Open up your mind and say, ahh...

The old economy demanded a flurry of hard work, obsessive focus, and a charrette before launch. Launches were expensive and rare, and managers and co-workers would push to get everything just right before hitting the big red button to announce, ship and launch. The attention demanded by this scarcity raised the game, overcame fear and pushed things from one level to another.

A big reason for the push is to ameliorate risk. Launching is risky business, and one way to diminish that risk in a world of scarcity and market noise is to go big. And then big becomes a habit.

In the new economy, in the economy of launch and learn and revise, some of the POP! is replaced by Pfffft. Because there’s no big launch, we get more easily distracted, we don’t push ourselves as hard, we don’t treat that first day as as big a deal. There’s less risk because you’re going straight to your tribe, not hoping for a cultural mass-market sensation every time.

The thing is, if I had a book launch party every time I posted on this blog, the cheese and crackers would kill me. And the idea of a gold master in software development is now an antique. There’s a paradox here:

The good news is that fewer good ideas get killed for feeling too risky.

The bad news is that sometimes we trade in the important for the trivial.

The punchline is that some artificial pop might be required. Just because it’s easy to ship doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push yourself. The art is in ignoring the fear that pushes you to polish too much…

One of our client partners, MolsonCoors, teamed up with Artists Raising Consciousness (ARC) to talk about irresponsible drinking. It’s a hard message to give for a few reasons. One, the company markets to this same demographic to encourage them to enjoy their beverages. Two, the target of these messages often feel a bit invulnerable and aren’t really the best recipients of such messages.

There’s a tighrope to walk in making sure the message is effective without being cheesy. There’s an importance to handling these issues, because it deals with occasional tragedy, and it deals a lot with making sure people take the key points away instead of get stuck on a side tangent.

And, as with everything, it’s hard to raise awareness and get things seen. The site The Message in the Bottle deals with that last bit by adding all the usual social sharing buttons, by using YouTube so that others can view the videos offsite, and by reaching out via bloggers (like me) instead of just using mainstream channels.

So, what’s your take? How do you see this going? What else do you think would make this successful? What do you think of the videos at The Message in the Bottle? Effective? No?

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Quirky

Quick Pitch: Quirky is a social product development company founded in June 2009 by 23-year-old entrepreneur Ben Kaufman.

Genius Idea: At its core, Quirky builds consumer products. It sells cable organizers, a modular spatula system, and double-sided USB sticks. It’s how they create and develop their products that really makes them stand out, though.

Quirky describes itself as a “social product development company.” It essentially crowdsources product ideas and then places them at the mercy of Quirky’s thousands of users. The community votes on which ones they want to develop and then adds its input on things such as product aesthetics, design, logo, and even its name. The best ideas are then taken by Quirky’s team of engineers and designers and turned into 3D renderings.

The next step is the most important one: the product is then placed on pre-sale, where anyone can buy the product. However, Quirky will only sell something if it hits a minimum number of sale commitments (usually under a thousand). Once that number is reached, the product is made and person who submitted the original idea gets a piece of the revenue pie.

There are a few things to know before you go off designing tons of products for Quirky. First, it costs $99 to submit an idea. Second, even if your product is selected by the community, it doesn’t mean it will become a major hit. Finally, many products on Quirky still have yet to hit their minimum purchase requirement, and some of the products on sale on the site aren’t cheap.

In the end though, we believe that Quirky is a killer tool for both entrepreneurs without the means to bring an idea into production and for geeks looking to buy useful — if not odd — products. The best ideas find their way to the top and are vetted by the community, which brings multiple perspectives and opinions to a product’s development.

Quirky was founded by Ben Kaufman, who is the creator of Mophie, the popular iPhone and iPod accessory company, so it has some serious brainpower behind the company. You can learn more about the Quirky process here.

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Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

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BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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