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What Secrets Do The Most Innovative Companies Have When It Comes To Innovation?

Published on 03.17.2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

When discussing innovation, inevitably many of the same companies are mentioned time and time again as delivering breakthrough innovation. Companies like Apple, Google and 3M are cited as the best of the best. And, in fact they are. On the list of the Business Week’s most innovative companies these three organizations are listed amongst other familiar innovative brands.  So how do they become so innovative? What is their secret to successful innovation? To identify the underlying themes of why the most innovative companies are so innovative, we cross-referenced Business Week’s list of most innovative companies against other innovation-focused reports from Ernst & Young, MIT Sloan Management Review and other sources. Sixteen companies were found to have adopted innovative approaches to foster internal innovation.

These companies not only have innovation as part of their strategic imperatives but also allocate both time and resources for fostering and promoting the culture of innovation within the organization.  Interestingly, many of these 16 companies utilize unique approaches to cultivate innovation within their organizations. For example, 3M encourages technical team members to spend 15% of their time working on innovative projects that would benefit the organization and provides financial support for new ideas. Adobe supports their innovation efforts by not only creating an entire division devoted to innovation, but also a new leadership position dedicated to championing innovation at all levels within the organization.

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A Line In The Sand(wich)

Published on 03.17.2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Americans have always been pretty tribal. You’re either a Cubs or a White Sox fan, believe that the Stones ROCK or argue that the Beatles were the best band EVER, and drink Buds or throw back Millers. You’d be no more able to convince a die hard dog lover that cats are cute than you would be able to convince a Brooklyn loft dweller that a lot of (older) country music is actually pretty cool. In a similar, and ironic way, some people attribute tribal allegiances to nature while others fall squarely into the nurture camp.  Marketers, for their part, have always known how to handsomely profit from tribalism. So it’s interesting how an old-line product (Miracle Whip) from an old-line consumer package goods company (Kraft) is putting an innovative spin on an old idea.

In the context of brand tribes, they’ve come to life in a wide variety of ways. Many sprung-up as organic declarations of “I’m this but not THAT” and seem to be permanent states of being. The decades old verbal tussles between Ford and Chevy owners, or the clear demarcation between Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts drinkers, are two examples. Other tribal allegiances have been more fluid, as was the case when Pepsi made a direct play for Coke drinkers with its Pepsi Challenge campaign or Apple brilliantly compared itself to PCs. Still other tribes weren’t based on self-comparisons with the other guys or on a brand trying to get them to switch. For example, hipsters rediscovered Old Style beer on their own. And, of course, some tribes are based on the aspirations of its target. The recent Dos Equis campaign features “the most interesting man in the world”.

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Why The Digital Path to Purchase Is An Opportunity for Innovators

Published on 03.17.2011 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

Mom and her work computer are staring at each other in the unflattering glow of an office park cubicle as Post-It notes stuck to the screen gently sway to the piped-in air. As she Googles an ingredient that she’s heard has health benefits she has, unknowingly, joined a revolution. An overwhelming number of Americans are researching products online before going shopping, a new “digital path to purchase” that has significant implications for CPG innovators.

The digital path to purchase is seismic in both uses of that metaphor – it’s a shift that’s been happening out-of-sight (e.g., at home) and it’s a shift that is remaking the landscape. The shift has been set in motion by three now-familiar dynamics:

  • First, unlimited information and smart phones have empowered consumers to seek out answers.
  • Second, consumers have turned away from advertising as a source of information and increasingly relied on word of mouth.
  • Third, technology and WOM have converged to foster explosive growth in social media.

A recent CloverView post noted that Google and IRI called this new pre-shopping exercise the “Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT) in contrast to the “First Moment of Truth” framework laid-out about five years ago by P&G. The Cincinnati giant’s model was based on the idea that the moment when mom was standing in the store aisle was the crucial moment. ZMOT, by contrast, is predicated upon the idea that mom is engaging in pre-shopping shopping, a contention that’s borne out by some pretty startling numbers: Continue reading ‘Why The Digital Path to Purchase Is An Opportunity for Innovators’

Trade Marketing: Why this afterthought should become your second thought (or, at least, third)

Published on 02.16.2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

What’s wrong with this picture: You spend months in focus groups and ideation sessions coming up with an innovation. It’s truly better. You then spend just as much time coming up with the branding and a launch plan, which you present in a meeting: the product, packaging, awareness generating offline ad campaign, the online social media strategy, the in-store POP elements, and other consumer promotional elements.  Finally, just as its about to break, the sales director mentions that a trade discount has been structured as the way to drive distribution.

Do you see the problem?

Sure, straight price discounting is a common trade-marketing tactic; it goes along with the other standards like incentives, rebates, price variances, spiffs, and contests.  And, just as common, discussions about trade-marketing tactics fall at the end of the presentations when everyone is exhausted.

But they can also lead to problems. For instance, when retailers or dealers pass the savings on the end customer, they set price expectations.  (Or, more realistically, price mis-expectations.) These tactics can also create the illusion of higher demand because they help push product to the retailer, which may or may not move at an increased pace (despite a belief that more items on the floor means more sales).  And they could then hurt your ability to do forecasting, because there’s now a glut of product on the market.

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The 9 Secrets of Human and Brand Longevity

Published on 10.31.2009 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

•BuettnerDan Buettner’s “Search for the Fountain of Youth” which was featured in both National Geographic and Adventure magazine about his research on human longevity and his travels around the world to study the world’s heartiest humans, identifies ‘The Power Nine: Secrets of long life from the world’s healthiest humans.” It is a captivating look of the common practices of these cultures and how they sustain life. What’s even more fascinating is that the Power Nine can be directly applied to your brand to help make sure it’s healthy and sustains a long life expectancy:

1. Move. Find ways to stay active. Humans need to stay active. So do brands. Brands are a living breathing entity that are impacted and affected by every day aspects of life. An inert brand is a brand that is destined to die. An active brand is one that continues to understand its place in the global market, it knows its close in and fringe competitors, it understands new and emerging trends that could help shape and evolve it and stays in touch with technologies that can impact it and help it adapt.
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