A key part of brand management and brand growth is keeping the brand afresh. Innovation plays a critical role. But all too often, innovation becomes a “goal” rather than a “means”. When innovation is not incapsulated into the brand growth plan, then the “system” will show some strange behavior and all of a sudden it doesn’t work anymore. And guess what, when you are feet down in the mud, you just don’t see what’s happening around you anymore. Let me unpack this, starting by pointing out some hard lessons I got over the years:
1- You can’t innovate your way out of trouble!
If your brand is in trouble, equity wise, innovation is NOT going to solve a thing. Consumers need to see, understand, and buy into the base brand promise before they will accept any deviation from the brand core. Put all your resources (money AND people) on brand for a while, and only start the innovation journey when the equity is growing on its core dimensions. Mind you, I’m deliberately not saying the core product range should grow!
2- Incrementality is a bitch!
The path to brand growth through innovation is to provide the right incrementality. Incrementality is necessary for (overall/company-wide) profitability. If your innovation just “eats up” all your existing revenue and profit, then what’s the point? You may have done something for the brand equity, but that in itself is not going to make the shareholders or stakeholders happy. And you will run out of profit to invest in the brand at some point! What makes the quest for incrementality difficult is that consumers buy categories rather than products. Consumers don’t see all the clear distinctions that exist in your (marketing) head between your proposition and the competitors. Hard fact for a marketer. So, when a new innovation (the ultimate one for YOU) comes in the market, it is just “another” category alternative for them. That doesn’t mean that coming forward with a clear and distinct new consumer experience isn’t possible, don’t get me wrong. It’s just damn hard. Almost anything has been “invented” already, in some shape or form. Incrementality is a bitch, let me tell you.
3- Consumer testing is only half the job!
Controversial, I know. In the age where measurements and metrics rule, research provides a nice, comfortable blanket. But let me tell you: a “good” idea executed to excellence, and with the entire business behind it is better than a “great” idea thrown in the market in a lazy manner. Research fools sales departments. Seen that many times.”Consumer loves it – so the product will sell itself”: DAMN WRONG! Don’t rely on testing; use it for what it’s designed for: to give some guidance. Test protocols remain handicapped on many many levels however much money you spend: too much declared purchase intent, too small a sample to be meaningful, too many variations in the consumer profile tested, you name it. Want to know more? Read this post I wrote.
4- The holy grail does NOT exist!
Innovators tend to search for “silver bullets”. Although the intention is good, reality is that this approach slows innovation down. Read this.
WHAT TO DO?
The totality of the “spark-to-consumer” cycle is the only thing that will make innovation happen. How? As an innovator, “working the system” is THE job. Here are the building blocks:
- MINDSET
- PROCESS
- MANAGEMENT BUY-IN
- BELIEF & EXCITEMENT
- STAMINA
Working the mindset is about the innovation culture in the company. It defines the will to go look for winning consumer experiences. That same mindset also determines the hunger to go fast (and hence to live with the ambiguity of not having found the holy grail).
The process is a necessary evil to align all stakeholders. Working without a process means depending on “heroes” to make innovation happen. Failure guaranteed. Heroes look after their own personal interest, not the interest of the company or the group. A process supersedes this, and formalizes how decisions are made and carried through the organisation.
Management buy-in, early on in the innovation cycle, is a must. What you don’t want is someone with a higher pay grade changing the course of events. It does happen, and not only kills good ideas; it kills the “spirit” of innovation as well.
Belief & excitement are the orphans of innovation. Awful, because they are the make or break in my opinion. If you can’t rally everyone in the organisation behind an idea, chances are that essential parts of the “go to market” will get dropped, forgotten, or loosely executed.
Don’t underestimate the importance of persistence. Getting real (breakthrough) innovation to market takes time. No way around it. A 3 to 5 year framework is not unusual to get real solid insights, ideate in a powerful way, validate your proposition in various turns, then build the system to produce alongside the go-to-market, and finally put down the capital. It takes leadership stamina not to give up along the way. True innovators pride themselves in pushing water uphill. But when they stand at the top, waving that flag, it will all have been worth it!
WHAT SAY YOU?
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Best wishes!Your blog is very good!