I saw a billboard in Florida advertizing 55 calorie beer: the lightest beer ever made. This creation comes from one of the largest breweries in the country. Is there really an arms race to find the lowest calorie beer? Do you really want people to know your beer is so watered down it is barely beer?
Why innovate?
In the quest for innovation some companies will produce anything new just to satisfy some innovation craving, or to justify an R&D department, or to tell stockholders they are trying new things. Some innovations are more like sinnovations: a sinful attempt to make something new that just doesn't matter.
Innovation means an act to create something new. I would add to that definition; it needs to be something significantly new that shifts the buyer’s experience with your product. Budweiser has created barely beer, Coors has a label telling you the bottle is cold, and Coke now has plastic bottles resembling the old glass bottles. Do these innovations really appeal to the buyers of their products? Get real on innovations.
1. Do it right or don't bother
Imagine if I produced an entire marketing campaign to my clients that I was going to give them the same speech they heard at last year's conference but this time (drum roll) I will be in a brand new suit! (Hear the applause?) Honestly, do they care? No, and that is my point; to tell your customers about an innovation means they need to have a different experience with what you are now offering. If it isn't a significant different experience with the product, don't tarnish your brand by trying to sell nothing. A label? More water? Differently shaped plastic? Get real. Those are sinnovations.
2. Real innovation makes a difference
For years auto makers tried to refresh their brands with no innovations to make the newest models more attractive to buyers. The concept cars they would debut at auto shows created buzz, but the time those innovations reached the buying public, well, the sad story was seldom did they do enough to really get the buying public to take notice.
When Research In Motion entered the phone market with the Blackberry that was innovation. When Apple released the iPod that was innovation. When Lipitor brought statins to the masses that was innovation. All of these organizations are reaping billions of dollars thanks to their real innovations. Innovation in today’s market needs to cause a dramatic shift in the marketplace. These are real innovations.
Your innovation needs to be something people will take notice of. Your innovation needs to be dramatic. Your innovation needs to be with the customer in mind more so than the bottom line or some self-serving attempt. Real innovation grows companies.
Posts
