 2011, too? Another mover-and-shaker (no surprise) is Twitter which made it all the way from the bottom of the list last year. These two certainly were my favorite two brands to watch in 2010. Although I was a bit disappointed with Apple’s social innovations last fall, I constantly sit bright-eyed awaiting the next big toy– as do millions of other fanboys and girls. Same goes for Twitter. While I patiently await their genius business model, I’m not worried. These two are exceptionally smart brands with smart people. That’s the key.

It saddened me a bit that Google dropped from four to six this year, but I think it was fitting as they had a few social setbacks in the last 365 days. It’s nice to see a giant get a nice slice of humble pie so as not to become too evil. Luckily, with Page back at the helm, I suspect good innovations are to come in 2011. Though we may not have Google Circles yet, Google Music is a great start.

Epocrates, a new innovator to me– one known for providing docs and nurses an instant drug reference, cleared the top 10. This medical innovator also sat atop Fast Co’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare, joined by mobile app developer Voxiva, GE and PharmaSecure, a cost-effective protection against counterfeit drugs.

Another one of my favorite lists is the top 10 music innovators. While I don’t really agree with Pandora taking the crown (I’d prefer 8tracks or Grooveshark), I appreciate the company as an innovator of tunes in the digital age. The one I had to be sure made the list was Arcade Fire for their stellar collaboration with Google on their HTML5 digital album release delight, The Wilderness Downtown.

So there you have it, folks. The innovation kings and queens. I urge you to take a gander at the other vertical lists and let me know what you think. Do you agree with the global list? Does Nokia deserve it’s perch? Does Coca-Cola make a great music innovator? Think another health company deserves to make the top 10? Share your thoughts below!

The rumors proved true with Apple TV and for that, I’m grateful. As one who doesn’t enjoy nor see a point in paying for cable (lost that battle with the roommates), I’m happy to see Apple in contention for TV eyeballs after the epic (but healthy) fail of 2006. Never having been a big Netflix-er, I’m not immediately drawn to the product other than for the lovely fact that all files are stored in the cloud. Instead, I’d rather keep my eye on Boxee when the time comes to make the switch.

Now for the biggest disappointment– Apple’s foray into social via iTunes 10 and Ping. While I think the move into social is a good move for Apple, it seems it is a limited one. Lots of users yesterday complained about only being able to choose 10 songs in their profiles and many argued that the suggested musicians to follow were ones they’d never be caught dead listening to– ahem, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. In terms of artist profiles and tour dates, Last.fm has it locked down and even syncs with your calendar. While I don’t immediately see a need for Ping in my digital music life, I’ll most likely set it up, try it out and forget about it. Genius mixes are enough for me. If I rarely want to know what my friends are listening to, I’ll ask them. If I want to check out new music, I’ll visit Pitchfork.com, browse Hype Machine or check out new mixes on 8tracks. As Chris Brogan mentioned, there isn’t much commercial incentive to joining Ping as there is at Amazon.com, where you’re given a few dollars for “every book I guide to your hands.”

It’s not all bad. The good thing about Ping is what I’m ultimately interested in– the ability to share and gift music. It’s great that Ping is mobile and sharable via Twitter and Facebook. But, this isn’t anything new as others like Pandora are already supporting sharing. What I would argue is the best feature about the new logo-laden iTunes is that Live Nation will be powering concert listings and ticket sales right in the UI, something Jobs completely left out of the keynote.

And come on… we’re gonna rock out to Chris Martin of Coldplay?! Jobs, you’re a boomer!

Overall, I’m unimpressed. Will I try out Ping? Sure. Will I buy Apple TV? Maybe. Will I put an iPod on the gift list? Absolutely.

What about you? Which new feature/gadget/update got you excited?

courtesy of CJSORG

An interesting digital discussion popped up in the last day regarding the lack of women in Silicon Valley. It all started with a Wall Street Journal post examining the fact that only 11 percent of U.S. venture-capital backed firms in 2009 had current or former female CEOs. This isn’t a new hot topic. Conferences have been dogged with finding female keynoters and speakers for years. While I do agree there is an unfortunate shortage of X chromosomes in the tech world, I agree with some of TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington’s points– we shouldn’t be blaming men.

Instead, we must continue to act. If we merely sat idly and blamed men in the early 1900s, we wouldn’t have our right to vote. The female brand is a strong and powerful brand. We’re bullishly targeted by marketers for our invaluable purse strings. And more and more in the advertising world, we’re rising to the rankings we deserve.

It’s an uphill battle. Maybe even more so in the tech world. But, to me, it’s pretty empowering to pave a path among men. Trailblazing tech women are the ones I dream of being one day and I hope I’m not alone. I’m a firm believer in that great innovation is born from adversity. So why wouldn’t we use this discrepancy to our advantage? Take that wasted energy on blaming the current conditions and use it to make change. Finding a mentor or even better, being one, is so incredibly important right now. Mentoring helps seed ideas, bring them to fruition and foster them so that they don’t get lost in a man’s world.

