The art of innovation

In an era characterised by constant disruption and volatility, innovation has never been more important. Simply put, it’s a matter of innovate or die.

As new technologies proliferate, customer preferences change and competition becomes more intense, even the disrupters risk getting disrupted. Just think about what TikTok has done to Instagram, and what Instagram has done to Facebook and X (Twitter). 

In today’s hyper-competitive and rapidly changing business environment, disruptive innovation has become a critical driver of growth, competitiveness and long-term success. A recent Kantar study shows that brands that are perceived as leading on innovation have shown as much as seven times the growth of key competitors.

With innovation as an imperative, how do brands get it right? Kantar believes there are three principles that brands must master to develop breakthrough ideas:

1. Anticipate the future

Disruptive innovation requires brands to understand what’s changing in the world around us. The brands that firmly grasp the real forces of change in human behaviour — and set them apart from short-term fads — have proved to be innovation winners and disrupters. 

Beyond Meat upended the status quo by bringing the future into the mainstream with its focus on tasty and healthy plant-based meat alternatives and sustainable living. In 2019, the company had a market value of $11.7bn — which was a huge increase from its pre-initial public offering valuation of $3.8bn.

2. Solve a real human problem

Innovation will never move the needle unless it addresses a real human need. Brands that succeed at innovation understand the tensions in their consumers’ worlds and solve them. 

FNB understood the incredible friction that existed in switching main banks. By innovating with initiatives like being able to open a bank account with a selfie and eliminating the need to visit a branch, the brand managed to claw back shares from the tricky and lucrative middle market.

3. