Innovate

• First athlete on a box of Wheaties: Lou Gehrig

Here's an idea that caught on. Wheaties has sustained itself as a premier cereal brand throughout the decades by being THE brand for athlete endorsements. Ever hear a comment to someone having a rough day, "I guess you didn't have your Wheaties today"? Thanks to this idea, starting with Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, Wheaties and athleticism have become forever linked.

• First 3-D movie: Power of Love, 1922

A screen is 2 dimensions, so anything shown on it has to be 2 as well, right? Apparently not. The 1950s had more than a fair share of 3-D movies, complete with (highly fashionable) paper and colored film glasses. But about 30 years earlier, Power of Love introduced audiences to this new concept. The movie itself was not credited as being one deserving of special recognition and is currently identified on imdb as being "lost," but we at Moderne appreciate the vision and creativity necessary to add a whole new dimension - literally - to an entire industry.

• First Commercial Domain Purchase: Symbolics.com

The World Wide Web. The Information Superhighway. To those "in the know," the Net. The internet has many seemingly archaic names, but there was a time - not that long ago, in fact - when these terms were revolutionary. Could this "series of tubes" possibly help businesses? Skepticism abounded. Symbolics - you've probably never heard of them. But back in 1985 they became the owners of the first commercial domain name.  The company has since gone under, but certainly not due to a lack of technological foresight. Today, the companies without websites are the ones we scoff at. If Symbolics were around, we bet they'd sure love to send everyone a big "I told ya so!" ... probably through whatever the next big Social network is going to be.

• First brand logo on record: Bass & Co Brewery

Name a company without a logo. We'll wait...

Ok, done waiting. If you thought of one, congratulations. But we don't think you did. That's because everybody has one. Bass can boast that they had the first official one though. Their widely recognized red triangle logo dates back to January 1, 1876 and was the very first trademarked image in Great Britain. You might argue that surely someone had some sort of artwork representing their company before that. Well, yes, you're probably right. But when Britain recognized the need (and opportunity to charge a fee) for the rights to such artwork, Bass was literally at the front of the line. They saw the chance to solidify their image and protect the integrity of their brand - something with which many brands today still struggle mightily.

• First Mobile Advertising: Kauppalehti Online

Think of some of the ads you saw in the newspaper this morning, or on TV during halftime last night. Having trouble remembering? That's because, quite frankly, you don't care. You read for the news and watch for the game. But what happens when you get a text message? You read it every single time. That's what Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti Online observed in 1999, leading them to utilize the world's first mobile marketing campaign. The first client was advertiser eQ Online, which sent exchange rate and stock price updates right to subscribers' phones. It was truly genius, if we may say so ourselves.

• First coupon sampling program: Coca Cola

Among the many, many placards on Coke's wall is one that you might not guess. They issued the very first free sample coupon. It seems so elementary to us today. Heck, we've been running sampling programs for over 2 decades now. But until 1887, it hadn't been done. You had to shell out cash to buy your soft drinks - and everything else for that matter. Sure, maybe you picked up a discount or a freebie here and there, but a large scale coupon sampling program? No way. It's one innovation that we're sure glad someone thought of. There's a ton more to say about it too, but we've got to go pick up some 2-for-1 bottles of Coke before this coupon expires.