Wasserbombe. For decades, innovation in this sector was mostly urban myth, like square tomatoes. Chiquita was the only brand that I can recall. If you heard something about vegetables, it was usually bad: the Dutch (or rather: the Germans) have only recently recovered from the ‘Wasserbombe’ trauma. My fellow countrymen had been shipping shiny but watery, tasteless tomato-lookalikes to our German neighbours for years.

One day the Germans decided they had suffered enough culinary abuse. The boycot that followed was tough but ultimately saved the Dutch vegetable breeding industry, making it an economic powerhouse.

Sexy Seeds. When my wife became the legal counsel for Enza Zaden, one of the world’s leading vegetable breeding companies, I flipped through their catalogue in her first week on the job and I could not believe my eyes. Why was I not enjoying all these wonderful varieties, colours, innovations and design vegetables in my kitchen ? I decided to dig deeper.

Broccoli.com. When Enza invited me to speak at their 75-year anniversary I explored the rise of marketing in this sector in ‘Broccoli.com: the future of marketing in fruit and veggies (presentation below) and challenged four teams of ambitious students to come up with buzzable new innovations and couple them with the latest marketing techniques.

“We invented civilization. Now we’re taking a break”

I spent last week again in this fantastic city. With 1200 fellow entrepreneurs from one of the most inspiring organizations in the world, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. You might expect that I would now conclude that things had gone from bad to worse. From a determined complacency to a country that is ridiculed as the living symbol of the crisis. But the opposite is true. I now believe Greece might be in a better position than Germany, the country that is a prime source of the ridicule.

Don’t get me wrong. As we speak there is no doubt Greece is in a bad state. Many people have lost their jobs. Higher educated people are getting extra jobs to pay their bills. Their children are no longer sent to the best international schools for further education. Protests halt the country’s already weak economy. And so on. But there is something else going on at the same time.

Greece is for lovers. When I visited the touristic Plaka, the first shop I walked into  – Forget Me Not – had just been opened by enthusiast Filippos. It offers a collection of Greek Design. It was amazing. It was humorous, fresh, cool and above all – Greek. Meet the Greeks fold-it characters, an incredible, iconic skateboard from the inspiring Greece is for lovers brand. I bought the Kickstarter-funded ‘Cooking to share‘ cookbook by Alexandra Stratou that is simply the most stunning I have ever seen. Further along, simple tourist shops sell clothes that should have been made in China and sold for 7 euro. But they sell for 35 and are made in Greece.

New concepts. I visited 6 Dogs, just a bar. But more remarkable than anything I have seen in a long time. A friend told me that young people – even more hungry to connect socially and have a good time – have found new ways to do this on a very tight budget. Impromptu, pop-up parties are formed around kiosks, in squares. The kiosks replace traditional bars and are selling drinks at 1/3 of normal prices. Some people see this as a temporary low-end alternative borne out of necessity. I see a new bar concept in the making that adds new value.

Corporate Cool. Not all signs of buzzable new life and innovation in Greece are ‘underground’. Surprisingly, the Dutch embassy is supporting an incubator called Orange Grove together with a Dutch beer brand. I visited an event and was struck by the contagious energy, not least from Ambassador (and surfer) Jan Versteeg himself and all the people involved. Jan calls Athens the warmest cool place on earth in this fun video. 35 startups are getting support and are working out of the basement of the Dutch embassy. One of these startups, headed by Myrto Papadogeorgeou, created the civic engagement app ‘City of Errors‘. Spot problems in the city and help fix them. Not the first one, but done with a unique tone of voice. Startup Fleksi is possibly the best example of Greece’s path towards a buzzable future: an incredibly clever concept for a better keyboard on your smartphone. Who but the Greeks could reinvent the way the αλϕἁβητο is captured ?

City of Errors from City of Errors on Vimeo.

Plato, Skateboards & Buzzability. Although apparently all different, something connects these products and activities with the historic soul of the country and its future. A quirky, slightly black sense of humor laced with some fundamental philosophical wisdom and a strong urge to live life to the max. To enjoy it without having the urge to reduce all life’s risks as western countries are doing in ever more pathetic ways. These aspects could help Greece become buzzable again by aligning an inspiring ‘Why’ with a remarkable customer experience and ‘buzz’ that travels. And from what I can see, I think they are on the right track.

