Highlighter
Ever since I can remember I have been using highlighters for school, fun, and work. Highlighters are fun because they make a unique color and look really cool in the dark. I also remember that a lot of people (ravers) in High School used highlighters or glow sticks with highlighter color to "rave". I have mainly used highlighters to well highlight. I currently used highlighters to highlight readings and more specifically important facts in case studies, which I have had my share to read in college. People also use highlighters of different colors to differentiate importance within notes, for example pink highlighter could mean really important, while green could mean not as important. My younger sister uses highlighters to write notes to her friends and make them look extremely artsy. People also use highlights to write on themselves weather it be a fake tattoo or a perhaps you passed out after a night out in the town and your friends decided to "shame" you with various drawings on your face or body. Personally I have also used highlighters top width to nail in a nail into my drywall, the highlighter actually worked pretty well because it has a fairly large top. So as you can see there are various uses for a highlighter but the majority of the uses to pertain to some sort of writing or highlighting writing. Water Bottle
The water bottle is a very simple but unique product design that has many uses far and wide. Lets start off with the most obvious use of a water bottle which is a plastic bottle that holds water. Water bottles have also been used to store many items, such as the picture above illustrates. I have seen water bottles used as piggy banks to collect coins, to store nails/bolts, and to also store wall tacs. A more interesting use that I have had with water bottles is making home made firecrackers. What you do is take a small amount of bathroom acid pour it into the bottle and then take about 5-7 pieces of crumbled up balls of foil, you drop them into the bottle with the acid and close the lid. I would suggest running away at this part, at least 20 feet. The foil and the acid interact and the pressure within the bottle increases dramatically and finally explodes. This is was a great source of entertainment when I was a younger, but don't worry I no longer do this. Going back to using water bottles as storing, many people just store another type of liquid like alcohol. Throughout my college career putting liquor in water bottles has been the choice of underage students to sneak in alcohol at parties, football games, basketball games, and other social events. I personally have been a innocent victim of the deceiving "clear water bottle." One day after a boat party my friend was taking me home and he has a clear water bottle in the car and I assumed it was water, and I took a big gulp out of it and well it wasn't water but instead vodka and I almost threw up right there and then. Water bottles have also been used to hold or transport illegal drugs as seen on t.v. documentaries. I have also seen water bottles used as pots for plants, all you have to do is cut the top portion of it off and you have a simple see through plant pot. Overall there is a wide and extensive use for the water bottle and I'm sure there are many more to ways to use it to come. Highlighter(s) and Water Bottles?
I don't believe that there has been an actual market item that combines both highlighters and water bottles, but you never know.
-The first idea that came to mind was to make highlighter color water packaged within the bottle. The water could come in all different colors pink, green, blue, orange, and purple. I think it would be very eye appealing to consumers and fun. I'm not sure to the degree consumers would like the idea of water being a bright illuminating color versus the historical clear it is. They might not view the water has healthy or beneficial. On the bright side this could be a bigger winner with kids, they could view the product as new, fun, and at the same time good for them.
-The next idea is a spin off of the first one but instead just have highlighted water bottles versus highlighting the water. This could be a bit more receptive then the first idea because you won't be affecting the water just the bottle. And again kids would like the colorful bottles as well as other age groups that find the new color bottles as cool and modern.
-You could start selling highlighters within water bottles, but obviously there wouldn't be water in the bottle. You could fit any amount of highlighters within the bottles as long as the bottle was big enough. My main concern would be how would the highlighters come out of the water bottle, perhaps some alteration to the size of the cap?
-You could make water bottles into a shape of a highlighter and marketing them like that. Image having a 12oz highlighter in your hand with the same twist off cap (original version) and water coming out of it. There would be no alteration to the water just the bottle. I think this idea would be pretty cool, a huge highlighter that is water. Or you could keep the same idea for the highlighter water bottle and actually have highlighted water come out of it. Again you could have an array of colors to choose from to highlight the water.
-Stemming from the same idea above you could make water bottles a bit smaller and just have one time use for it. Lets say the highlighter water bottle only holds 3-5 oz. of water for a one time use. In a sense this is like the small liquor bottles. The only problem would be that I'm not sure how many people just want one sip of water, you would have to have multiple 3-5 oz. highlighter water bottles.
-Vice versa why not make highlighters in the shape of a water bottle. Obviously the water bottle size would be brought down to a substantial size. So in essence you would have a lot of water bottles that are highlighters but again without actual water. This design would require some alteration within the bottle because it would have to hold the writing tip of the highlighter and ink inside it.
-A more rational combination would not to actually create a new product but to bundle the products with a manufactures agreement. Lets say every five water bottles in a 24 pack would contain a highlighter attached to it. And for every 5 or 10 highlighters bought you get a free pack of water bottles. This is a lot more promotional based but could be a big hit during back to school for students.
-You could make the color of the labels and caps of water bottles a highlighter color. This would make your water bottle "pop" and stand out in the aisle.
After a couple of days of trying to think of new ways to add, transform and create a new product with these two I have come to an end. I think the ideas above are really unique for the most part and I really surprised myself of all the ideas I thought of. It would be interesting to see one of these ideas in action to see if it would really work.
Jacob,
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I was amazed by your ideas with those two totally unrelated objects. Highlighter water bottle sounds good for me. I would definitely buy them when I see them in Wal-mart. Brainstorming is nicely done and outcomes are creative and viable. Good job!