Having recently attended an all-female conference, I’m thrilled at the prospect of TEDWomen, despite the digital furry on gender equality. Sure, it’d be great to have more supportive “Breakfast Clubs” of young and established tech and digital media executives like one spearheaded by Gilt Groupe CEO, Susan Lyne, but even without them, we need to find ways to connect, work together and carry on. As Yuli Ziv, founder of Style Coalition, a network of fashion and lifestyle digital publications, told The Wall Street Journal, “In our generation and in our community, I don’t believe there’s any issue or any disadvantage to women. I don’t think we have any excuses.”

So now, I challenge you, ladies (myself included). Stop blaming and start acting together. Find your tech niche and build your beautiful brand your own way. No excuses.

Fed up with rude passengers, Slater got onto the public intercom of Flight 1052 to vent after a passenger stood to fetch his luggage too soon on the full plane from Pittsburgh. He then pulled the chute’s lever, grabbed a beer from the beverage cart, and made his dramatic exit. Slater ran toward the employee parking lot, drove off in his Jeep, and was later arrested a few miles from the airport in his Queens home.

According to The New York Times, Slater was charged with felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. He now is suspended from the airline until further investigation.

Slater since has become a bit of a social phenomenon. An msnbc.com poll initially had half of the 91,759 voters deeming Slater a hero, while only 10 percent said he was an “idiot.” However, 30 percent dubbed him “just plain crazy,” and 10 percent indicated they didn’t know what to make of the incident.

He also became the top trending topic nationwide on Twitter and has been hailed as a hero on Facebook. Support has cropped up in the digital space with fan pages like “Free Steven Slater” (approaching 30,000 fans), a Steven Slater PayPal fund, and of course, the “Can Steven Slater Get More Fans Than Justin Bieber?” page.

As the Slater brand takes off, where is JetBlue?

A visit to JetBlue’s Facebook page deems the incident nearly nonexistent, save for a small discussion that cropped up only 18 hours ago entitled “Passenger’s Behavior.” It’s likely most of the comments related to the incident have been deleted. It may behoove JetBlue to take note of these comments in which customers continue to sing the airline’s praises, offer support for Slater given his emotional stress of caring for his dying mother, and encourage the brand to step up and be a leader in implementing passenger codes of conduct.

Only three tweets appeared since the incident, two of which were blunt responses to a CNN reporter along the lines of, “We will not comment further on ongoing investigations.”

Although JetBlue’s PR hands are tied, how the airline responds in the coming days is critical, especially given its favorable social presence. In an initial statement, JetBlue confirmed the chute had been deployed and “at no time was the security or safety of our [100] customers or crew members at risk,” writes MediaPost.

Both head marketer Marty St. George (@mattysg) and newly appointed lead marketing agency, Mullen, headed by Edward Boches (@edwardboches), remained mum. Despite the legal challenges, it might benefit JetBlue to respond to postings as the investigation continues by reaffirming their mission and ensuring the protection and safety of passengers.

“One of the difficulties they are facing is they have to reconcile the contradiction between the public’s expectations that they are going to get the full story from JetBlue immediately, especially based on JetBlue’s history,” said Jonathan Bellinger, VP-social media strategy at Omnicom Group’s Ketchum.

JetBlue recently began to open up with its usual charm in a blog post, which confirms the reason they’re not commenting is that JetBlue respects “the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; [JetBlue] won’t do it for them.”

Slater likely will bring positive attention to a brand that has already garnered social media respect and success.

According to Steve Rubel, senior VP-director of Insights at Edelman Digital, “JetBlue has done a good job of building a tremendous amount of relationship capital with the online community by embracing new digital platforms and communicating with people through them so they might not have to answer as many questions about the details of this incident. When a company puts itself out there as a company adept and active in social media, it gains social capital that it can cash in later on in a crisis or legal situation.”

Time will tell whether JetBlue bites the social media dust or cashes in its capital to continue to be a darling.

In this role, Meghan, a South Carolina native living in Brooklyn, NY, is responsible for being the brand style ambassador for the women’s line and social media companion of Gareth, the Levi’s Guy. Meghan will move to San Francisco in August to work out of the HQ where she’ll be posting inspiring looks and designs to the female fan base and millions of worldwide followers. During this six-month brand immersion, she will also be involved in covering news within the community as well as live branding events.

Here’s a look at Meghan’s debut video in which she shows Gareth her Brooklyn neighborhood.

A few weeks ago, Levi’s nominated five women who entered the Facebook contest with 2:40 minute video entries telling the brand reasons they should be the first Levi’s Girl.  Edelman helped create and host the contest as they did with the MTV TJ contest.

Full disclosure: I’m slightly saddened by the news. I consulted a good friend of mine and helped produce her video entry but she unfortunately wasn’t nominated. Despite the news, she realized the journey itself was an adventure (we did have a lot of fun branding her with this video) and that was success enough for the two of us. We got down to what made her click (on the Facebook ad for the contest), what made her warm and fuzzy for the brand and what the brand’s spotted history meant for the future and the environment. By the end of this project, personal branding beat big name branding. Luckily, the nominee we hoped (and voted) for won.

Cheers to Meghan on her upcoming branding adventure! We eagerly look forward to the ideas she’ll socially channel through the long-standing brand. Best of luck, Levi’s Girl!