We're in the Financial Times! Read about our insight-led innovation approach (and consumer work in particular) in the weekly column by Mike Southon. He's co-author of the 'Beermat' entrepreneur bestsellers and a Friend of Happen. Read the article online here.

Uncovering the Secret World of Your Shopper
Open Hub held on June 22nd 2010 in London

What percentage of purchase decisions for your product do you think are made in-store? 75%? 70%? 40%? If you are talking to your (trade) marketing team the answer is undoubtedly high; even larger if you talk to retail media people.

However we feel that this is the wrong question. When you stop to think about it, the truth is that 100% of purchase decisions are made in store. Even if in most cases it is habitual. So the real questions are those that relate to the shopper journey and the when, whereand howthese choices are made.

Build your skills in relationship management
Held on Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th July, 2010
Happen Academy's 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' two-day programme helps you develop and improve the key skills necessary to confidently champion and engage others in the team/business with an idea from conception through to delivery.

We are delighted to announce that we have won an exciting project with a Regional Development Agency in the North of England in partnership with Thomas De Brun and our friends at Mediasmiths. This is an exciting foray simultaneously into the world of media and the public sector.

That's all we can say at the moment but watch this space.

We're very proud to announce that the Bakery category team at M&S has chosen Happen and Winkle.  M&S is greatly respected with a reputation based on quality, value, service, innovation and trust. We are all very excited to have the opportunity to work with the M&S team and this iconic retail brand.

Introducing Happen's first Hundred Innovation Quotes to spice up your reports when you can't find any cool maxims from Einstein, Edison or Grouch Marx.

Free to copy, distribute and retweet - as long as you refer to Happen^® or Happen.com as your source of inspiration.

Operational Excellence - the mantra that came into fashion in the early nineties of the previous century and one that is still fanatically preached across the globe. It beholds the complete mastery of one's primary business processes. It allows for surgical accuracy in delivering output to spec. It lives in Centers of Excellence clustered on every continent. The business breathes, eats and drinks Lean, Six Sigma, 5s, TQM.

Who would have thought there could ever be a downside to delivering a job to perfection? Well, it turns out there is. Many of the process superstars that grew to dominate their markets through Operational Excellence have fallen prey to its stillborn twin: Systemic Inertia. Think Dell, Circuit City and even the superheroes at Toyota.

Organisations are variously good or bad at innovation. Whether they fit into the former or the latter category, all seem to feel the need from time to time to set up an innovation group that sits outside their normal brand teams or business categories.