Greece is ahead of the curve. On a more global level, the EU has been similarly dismissed as irrelevant by the ‘real’ world powers China and the US. I have always resisted this notion. I simply believe the EU is in a different phase. Having achieved widespread wellfare and wellbeing first, Europe was also the first region to become lazy, defensive, complacent, fat, uninspired and unimaginative. As a result, it is now being forced to reinvent itself first. And after it has done this, it will again be the first continent to climb to the next peak. It is only poetic that the first European country to engage in this epic journey is the first one to conquer the original mountain.

I can relate to this from a personal perspective as I am sure many others can. A year ago I took time off to recover from an exhaustion that could have turned into a burnout. It was not an easy process but after time I started finding new energy, creativity and conviction every day. And more importantly: I was shedding waste, irrelevancies and getting closer to my inner purpose. I am now experiencing greater clarity and am having more fun in what I do than before. I am having more positive impact on my environment.

Creativity stems from necessity. So what is happening ? The depth of the crisis is finally awakening the Greeks from their post-civilization slumber. Yes, it starts from necessity and not from pro-active actions but this is typical. Most entrepreneurs start on a frustration, necessity, a tough challenge. It is not glamorous and success never comes overnight, as many publications tempt us to believe. Wonderboys AirBNB struggled for years and also started from necessity.

The Rebranding/Rebuilding of Greece. Greek’s greatest inspirational celebrity Peter Economides (who I was fortunate enough to chat with in his Voula house at the end of my trip) explained in his groundbreaking presentation (check it out below, English after the intro) the need for Greece to rebrand itself. When I discussed this with him, we both agreed that this is actually being done from the ground – through activities, experiences – and not by creating a shiny new advertising campaign with a funky logo. More rebuilding than rebranding. And yes, ultimately you should give the new dirction, the new ‘Why’ of Greece a name. That reflects what is unique about all the things coming out of this country. That aligns Plato with coffee mugs, bars, apps and skateboards. Coincidentally, Peter is an advisor to the Orange Grove incubator.

When you have nothing to lose, you do things right. Most Greeks would probably not agree with my observations. They are suffering. They feel they have been robbed of everything they had. They don’t see the way out and feel utterly helpless. But when you are freed of your golden handcuffs you are in a great position to do something remarkable. Because you are less cautious, defensive. Risks are taken out of the equation because you have nothing to lose. This is why innovation comes from startups not from corporates. This is why even Apple is now buying innovation.

Entrepreneurs will take the lead. But a small core group of people, most of them entrepreneurs, is starting with little but gearing up to build great things. And eventually they will inspire others to start believing again. Or at least to jump on their train. It might take 5 or 10 years for the popular opinion to notice this, but I believe I already have. As the Dutch embassy did, I believe more outsiders will start to see the opportunities (undoubtedly also powered by lower prices for pretty much anything) and invest in the new Greece.

The Cyclades as Summer Office ! During my Athens days I had a chance to catch up with two great friends and entrepreneurs: Stephan Bayer, CEO of the Berlin-based online educator Sofatutor and Feliks Eyser, founder of Regiohelden. They are thinking of a ‘Summer-Office’ concept that aspires to bring hordes of startup employees over to the Greek Isles in the summer to make building new companies more fun during those months. I’m going ! Ruling beer brands could see the kiosk parties as a threat to margins. But I am sure they’ll eventually position a local brand to embrace the kiosk parties with mobile DJ booths, disruptive art platforms. And if they don’t, another startup will ; )

But better off than Germany ? Obviously, I wanted a buzzable title for this blog. It’s just the way my deformed mind works. But there might be a lot of truth to this statement. On the surface, Berlin is the opposite of Athens. It breathes success. All startups want to have an office in the Silicon Valley of Europe. All countries want the German/Berlin model.

