A Word On Innovation

It’s often thought and described that innovation has to be huge and it’s only accessible to those chosen few in the game of moving said huge thing.  

Think Wi-Fi, Post-it® notes, ballpoint pens, the World Wide Web, smart phones, the Blockchain, etc.

The thing about it though is that anything, even the smallest step changes that alter course slightly for the better, should really be considered innovation.  

Unfortunately against the backdrop of those aforementioned, earth shattering, “whatever did we do without them” inventions, innovation has been quarantined from describing anything less.

In addition to the fact any presentation or meeting is significantly boosted by liberal use of the word (and mostly as a verb), this is why innovation is so overused while at the same time understood so little, measured poorly and feared so unnecessarily.

Especially by marketers and in particular leaders of the marketing effort, vis a vis their failure to step up to an unreasonable expectation of what innovation is (sometimes of their own making) rather than questioning it in the first place.

So now, a little perspective.

By definition, innovation means the process of innovating, and to innovate is defined simply to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.

There’s nothing in that definition that says innovation has to be paradigm shifting, life changing or earth shattering.  

The key words are change, established and new.

It’s as simple as that.  Neither fear nor PH-D required.

As an example, a very brief case study of a campaign I led, one that I’m proud of and which, in my opinion at least, proves a point of the value in small innovations.

Called Super Hero Customs, the basis was a custom motorcycle build-off, competition and show, with market engagement and participation via a promotion, its goal to increase those metrics, deliver more interest in the brand, grow the database, etc.

There’s nothing new in any of that and as long as machines that can be customised have existed in the world (particularly in automotive and transportation sectors), some form of show has followed it.  As it was, this was the latest in a series of six similar campaigns spanning almost ten years.

The brief for this particular one, however, was to increase participation from a newly identified market segment and from that process came the idea of collaborating with a brand that was making some noise and tapping into those hearts already, age (read: demographics) immaterial.

In this case it was Disney-Marvel and the almost unlimited content of stories from their character inventory.  Hence the name Super Hero Customs.

So, the campaign was co-branded, each custom motorcycle was built in the theme of a specific character, a communication channel strategy put in place to reach, invite and entertain new, cross over audiences.  To reward participation, a promotion was designed, made only possible as a result of the collaboration. 

And yet still, at the core, there was nothing new in the process.  The only difference was the brand collaboration.

It was a resounding success, far and away more successful than any similar strategy than had gone before it.  

The reach (global) and depth of engagement exceeded anything that could ever have been expected from repetition of an old formula (though it wasn’t without a fight against the status quo the entire campaign saw daylight in the first place).  

Both in short-term tactical and longer term, more strategic measures it made a significant, ongoing difference.

The small innovation again, was the collaboration with a brand already influencing the hearts and minds of a desired audience, tapping into a cultural explosion where similarities in attitude towards our own brand already existed.

The innovation itself wasn’t significant, though what it did achieve was to tune into and attract interest from a broader audience and amplify the story, with subsequent effect on results.

As a final thought, innovation should never be confused with or, as is often seen and heard, substituted with disruption.

In a brand context, innovation is everything undertaken that’s designed to improve its strategic position against competitors.  It’s the things that differentiate brand X from all others, and help deepen appeal with desired audiences.

Disruption, by contrast is an extrinsic force. A completely new idea, attitude and entrant to a market that either muscles in on, bypasses or breaks the current value chain, or establishes a completely new one (Amazon, Uber, AirBNB are well known brands that fit the example).

Of course your brand can be a disruptor.  The point is that if you’re the subject of changes necessary to counter or flow with market forces, then it’s a good bet you’re the disrupted, not the disruptor and innovation is ripe for the picking.

So show me the next huge innovation that’s set to change the world and I’ll show you a field full of them that shift the line in smaller steps.  Even in those things I mentioned at the outset, if you look hard enough the main factor that defined each of them was, all things being equal, a fairly small step change.

For example, the World Wide Web was built on the capital “I” Internet, so it was, for all intents and purposes a step change in the use of existing tech to start with.

In that context, embrace small innovation and all that a change in mindset (via which you’ll grow in confidence, feel more comfortable labeling yourself as innovative, and subsequently more empowered), and a little courage can achieve for your brand.

* David is an accomplished marketing leader with over 15 years experience leading the creation, design and management of integrated marketing and communications strategy. 

With experience in verticals and brands that include consumer products and services (retail and trade), automotive, motorsport, transportation and entertainment, David can claim to a strong record of achievement as a strategically-focused (sprint and long game) marketing and communications team leader and mentor.

Invite, Entertain, Interact, Experience, Engage, Motivate is David's mark and the ties that bind his MO for delivering success through marketing.