Everyone wants to think of themselves as an innovator. Consider the number of companies you've run across who proclaim themselves an "innovative provider of" a specific product on their websites.
But being innovative isn't as easy as adding some branding language to your corporate plan. So let's hear it for Nottingham Spirk, a Cleveland design consulting group that was named one of the 100 best places for innovators by Fast Company magazine.
What's Nottingham Spirk? It's the company behind the development of some big plastic consumer products such as the Arm & Hammer Spinbrush, the Swiffer Sweep + Vac and the Sherwin-Williams Twist-n-Pour paint container. And a little item you may have tried to buy recently, Purell. Nottingham Spirk worked with Purell owner Gojo to develop packaging for the hand sanitizer.
"The consultancy approaches every assignment with vertical integration, ensuring companywide collaboration," Fast Company said as it ranked the company at No. 87 on its list.
As Scott Suttell from Crain's Cleveland Business notes, the magazine says the list "identifies which companies are encouraging bold experimentation, not just from the C-suite or engineering groups but from every level of the organization."
There were nearly 900 applicants and an eight-judge panel to pick the top 100.
Other companies with plastics connections in the list (as big customers or producers) included medical products company Abbott, Nestle, Stanley Black & Decker and Deere & Co.