Last Man Standing. But you could also see a rollercoaster of venture capital financing and ‘exit-horniness’ driving startups to deviate from real value creation towards inflated growth predictions. Of failing business models rapidly being pumped up to ensure an IPO or exit before it all tumbles down. Of startups for the sake of startups. A new TV show about Silicon Valley (below) paints an equally glorifying and disturbing picture. You might believe that Western economies are so hungry for success that we inflate entrepreneurial activity to mythical proportions to disguise the fact that there is little underlying intrinsic value, inspiration. Possibly Germany is even no longer aligned with its ‘Why’ (predictable quality) when the minister of education loses her PhD and organic eggs do not deserve that label.  It seems no coincidence that an article I read on the airplane back to Amsterdam predicts the demise of Berlin as a capital of Cool.

Greece’s big advantage. Maybe countries like Germany simply have not seen enough misery to fix the real bugs of the system. There is just enough wealth to keep on going without making real choices. There are still enough Chinese hungry for status to buy expensive cars. So we stumble on without capturing the opportunity to do something more remarkable. In Greece, there is no disguise possible. Greece is naked, vulnerable. And that is their greatest advantage.  I have not looked for data to support this view. The dots I am connecting do not create an obvious nor a straight line.  But ever since reading Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Blink’ I try to follow my ‘intuition’ and it is telling me:

Greece is an ancient, cool startup on a path to become buzzable again.

The ‘Why’ Statement.  When I work with a brand, I sometimes create a ‘Why’ statement that reflects the buzzable purpose of the brand. That will act as a compass. One popped up when I was writing this blog. I look forward to your comments and alternative statements on Greece’s Why.

Greece. Food for thought.

Sun Maliya solar panel ecosystem (finalist). Supply solar energy to people living in conflict areas. What I like is the fact that as a consumer you can basically order your power station to come to you. Your family, friends in wealthier countries will pay the power bill per week/month. What would make it even more buzzable is if local entrepreneurs could become the people paying for the panels and exploiting them. Then you get a truly sustainable business model by creating a local economic model.

Dabirdy EV charger (finalist). Smart usage of high voltage tram lines to create more efficient fast chargers for electric cars. Buzzable because you are leveraging existing stuff: electricity and locations. People like elegant solutions and understandable low tech. The founders want to turn the charger into a visible, fun object like a tree tapping fuel (water) from the tram lines. If they go more extreme, you could turn charging your car into an experience, like ToTheLoo  has done for toilet visits. If you spend 25 minutes charging, why not create a fun experience in that time ?

TiLT Bike locator/protector. Find your bike using an app and get notified when it is moved/stolen. At first glance, these guys will find it difficult to compete with the likes of Tile. But they have a few aces up their sleaves: their product cannot be removed without alarm and they are thinking about making their product more versatile, suitable for more occasions/objects. And the fact that you can customize the sound and light effects (like a ring tone) is a nice buzzable touch.

Dwillo mentorship matching platform (finalist). In our times, you’ve got to have a coach or mentor to survive. Dwillo focuses on creating thee match between mentor/mentee for the group that needs a mentor most: students about to make career choices. That by itself is a pretty buzzable proposition. Their matching algorithm gives it a nice ‘tech/Amazon-smartness’ edge. To make it more remarkable sooner, they could start with a freemium model and target corporate customers once they have some scale.

Shake On networking bracelet (finalist). You might think: not another app or wearable piece of tech that aims to replace the business card. But the buzzability lies in the focus on events (where do you meet most new people ?) and the intuitive link to a very human gesture: shaking hands. What could make it more remarkable ? A Shake might trigger your memo recorder app or camera on your smartphone so that you can add verbal, visual context to the encounter.

GlucoTouch glucose monitor (finalist). Monitoring your glucose levels as a diabetes is (literally) a pain. Making that a painless, easy and cheap process is a highly buzzable solution for an ever growing group of people. A great buzzability enhancer would link its glucose monitoring data to ‘life-monitoring’ apps (movement, diet, health signs) such as Jawbone’s Up https://jawbone.com/up and and create intelligent big data that will help solve the problem. Another way to create buzz that they ar thinking of: create awareness of diabetes by monitoring in public places.

