Some evolutionary biologists cite the concept of punctuated evolution; change is not a smooth curve, but a series of jumps as organisms react to external conditions. Say what you will about the evolution of man, but the concept of leapfrogging is very applicable in the marketing space. In our worsening economy, marketers must adapt, in some cases quite abruptly. But funds dry up, and dollars become scarcer. Few have the funds or time to start from scratch and build something epic. This is where innovative thought becomes especially crucial to survival. The bad news is that the stakes are higher, the resources are scarce, and some will find themselves burdened with implacable constraints.
The good news is that innovative output is driven by creative thought, and leapfrogging is doable even in challenging circumstances. By exploring the creative process, this article will discuss how marketers can use the tools they have at hand to succeed under even the most challenging circumstances. We'll review some examples of game-changing campaigns, and explore how a marketing team can set the stage for low-cost, high-impact innovation.
Think small, in a big way
Drew Breunig makes a great argument about innovation. Often, consumers have trouble seeing beyond their current world, or adapting to things which are totally foreign. It's not always about the epic change that blows their mind, but more about the smaller tweaks that can change everything. Think about online social networking. Social graphs are not new phenomena -- they have been around for ages -- and the web, as a tool to share information, has been commonplace for a decade at this point. But new combinations of existing technologies and functionalities provided the consumer base with new opportunities to communicate, and new ways for brands to reach their constituencies.
Another example would be rich internet applications; revolutionary applications like GoogleMaps leverage technologies that have actually been around for some time. But how does this translate for a marketer with a limited budget and a stressed executive team? In a few different ways.
For example, leveraging best practices from other fields can provide a competitive advantage when upgrading a website or other digital promotion. Consider that insurance companies don't have the best brand perception among consumers. People find them intimidating, and think that the service provider is out to get them. By adopting a rich interface more commonly seen in a retail site, insurance provider HumanaOne managed to surmount these challenges and create an award winning experience.
Don't win the game, change it
Innovation isn't always about finding a solution to a particular challenge so much as changing the context of the problem. In this economic environment, risking a new approach may well prove to be more successful than embracing a known challenge. Think of gaming, for example.
Forced to compete with the consumer electronics giant Sony and the software behemoth Microsoft, Nintendo was faced with a costly, grueling deathmatch with no guarantee of success. Instead of running a risky approach to create costlier machines with better graphics and compelling gameplay for the typical console audience, it developed a platform with a different, kinetic style of play -- the Nintendo Wii. This of itself would not have guaranteed the raging success that the Nintendo enjoys, but a sophisticated marketing campaign tailored to a whole new audience played a large part. By promoting console gaming in a whole new way, Nintendo managed to dominate market share and create a growing niche for itself.
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