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Supposedly, we should attribute the original ”Innovate or Die” quote to: Damon Darlin in a 1997 article. Everything he was addressing is now completely irrelevant, except for this one single phrase of brilliant wisdom. It was bold and relevant for 1997 - and even more so today. It is relevant because destroying an industry is now in-vogue.  I call it innovation.

Take for example; Health Care REFORM. Whether you agree or disagree, it is an act of pure innovation.  The problem is ‘innovation’ infers improvement, yet an act of innovation will seldom be aligned with any guaranteed outcome for success. Therein lies the argument. Everyone can agree innovation (reform) is necessary for most industries. The necessity for innovation is what matters more; being aware that you must innovate or die has always been essential for sustaining an organization, brand, or person for that matter.

What I know is marketers MUST innovate!  All marketers; including those brand managers working deep within the annals of big-brand corporate as well as agency service providers who can no longer  survive in the role of order-taker. Innovation requires taking ownership for outcome. We need marketers who are brave - risk takers.

Innovation requires a sea-change for how the brands we service now reach audiences, but also a change in how we as agencies see ourselves, our services, and the expertise we offer. 

 

When an audience comes in contact with your brand, do you strive to simply meet approval or meet expectations?

Meeting approval is limited to that which is acceptable to the average; like vanilla ice cream.  It is seldom the preference, but most people will eat it.  The result is something that is safe, and usually boring.

On the other hand, meeting expectations first seeks to define the attributes of the desired audience.  Designing for audience interaction with your brand, whether it be attending a live event or test driving a new product, requires a few considerations;

1. Recognize that each individual shows up with a unique story made up of personal experiences that you cannot change, and should not want to change.  Success depends on your ability to align the brand story with their story.
2. Resist the temptation to design an experience that is intended to be interpreted the same by everyone. It’s an impossible task.  Interpretation is as unique as each individual, because of the perspective they arrived with.  This is not negotiable.  Experiences can be shared but are never the same for unique individuals.  Intentionally design for interpretation.
3. Seek to accentuate those elements that stimulate innate human characteristics. (e.g. curiosity, relevance, survival, acceptance, etc.).  This ensures you will have their attention.  Keeping it requires building on top of these elements, whether simple or complex; do so for dynamics.  (i.e. Experiencing the smell of a brand new sports car can accomplished while going 80 miles an hour listening to your favorite music, and/or parked under a shade tree with the window rolled down; listening to crickets.  The leather smells the same, and both experiences provide the same available horsepower.)

Simply attempting to meet approval screams of “conformity” while meeting expectations celebrates the individual and encourages innovative application for each individual that comes in contact with your brand.  When you ‘kick the tires and go for a test drive’ you tend to imagine yourself driving through YOUR neighborhood and on YOUR way to work.  You ask yourself, “how will this change or better my condition”?  If the brand story and the individual’s story align… SOLD.

So, design to that end.

Remember, unless you ARE God, your audience is not the whole world!  Disappointed?  You might sincerely believe that everyone needs your product or service, and while it might even seem feasible, it’s just unrealistic to design with a global objective in mind. It is unattainable; too comprehensive, there is too much competition, and you do not have the resources to cross the chasm required for success.

Your time is better spent attracting an audience that already recognizes the need for your brand.  They are better prospects anyway.   Every defined audience has an identifiable affinity.  Speak to this and celebrate the edges.

Big ideas usually flow freely in strategy meetings, however articulating clearly defined, expected, outcomes many times remain elusive.  You can recognize early on in these meetings that you probably won’t leave the meeting with a single objective that will later measure success.

Be assured you will leave the meeting with a long to-do list mostly related to how to better brand positioning and identify audience segments. While this is all good stuff, it doesn’t leave you with a feeling of urgency to accomplish something that generates measurable results.  Just another feel-good meeting where we generate more to-do lists without clearly articulating how we could measure the success of our efforts.  If we could have only decided a couple of measurable objectives; 1) how do we grow the email list, 2) add more fans to their FaceBook page, 3) increase revenue by an additional 3% by end of next quarter.  These are all specific objectives whereby you apply your expertise toward immediate results that are measurable.

The fact is, we are all paid for results.  Although much time should be spent on strategy and generating big ideas, we need to be reminded that our worth and value is really based on generating results for the brands we represent.  That is what makes the cash register ding.  Interestingly, we feel the best about our work when we are not just accomplishing a to- do lists but rather working toward measurable results that affect change.

Remember, the urgent always trumps the important. Resist that urge!