The Life Blood of Product Development

Last week on my WebTV show called BrandVertising, I had a great chat with Timothy Lee (a client of mine from Afexa Life Sciences in Canada) about product innovation and development. The show highlighted that invention and innovation are not the same thing, look no further than apple to learn how to innovate versus invent.

We also talked about the fact that engaging with customers is the only way you can do any type of inventing or innovating. Which is why a recent Interbrand study that shows so few companies are engaging with their customers is even more shocking. How will products that are relevant be developed in these organizations?

Have a look at the show and see what were rated by LaunchTV as the best new products of 2010.

The Fear Of Failure...Again

A while back I blogged about the power of failure. http://bamboostrategy.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-ive-learned.html

Well it seems that the topic of getting stronger from failure is hot this week in blog land. The link from the brain pickings blog has four takes on failure from some creative thinkers.  I share just one of them below.

What is your take on the role failure plays in creativity and life itself?

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/05/12/fear-of-failure/



Paulo Coelho – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

I love a great logo.

Creative Review, the fantastic UK publication, in a recent blog listed the thoughts of some of the leading design firms in the world as they relate to the greatest logos ever.

Check it out of you love brands and their visual representation. One of my favourites is a Canadian icon CN, that is on the list of Identity Works, Tony Spaeth.

Click on the link and enjoy the read.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/may/logo-experts-contd

Wow, 59% of Marketers Don't Believe in Being Relevant!

Being that my consultancy is all about relevancy of business and brands, I was kind of shocked to read an email from Interbrand that stated a recent study of theirs found that only 41% of brands think it's important to maintain relevance. As the graphic below from the Interbrand email also shows, only 37% of brands believe being responsive to customer needs and desires is important.




Interbrand Marketers 2011 Survey











What can these marketing leaders be thinking? Did they miss marketing 101 where we learn that "marketing" is all about responding to the needs and desires of consumers? Are they asleep during this consumer empowerment revolution that technology is enabling? Do they not get that if your brand is not relevant, that means you don't matter, which in no way translates to future sales?

In the end, the Interbrand study reinforces the lack of understanding many marketers still have towards the importance of building dialogues with stakeholders. I would love to hear your take on what to me is a shockingly low level of marketer understanding.