Trailblazing and the first-mover disadvantage
This first innovation blocker is easy to spot: An agency walks into a client's office and pitches an "innovative" program. It requires unproven technologies and an unproven strategy, but it is so "innovative" that the client gets excited and signs off on it. It is the ego of the client -- not the needs of the business that the client works for -- that often results in such a project being approved. The client wants to bask in the glory of its brilliance for recognizing opportunity; unfortunately, what the client is usually basking in is the glow from a blazing inferno of crap.
The problem is that the program, campaign, or product is often surrounded by massive delays and difficult implementations. By the time it launches, the final product is a pale reflection of the original idea. Inevitably the campaign launches with a fizzle, complete with angry consumers, frustrated clients, and ignorant agencies.
These types of failed campaigns are almost always the fault of a specific team within an agency. Often, the people involved in the ideation and pitching phases do not have the technical understanding of what is possible within a given platform, but their egos get the best of them. But knowledge and competency levels vary greatly among teams within a given agency, and too often clients hire based on the reputation of the agency as a whole -- not the abilities of the team that it will be handling its campaigns.
Unfortunately, if our industry is to move forward and innovate, a version of this death cycle is necessary. Our industry is too new. Only through failure do we learn what doesn't work. However, failure is not necessarily the problem. It's how we fail. When we experiment recklessly and subsequently fail, we wind up with clients that are so burned by the experience that they will never approve another "innovative" program again.
The solution
It is no longer about one big program -- so stop brainstorming them, pitching them, and creating them. All you do is suck money out of the client, launch mediocre campaigns that you represented as brilliance, and ensure that digital marketing is viewed on the client side as a crapshoot for effectively reaching the consumer.
Rather, create a framework. Design smaller ideas that launch off the same basic platform so that initiatives are more nimble and adjustable. Be efficient with the client's money. Act like it's your own personal money. Build failure into the system. Expect that only a couple of ideas will gain traction and that 80 percent of them will fail. When ideas do gain traction, use the learnings to feed the flames and expand the success.
