• Recent Posts

  • Affinity Brands OR Affinity Believers
  • The sins of social networking
  • The vocal minority
  • Bypass the influencers
  • Why midstream brands go unnoticed

• Blogroll

  • Fast Company
  • Malcolm Gladwell
  • Neuroscience Marketing
  • Seth Godin

• Links

  • AAAA
  • AdAge
  • AdverBox
  • Biz Journal
  • Experiential Marketing
  • My Daily Fix
  • Premier Studios
  • Stumble Upon
  • Wikinomics

• Categories

  • Affinity Brand
  • Marketing
  • Random Thoughts

• RSS Feeds

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

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. 

Comments