8 Innovation Mistakes You Don’t Wanna Make
1. Saying there are no bad ideas
There ARE bad ideas. Lots of them. And no one wants them.
We want big, newsworthy ideas that are also feasible so they launch and last.
Clear guidelines and guardrails can actually make you MORE creative for only the best ideas.
2. Not defining your audience
Clear guidelines and guardrails can actually make you MORE creative for only the best ideas.
Brand teams often think "everyone" is their target. Focus on 15-20% of the population you can serve well. Then get to know them better than anyone else.
Conduct quick insights research to confirm their needs and values to guide innovation efforts.
3. Failing to let strategy lead
If you don’t know what your brand stands for, it’s hard to know what it should sell.
Use your brand North Star to guide innovation, including if and how to incorporate trends.
Innovation should keep your brand promise, not confuse or dilute it.
4. Creating all new ideas
Innovation is about more than new products.
The best innovation reimagines current offerings in exciting, new ways.
When we helped Stanley with their brand vision, we confirmed co-branded collabs would be key to the innovation pipeline and marketing calendar.
5. Keeping ideas as concepts
Make your ideas real ASAP.
When we helped a top pizza brand with innovation recently, we refined ideas one day, baked them into reality the next.
The sooner you can see, taste and try them, the better (and faster to market) they’ll be.
6. Using vague strategic criteria
Be clear about what you want your innovation to do and the results you expect.
Evaluate ideas as a cross-functional team and gather input from key customers to quickly refine and prioritize your ideas.
You can create and test tons of ideas, then use data to develop only the best.
7. Avoiding conflict
Being innovative includes hard conversations.
Some call it “productive conflict” because afterwards, everyone is better off.
Don’t avoid it. Address it. Embrace it. When you work through it, you’ll make progress.
8. Failing to look to the future
Grounding in today’s consumer needs, cultural trends, company equities and competitive landscape is key.
So is looking ahead to what tomorrow will bring.
Use AI and experts to forecast the future so you can create ideas that launch and last.