If someone asks you for the time, where do you look?

More and more these days, people are rejecting watches. As far as I can tell, there are at least three reasons why.

1. As a statement about our culture’s obsession with time. Giving up the watch means giving up clock-watching. Instead of multi-tasking to do more faster, some are choosing to do one thing well, without regard to the time it takes. They choose focus. It’s part of the trend away from technology, a desire to return to a simpler time.

2. As a statement about materialism. Watches are more closely associated with status than function. Giving up the watch means taking a stand against superfluous form over the quality of function. It says “I’m confident about who I am and don’t need any status symbols to speak for me”. It’s part of the anti-consumerism trend.

3. Watches have become unnecessary. There are so many other ways to tell time these days - the cell phone, the blackberry, the computer - why bother wearing a watch? It’s an outdated technology.

Interesting, isn’t it? When there’s no more functional need, products and brands must be positioned entirely on the emotional jobs they can fulfill. Watch as badge. Watch as jewelry. Watch as reward. And when the emotional job doesn’t resonate, the entire product category is rejected.

If the humble watch can become the accidental victim of the technology explosion, what other categories are in danger of becoming functionally obsolete from the margins? Is yours?

Do you still wear a watch? Tell us why…

Today’s NYT’s has an article about NetFlix moving into streaming videos. Reed Hastings, the CEO, says “…(the) DVD is not a hundred-year format.”

While untimely obsolescence is a prevailing assumption in technology and media, it’s not something consumer package goods manufacturers factor into their equations. In the technology arena, the DVD is merely looked upon as a vehicle to deliver entertainment or information. Another format may be equally viable or better.

Why not try approaching your product development that way.? Is cereal necessarily a hundred-year format or simply one means of delivering morning nutrition? (Shifting consumer behavior indicates the latter.) Are carbonated soft drinks the only format for delivering refreshment? Are liquids the only vehicle for delivering hydration? Why are toothpaste and toothbrush the only format we’ve got for delivering dental hygiene?

What if we all approached our product delivery systems as soon-to-be obsolete? What if we all had to make step change improvements every 5+ years? We’d approach our day-to-day business with an urgent need to innovate. Not for stock price growth. For survival.

It’s a new canvas for innovation. Try it.