Today is December 12, 2012. If you’re a Facebook, Twitter or another social network user, you’ve seen “12-12-12” documented heavily for the last week. The fascination with this date is that we’ll never experience another set of all three – the day, the month and the year being the same in our lifetime (if you’re throttling yourself wondering why, there is no 13th month). The next occurrence will be the year 2112, and I think I can safely say that anyone who has the capability to read this article will not be around then.

So I thought it would be interesting to look at what are some other things that we will never see again: Blockbuster – once the king of VHS and DVD in-store rentals; Hostess brands – you remember Twinkies?; MySpace – one of the first social networking sites.

Innovation at all levels impacts how long a company can stay in business. It’s needed in product updates, packaging, updating applicability, communication and audience. We live in a  interesting times, where word of mouth means more than ever before thanks to Facebook and Twitter; where advertising has moved from the printed page to Google Ad Words (Google’s advertising program); and where we learn about the products and services we’ll buy looking at screens that minimally measure 2.5 X 4. Constant innovation is needed. Incorporating new technologies can give you access to a new audience, improve your product or service above your competition or provide a much desired feature. Staying on the “in business” list requires innovation and inspiration. 2013 is waiting…..