5 Steps To Successful Brand Innovation
Equibrand
Walt Disney once said, “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
With what began as a sketch of a mouse, The Walt Disney Company utilized product and process innovation to become an international media powerhouse encompassing a broad range of businesses.
Innovation is vital to an organization’s long term success. But how does your organization manage the innovation process? Rather than rely on intuition, luck or an occasional brainstorming meeting, innovation requires a systematic approach.
Here are some specific actions you can take to insure your innovation process is successfull:
Focus innovation on strategic opportunity areas (SOAs). Innovation is more than, “I have an idea”. Innovation needs to be focused. First, strategically identify market-based opportunities (innovation buckets). Second, focus resources on addressing a particular problem until it is solved.
Use ideation and creative brainstorming to generate solutions. Drawing on deep customer insights, use creative problem solving techniques to come up with viable solutions.
Develop and optimize concepts using an iterative process. This involves using prototypes, storyboards, models and other concepts to demonstrate the idea and seek input. Iteration is key. As you learn more, you get closer to the right solution.
Use a portfolio and pipeline perspective to plan innovation. This ensures a strategic portfolio approach consisting of incremental vs. transformational ideas. It also ensures a constant stream of innovation.
Screen concepts and implement. Screening and implementation occurs at various stages of innovation. The death knell to innovation is the direction, “Prove it”, so you need to be careful when and how you screen ideas. Measures are looser initially, becoming more objective and quantifiable closer to launch.
The strongest brands and businesses are built upstream through the combined principles of insight, identity, and innovation.
