A Little Innovation Goes A Long Way

Why do we get the inspiration for innovation? I think it may be part of the human condition – that we’re always trying to make things better. Sometimes it’s a personal challenge to see if we can outdo what’s been “done” before. Other times, it’s a more practical reaction to a need expressed by someone we care for … a customer, a co-worker, a family member.

My concern, however, is that sometimes we seem to innovate without thinking about the consequences.

Look back on “breakthroughs” like New Coke, the Apple Newton, the DeLorean and others and the effect of innovation on brand value is pretty obvious. But innovations inside the enterprise can have just as dramatic impact on the brand without all the public whoopla that typically follows a new product introduction or a brand extension.

The innovation process
Inside the organization, innovation typically emerges in the persona of a “champion” (one of those unfortunate 90’s, corporate buzzwords that has stuck with us). Whether it’s a change to internal processes or a strategy for entry into a new market, the champion begins the campaign process in an attempt to create a breakthrough that could impact the company.

In the best case scenarios, the champion has taken time out to evaluate the various business issues surrounding the innovation. Is it something customers need? Is it likely to fit within the business’ production capabilities? Does it open up an under-performing market? The answers are likely to be a mix of positives and negatives.

Sometimes, however, the negatives go unheard.

In her HBJ article on “When Bad Ideas Won’t Die”, Isabelle Royer writes that bad ideas often result from “a fervent and widespread belief among managers in the inevitability of their projects’ ultimate success. This sentiment typically originates, naturally enough, with a project’s champion; it then spreads throughout the organization … reinforcing itself each step of the way.”

Innovations require more than just a great idea, however. The viability of the innovation must be reviewed and reaffirmed at each step in the development process. And for those companies who don’t innovate (either themselves or their products) on a regular basis, a development process may be completely absent.

Paul Graham (bio), one of the co-creators of ViaWeb, provides some insights into how to spot winning ideas. He suggests the following:

1. Make sure your idea is something people will pay for.

2. Don’t go with the first idea that comes to mind.

3. Don’t be timid when it comes to taking your idea to the market.

The relationship between innovation and brand value
It’s important to understand how innovation can effect the perceived value of your brand. Done right, innovations can keep your brand fresh and relevent to those people who already know and understand it. Innovation can also open your brand to new market opportunities.

So how do you take advantage of them? Go back to what built your brand’s value in the first place – stay on message.

In fact, it’s the need to stay on message that most often vexes brands. The natural tendency is to brag about the innovation – and why not? It’s new. It may be newsworthy. But what happens, in many cases, is that brands foresake everything to tout their new development.

This matters because in a marketplace of millions of messages, your brand needs to stand as tall as it possibly can – and the only way to do that is to use the awareness, knowledge and goodwill it’s accumulated over the life of your external marketing efforts. Taking off on a new message, look and feature/benefit could (in a worse-case scenario) be no more than an unintentional “launch” of a new or competitive product in the market.

In cases where brands introduce more significant innovations to their product or service/support package, a brand re-alignment or re-positioning might be in order. This is a significant change with very real (and measurable) implications to the bottom line and should not be taken casually.

Connecting the innovation to the brand
Most innovations are, in some way, related to how the brand currently relates to its customers and those people who interact with the brand on a regular basis. The most important thing to do when introducing the innovation, then, is to understand how these relationships will be impacted and plan accordingly.

In short, you have to establish clear and obvious connections between the innovation and the brand.

You might find it helpful to break the brand and the innovation down into their core/basic values and then look for the overlap. Those overlapping values are your points of strength – harmony between the innovation and the brand – and will give you the foundation you need for your external and internal messaging efforts (whether they consist of advertising, PR, conferences, etc.).

For grins, you might want to check out some of these innovations that did little, if any good, for their brands. Go here, here and check out a book on the subject.

Later.

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