1. “Who wants to hear actors talk?” (H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)

2. “I think there’s a world market for about five computers.” (Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM, 1952)

3. “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” (Decca executive, after turning down the Beatles, 1962)

4. “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” (Bill Gates, 1981)

5. “Next Christmas the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput”. (Sir Alan Sugar, February 2005)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

1. “If you have a good idea, every day you waste talking about it is a day’s lost profit.” (Malcolm Miller)

2. “The test of an innovation, after all, lies not in its novelty, its scientific content or its cleverness. It lies in its success in the marketplace.” (Peter Drucker)

3. “Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.” (Theodore Levitt)

4. “Invention = spending money to come up with ideas; Innovation = coming up with ideas to make money.” (Anon)

5. “Every time a technology window opens, there is an opportunity to rearrange the industry.” (Steve Jobs)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

This weekend I bought a new product, nothing too surprising or earth shattering in that. It happened to be Innocent’s new Pure Fruit Squeezers – real fruit meets Petits Filous Frubes. They are an Innocent twist on something that already exists.

What it did make me think about was three adages of innovation and the truth in them all.

Firstly how ideas aren’t the only problem when it comes to innovation. Indeed sometimes having the ideas can be one of the easier and indeed more enjoyable parts of the whole process. If you have a clear vision for the brand, are being led by an agreed strategy and the overall process has a clear structure then you can often enjoy the discipline of a tight brief.

Secondly how there are different levels are types of innovation and not every innovation needs to be a radical breakthrough to be a success. In fact if you look at the origin of the word innovation; it has not one but two Latin roots – “innovare” and “novare”. “Innovare” means to alter or make better while “novare” means to make different or make new.  So in fact innovation which is what so many of us marketers do more of time is probably correctly named, as we less frequently involved in the really radical “novation” projects. Both however are valid strategies for driving brand growth.  

The third truism is how it is easier to go wrong than to go right. The Pure Fruit Squeezers were on a gondola end in my local Tesco and had a special introductory offer – which highlights  at least four things that even if you have a great idea can go wrong – distribution, merchandising, trial (not to mention pricing and profitability). Then of course there is the product quality and delivery….

And the moral of the story?  Well perhaps just that innovation isn’t easy…

Over the years much has been written about the different types of innovation but much of this is in regard to its scale – from incremental to breakthrough. We at The Value Engineers have long talked about the 3Ts of innovations – the TWEAKING of what already exists, the TWIST of creating a clever new combination of things and those few but always exciting TWINKLES in the eye.

However another way of considering the different types of innovation is whether it is consumer-led, technology-led or brand-led. All marketing innovations will likely to have some elements of these 3 themes (consumer, brand  and technology) but it is the emphasis and priority that changes in each and which leads to brands taking different directions.

Technology-led innovations lead with the application or adaptation of technological advances…to meet consumer needs and them deliver them in line with the chosen brand’s vision and values. A great example of which is the Post-it which was for a while a technology in search of a need showing both the strength and the danger of this approach. Technology can take you to places you or more importantly your customers would never have thought but equally they do ultimately need to address a consumer need!

Consumer-led technology is based on identifying consumers’ unmet needs (existing and emerging) and delivering them in line with your brand’s vision and values by finding or developing the appropriate technology to produce them. An example here might be Dove’s original Creme bar based on the insight that women didn’t like to use soap on their faces believing it dried out their skin.

This is rightly one of the  most favoured route of marketers but it does carry that danger that as everyone in your market is likely to be asking the same sorts of people the same sorts of questions, they may all get to the same answers at the same time – which is why the brand is so important.

Which leaves brand-led technology. This is based on defining an innovation strategy that comes from your brand  vision and values directly and then developing products/services in line with that and your target groups’ needs – using or developing technology accordingly. An example here would be the Lego watch – a twist on the familiar watch with a built element of creativity and ‘construction’.

Like many things in marketing there is no one right way of doing things and there are benefits and dangers with each approach. A combination is often best.

Whatever way you are approaching it – Happy innovating!

Just a couple of days ago the Tories were calling the government extravagant because of the 3D innovation centres that had been set up, using taxpayers’ money and “living a fantasy world”, in Second Life. Whether the government has been extravagant or not, it’s not only governmental departments, but also non-profitable organisations, well-known universities and blue-chip companies who are using such technologies. Creating platforms inside virtual worlds for innovation and co-creation (with consumers), research & development, and corporate training.

IBM, for instance, set up a virtual world to let employees use chat, instant messaging and voice communication programs while also connecting to user-generated content in the public spaces of Second Life. Several retailers – including banks like ING and Wells Fargo – opened up virtual branches inside these virtual communities to offer their financial products. Coca Cola has also been exploring virtual worlds with consumers from Coke Studios, to World of Warcraft, to Habbo Hotel and Second Life. In 2007, Coca Cola launched a Second Life contest inviting consumers to design a new Coke dispensing machine.

Why all this hype?  Well, in just 6-7 years, virtual worlds have registered approximately 300 million people, of which hundreds of thousands are supposed to be active users. Some experts, or speculators, are estimating that if virtual worlds’ population continues growing at the same speed seen in the last couple of years, there will be one billion residents by 2025.

The other interesting thing about virtual worlds is that not only computing game enthusiasts and computer geeks are using them. Some researchers claim that a sizeable proportion of users are male and female in their mid 30s. Furthermore, it is estimated that the average use per person in virtual worlds is 22 hours per week, which means that people are spending more than 3 hours of their daily time navigating, playing, doing business, or just hanging out in virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds also offer the chance to users, ordinary people and companies, to keep IP rights for the ideas and products they create. Hence, it’s unsurprising that many companies and organisations want to be present there. They seem to be the perfect places to connect actively with consumers to test new ideas, get some collaborative work, and perhaps build long-term relationships with them.

How all of this is affecting us, marketers and brand strategists? Well, reflecting on the changes of consumers’ behaviours and perceptions with regards to brands as result of their interactions in virtual worlds. We should also be thinking of how to use these virtual spaces to effectively design and implement brand strategies that create sustainable value for our brands, products and companies in virtual worlds; as well as in the ‘real’ world.