Esteon  Rental Housing Matching. It’s smart to focus a housing matching platform on a niche such as rented houses because thre is very little attention or innovation. But what makes this service truly buzzable is that it learns from your behaviour/reactions while you search and look around. In other words: these guys understand that you cannot put all your living criteria in 3 search boxes at the start of your search and expect to find the perfect house. You react/refine based on what you see. Sort of artificial intelligence. The biggest buzzability booster ? Don’t turn this into a rental-housing matching proposition. But turn the self-learning, behaviour-based matching algorithm into a standalone, plugin tool that any party that wants to create better matches can use. And, of course, you can start with applying it to the rental housing market ; ) Next ? Other costly investments such as furniture, cars and yes, finding a partner for life ; )

Dillys interactive billboards. Imagine walking past a billboard in December that challenges you to engage in a snowball fight ? And that the billboard turns into a Kinect-based gamescreen. Not only will you enjoy the wait for your train more, you might actually appreciate the discount coupon for a skiing holiday that pops up on your smartphone after playing the game. ‘nough said. What would speed up bringing this buzzable billboard to market is a ‘plugin kit’ that converts existing billboards into a Dilly…

Buzzable fact: the prequel to the pebble, InPulse, was only compatible with Blackberry. Why ? The founders worked just down the road of Blackberry HQ. Everyone there had a Blackberry at the time…

They have now sold 300.000 pieces. They are incredibly successful. But is it truly buzzable as a product ? I have now used it 7 months. I hardly ever wear it. I hardly know where to get new apps. As a result, I hardly ever talk about it. Except when people ask me when I wear it because it’s design sticks out. And when I talk about it, I tell people a 3rd screen has potential but not like this. And I am not the only one who is disappointed, as this story will show.

The allure of the Pebble was – at first glance – 1) the fantastic apps it was going to give us and 2) the convenient notifications of incoming messages on your wrist.

The notifications are ok. But as we are desperately trying to Unplug from information technology, it is not necessarily the killer app.

The apps are really, really disappointing. At last, up to now. If you read the “8 must-have Pebble apps that will make you never want to take off your smartwatch” posting you’d think that the author was on acid when writing. Space Invaders on a watch ? Not only is that so incredibly outdated and done before, it simply does not work. Cool watchfaces ? Come on. A stopwatch ? You’ve got to be joking.

So what’s going on ?

What makes the Pebble buzzable is two things: the fact that it is a crowdfunding success and the fact that is signals – as Google Glass does – the rise of third screens. The first one is simply a fact.

In my opinion, it fails miserably at showing the real potential of the second topic. But does that matter for the Pebble ? No. their timing is just terribly good. The Pebble connects to two topics that are really buzzable so it’s performance matters less. And that is one of the key secrets of buzzability: if your product fits in a buzzable context, it will do wonders. Malcolm Gladwell called this ‘stickiness’ in ‘The Tipping Point’. Another case in point ? Nest, the company recently acquired by Google for gazillions. The stickiness ? Not the applish thermostat or the smoke detector. No, The Internet of Things (great title for a horror movie by the way).

So can you become a stellar success with a mediocre product if the stickiness is tremendous ? Yes, temporarily. Floating on the hype. And maybe you will gain enough momentum and resources to reinvent yourself into something truly buzzable, that will have lasting power and creates real value. Maybe the app-ecosystem recently launched will finally start producing apps that show the promise of a 3rd screen on your wrist. My wishlist for now:

Calendar Notifications – Maybe it exists, haven’t found it yet. You are used to looking at your wrist to check if you are on time for your next appointment. So it’s a mystery to me the Pebb; did not launch with calendar notifications in the first place.

Pick Up Support – You’re in a bar trying to get a girl/boy interested in you. But you’re very weak on good text. Let your smooth-operating buddy listen in on the conversation and give you great lines via your Pebble ! (challenge: how do you mask looking at your watch all the time ?)

Find your (Pebble) Buddy ! Walking in a crowd, the Pebble shows you where to find your Pebble buddy with directions on your wrist. More vibrations when you get warmer/closer

Lie detector. Let your smartphone camera detect whether the person you are talking to is lying. You’ll know when it vibrates.

As you can see and to be perfectly honest, I am also finding it difficult to come up with real stuff. Maybe you can ?

Willem (Pebble owner)

P.s. just out: Google is up next on the smartwatch front. And this looks more buzzable.