Category: Innovation

For the last couple of days I have been having an interesting time digging around in the corporate marketing sphere … and one of the things that has surprised me is the lack of cross-over between the client and agency sides — especially considering how closely the two must work to build and grow brands. It strikes me that there are plenty of things that the client and agency sides can learn from each other … and then I found an article over at Strategy + Business that put a smile on my face.
This article by Gregor Harter, Edward Landry, and Andrew Tipping on the “Complete Marketer” talk about the six emerging themes that are occupying the top CMOs. These are:

• Putting the consumer at the heart of marketing
• Making marketing accountable
• Embracing the challenges of new media
• Recognising the new organizational imperative
• Living a new agency paradigm
• Remaining adaptable

From a social media perspective, some of this feels old hat … but to those client-side folks who do the hard yards everyday trying to keep marketing at the top of the corporate agenda, just picking one or two could represent an entire year’s work. Of course, rapid change is easy in an organisation of one, but transforming a business, the employees, shareholders and partner networks can require a significant investment. It is not JUST about reimagining the CMO, it is about changing the way that business does business.

Blogged with Flock

Read this. Creativity is a funny thing. Similarly with innovation. It is that intangible quality or movement that we recognise when we see it or feel it … but find it difficult to systematise. And while there are whole industries dedicated to creativity and innovation and the book shelves are packed with how-tos, step-by-steps and self directed courses — the essential key to creativity continues to elude us.

The business world loves innovation and creativity. The lexicon of innovation fills our annual reports and press releases, it slots into the collateral and brochureware of our marketing departments, squeezing any substantive meaning out of the words. It is a dead-end game.

But while the business world loves innovation and creativity, it is designed not to unleash innovation but to stifle it. Those charged with driving innovation and creativity within an organisation are often sidelined for promotion and described as "square pegs" or of needing to "grow up". Furthermore, innovation champions tend to achieve in spite of an organisation, not through its support … the accolades landing only after a tenacious leader has succeeded in overcoming the barriers, solved the political, cultural and work-related problems and emerged on the other side, weary yet exhilarated.
And despite the realities of creativity and innovation, despite the commercialisation and amateurisation of creativity, there are still thousands of new graduates lining up for work in what can loosely be called the "creative" industries. Why would this be? Why would common sense dictate that any smart, inventive and driven professional keep well away?

The truth is, that in any enterprise (commercial, artistic or otherwise), there is a need for a wide range of skills, expertise and personality types. And while organisations employ techniques and tests to help quantify and qualify "staff" or "resources" or even "personalities", like many things, our skills and interests are malleable and resistant to categorisation. The "square peg" of Monday can also be the "round hole" on Tuesday — slipping into the different roles dependent upon occasion. This type of Creative Chameleon is not only a business asset, but also a strategic differentiator. Have you seen one of these in your business? They are stranger and more imaginative than you might guess.

With every passing year we think we become smarter. We get a new gadget, a new phone (sometimes we can’t tell the difference between the two), a new car, a new hair do and sometimes even a new body. We read more, learn more, study harder, work longer and balance our work and our "life". We "consume" media in ever new formats denoted by TLAs and order-in the food we are simply too tired to cook ourselves.

After writing this post on focus groups, I received some great comments and feedback. I also got a question that made me stop and think … KG asked:

Since MySpace, YouTube, blogs, and all 2.0 phenomena, have focus group participants become a little too media-savvy? Or too jaded because they’re constantly surrounded by media messages in their leisure time?

It’s a great question because it raises a number of other questions about the nature of our audiences, their analytic ability and their willingness to act. My view is this …

In that focus group participants are "supposed" to be representative of us lot, then we are really talking about the GP (general public). And you know, we might be interested in blogs, might write or read them, and sometimes even comment on them, but I don’t think that changes the fundamental drives that attract us to products and services. If anything, it makes us admire good marketing/sales more because we have some understanding of the techniques.

Having said that, I think we also are more short tempered. We don’t suffer fools or poor quality — we fast forward through ads or remove them via TiVo, we click away from those annoying interstitials (which agencies think they work anyway?) and find alternatives to YouTube when Google puts too many ads in feed.

Does this make us smarter or more savvy? Does it affect the sample? No … I think these changes are, to a degree, uniform — affecting more or less equally. And if we are all smarter or more tired or more overwhelmed, then it balances out.

BUT … KG also seems to be asking a hidden question — is marketing still effective? And the answer is yes — but a "qualified yes". Because we are more savvy, overwhelmed, tired and plain fed-up, and because we can now choose the timing, method and manner of our consumption of media, we are also changing the dynamic. We seek truthfulness and authenticity. We seek dialogue and engagement. And we also seek novelty and entertainment. This means that, as marketers, we need new tools to engage our audiences.

But remember, no matter HOW much smarter we are … there are still some of us who are going to tattoo our asses.

The hostess with the mostest, CK, has announced that the MUCH anticipated MarketingProfs Book Club is open for business.

Remember, it is not too late to join in the discussion! Don’t be a piker … join in the conversation.

S

OK … in case you get this via text only RSS … take a look at this cool light pen on film. It is not JUST about the beauty … it is about the process behind the creation. Thanks to The Staufenbergers.

