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This year The Economist is celebrating their support for recognising the foremost leaders of innovation globally. Their conference in London in October 2011 is an awards ceremony and summit on the topics of innovation with some fairly prestigious attendees. Anyone can ‘vote’ on their topic: ‘Who is the greatest innovator of the past decade?’ and on the site you can read about past winners and initiatives that have ‘changed the world’ and ‘made lives better’. I highly recommend reading, if not attending. Now that the plug for the economist has been made, a few thoughts.

Innovation is one of those words which everyone uses in business and branding, yet is so vaguely defined or misunderstood. (kind of like the Brand word!). From a Brand perspective – Innovation is NOT just about new products or packaging design. Yes, in consumer goods that is one of the key strategies for growth of sales and product success. The ‘stage gate’ process and P&G inspired framework for CPG/FMCG innovation has been the bedrock for many a product category or brand manager for the past 15 years. However, Innovation is really about understanding where and how to utilise the combination of insight and technology to change something or create something for the better. Yes, better. If it isn’t better – then it is not an innovation. Better product, better service, better process, better experience, better result or better price/value. Innovation is also about risk. It is about taking calculated risks with investment, time, resources and technologies in order to get better results. The risk can be either real, or perceived – and it can be aimed at existing competitors, dominant players or conventional wisdom. But, risk is the key factor that must be mitigated in order to create or implement innovation. If there is no risk involved, there is no primary motivator – for the greater the risk, the greater the return. The challenge for innovation can always be found – in business it is growth – and the threat of competition, consumer preferences or value/return. But, innovation and business go hand-in-hand. The innovation for micro-financing of the poorest communities and the development of rapid-diagnosis for HIV (both cases studies highlighted by The Economist in their conference/awards!) both offer support for why innovation is much more than a marketing or business-only concern.

Innovation is an intrinsic human trait. It is built into our DNA to channel our curiousity and competitive adrenaline into a brain powered quest for ‘better’. Innovation exists because we exist, and continually want to improve our lives. We want to be healthier, happier, richer, more fulfilled and more connected to that which matters to us – whether that is other people (social media/digital innovation), money (micro and macro financing), knowledge (the internet) or customers (sales/marketing). Therefore, the need for Branding to help communicate, connect and facilitated a culture of ‘innovative’ thinking on behalf of other people (whether that is consumers, communities or citizens). Nothing fosters an innovative spirit more than emergencies, threats, crisis and chaos. As Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s foremost innovators said – ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ – he could have really said the mother of innovation. From wars, epidemics, disasters and crisis comes change and the opportunity to apply more creative, challenging and focussed thinking to solving or resolving problems. And today, let’s face it – the world has a few of these on our plate. Whether that is solving medical crisis such as Cancer, Malaria or AIDS; the Food and Resource Crisis the search for sustainable and safe energy, food and water; or the elusive search for Peace – all of these call for innovative ideas, processes and thinking. Whether led by an individual, or by a crowd – the process of being open to new ideas, sharing and acting is the necessary pre-condition for using innovation to make ‘things better’. We applaud the Economist for hosting and recognising this type of thinking. At FutureBrand – we spend alot of time thinking and creating the future, and one in which people’s lives are improved by and through the actions of Brands. Not just new products and services, but new mindsets which unleash the power of change and creativity to create better results.
Today, the greatest risk is not to take any risk at all.