Paraphrasing Peter Drucker - Business is about attracting customers. There are two functions: innovation and marketing. All other functions are expenses. Continue reading

In a world that’s increasingly complex, with media clutter, proliferating brands, time-pressed consumers and multiplying channels of distribution, marketers and pundits are increasingly embracing the notion of “simplicity.” Some speak of it in glowing terms, as if it were a panacea for brands struggling to find their way in a challenging competitive environment. Design competition judges fawn over precious, ultra-chic packages that feature vast amounts of negative space and type that’s barely readable. That may be fine in a very few high-ego-involved categories, but for many brand situations, it’s just not that simple. While a “hyperclean” design strategy may work... Continue reading

We’ve all seen the numbers, and they are daunting: tens of thousands of new products launched each year, on top of those that already burden store shelves. Dishearteningly few succeed; we’ve seen those percentages as well. Innovation protocols promise to create new value for brand owners, while delivering sometimes barely-nuanced iterations of products already available. Soda begets diet-soda, then diet-soda-with-lime, then diet-soda-with-a-hint-of-lime-but-without-caffeine… what’s next? Flashback diet soda with cyclamates? Avoiding this “non-innovation innovation” is simple enough to describe, though sometimes challenging to achieve. It starts with ensuring the product or brand emerges from a simple and motivating idea that is... Continue reading