I was reading Russell Davies’ blog as usual and came across this great post from June. I remember at the time of first reading that I loved the title "The Tyranny of the Big Idea" as it seemed to capture the strange attraction we all have with "big ideas", and how we stop and wait until one arrives.

One of the reasons I enjoy blogging is that it allows you to start with a small idea. You can explore and create episodically. You can jump from one idea to the next and you can link out to other people and their ideas effortlessly. And the more you blog, the more that ideas and stories begin to coalesce. And as you follow the links, you come face-to-face with emotions, habits and brands. And importantly, you come up close to people … because it is clear, in blogging, that you are dealing with an individual. As Russell says, it is not about big ideas …

This isn’t about phrase-making. It’s not about the actual words, it’s the bundle of ideas, activities, history, products, people, attitudes, emotions, habits that the words represent.

And as usual, Russell gives away a secret. He generously gives us some insight about HOW you can work with ideas in this context. There are five steps to get started:

1. Start doing stuff
2. Look for patterns that emerge
3. Try not to write too much
4. Don’t be media neutral
5. Something else …

My favourites are "start doing stuff" and "look for patterns that emerge". The important thing to remember is that small ideas are fast … they are fast to devise and work with, they are fast to get to market and they are quick to show returns. And the good thing, if they aren’t living up to expectations, then you can manage, modify and move them. And because they don’t take 12 months to work through and execute, you don’t need to run through research because you run it through your ACTUAL market.

Of course, the first thing to do is to let go of the big idea. Sure there is a tyranny … but there is also a level of addiction. We are drawn to the power of the big idea … now we just need to refocus and find a love of FAST.

OK … you know I love anything to do with typography … so check this out! This installation transforms the text written on a computer into a water curtain … very cool. Thanks to Ariel for this one!

This is a great idea, and one that many musicians may want to follow. Terra Naomi extends her MySpace site with this YouTube tutorial on how to play one of her songs. OK … I admit, I don’t know her music, but somehow stumbled across it … and liked the idea.

Of course, there are issues around copyright and publishing, but "word of mouth" carries much faster if it is sung!

We all love the romance of a big idea. They set our brains and imaginations on fire, overtake our senses (and sometimes our common sense), make our eyes pop, stomachs turn and arms flail about like streamers. They hit us like rocks or buses. They shake us out of ourselves.

And while big ideas are thrilling, they can also be dangerous. When reading Simple and Loveable’s Tim Norton’s post on teamwork, I was struck by this great quote:

There’s probably plenty of people like me, I’m not an easy person to deal with at times, I say things I dont mean when I get heated (I still create too much heat), I over-focus on certain areas and let others of massive importance slip, I come up with ‘big ideas’ but struggle to bring them back down to earth and make them simple, I get things started and moving, but battle to finish…

I particularly like "I come up with ‘big ideas’ but struggle to bring them back down to earth and make them simple".

It is a common problem … not just in the creative field. I am sure there are many of us who have had a great idea and become caught up in its pull. But as is often stated, it is not about the idea, but about its execution. The challenge of the BIG idea is to make it SMALL, or as Tim says, to bring it "back down to earth". As David Armano says, "It’s not about me.  It’s about attracting consumers, engaging customers and meeting user’s needs" … the idea is important, but it doesn’t work, if it doesn’t win. And it doesn’t win if it doesn’t communicate to your audience and address their wants, needs and expectations.

To deliver on the promise of the big idea, you need to make the big idea small. You need to do this to execute it and to control it. You need to do this to make it understandable to someone outside of your own space — whether they are a client, a consumer, your business partner or your boss. And by making the big idea small, you can make sure that you manage it, and are not overcome by the connections, challenges and linkages.

I am beginning to think that a Compliant Idea is a BIG idea made small. Hmmm … yet more to think upon.

S.

What does your resume look like? Is it neat? Does your work and experience fit into neat categories? Is there a clear line between where you went to school, what you did at university and where you have worked for years? Not me. I am, after all, the servant of chaos.

Along the way I have been provided many opportunities, opened some myself and learned plenty along the way. I have come from accounting and economics into drama and performance, stopped by higher study (one day I would like to be Dr Servant of Chaos), done some teaching, theatre directing, book editing and ran my own small business for a while. I wrote technical documentation, created online learning, became a project manager, graphic design, web developer, started a new business, grew a team, commercialised technology "innovation" and managed knowledge all in a stint with IBM. I think I had a job description for about the first five minutes … then it got more interesting from there.

My next boss steadfastly refused to give me a job description. He told me that the job I was taking wasn’t "that kind of job". It was more free form, less cog, more oil.

I was reminded of this while reading over Seth Godin’s Change This short version of Small is the New Big. He has a section where he is talking about the challenges of innovation — something I have been harping on about over the last couple of days. He talks about the need to constantly reinvent and push our own innovative approach to our work — and that YOUR success is dependent upon measuring YOUR OWN worth, not waiting for a job description to do so. But enough about me … take the words from Mr Godin:

The end result is that it’s essentially impossible to become successful or well-off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else.

This is WHY you don’t want a job description.

S.