The University of Dayton FLYER PITCH Competition “Twisting the Problem and Framing it for the Judges www.GO.UDAYTON.EDU/UDBPC

The Novelty paradox How many of you would rather try a variation on a dish you like, vs. a dish you know nothing about?

Twisting the familiar: Make the judge’s job easier to “get it” Put an existing idea in a new setting. Many people think the best idea is so novel no one knows anything about it. Not really. If people don’t have a reference point, it seems “too out there” The best ideas should prompt the response “I wish I had thought of that!” Think about how you describe movies “It’s like Spider-man, but with a different action hero” (Iron-man) “Airplane-like humor, but the setting is the 2008 election” (An American Carol)

Here’s some ideas from previous entries “An umbrella for your backpack” (backback cover) A daycare for dogs (doggie daycare) Like a crank radio, but it re-charges your iPod or cell phone Battery generator You already drink fair trade coffee: How about food to go with it? (Flyers for fair trade) Are any of these hard to get? SIMPLE IS BEAUTIFUL Frame the problem so the judges sees it instantly.

Framing the problem

Framing the problem Use affect words to describe the trade-off people have been making Indicate how many people are directly affected, and the cost of the problem Citing a source often helps Indicate why the most prevalent current solutions are unacceptable

An example: car tires Under-inflated tires can cause unsafe driving conditions, and lower fuel efficiency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that hundreds of thousands of crashes could be prevented if vehicle owners kept their tires properly inflated. The wasted fuel adds 30 cents a gallon to gas prices for all Americans, billions each month. This problem affects almost all cars sold prior to 2006, when premium cars began installing dash-based low tire alerts. That’s over 100 million cars and trucks The problem is one of training--Visual inspection means you’ve waited too long. If you can see it is low, you waited too long. People lack the time to check tire pressure daily or weekly, and cannot afford to have someone check it for them. People don’t want unsafe tires, and they want better gas mileage, but current solutions take too long or cost too much money.

Underinflated tires cost money and are unsafe! The problem is if you can see the tire is low then you waited too long It seems a hassle to check tire pressure manually. It affects tens of millions of cars—billions of dollars in gas

BTW: what’s one solution? Accue pressure safety caps “pop up red” when it is time to add air to tires. Checking them is visual (10 seconds a day at most), and they are modestly priced. Quick and Cheap.

Twist the familiar: how would you describe it? “it’s like the popup button on a turkey at Thanksgiving” “it’s like an alarm clock that tells you when to add air” It’s a like a post it note for adding air to your tires”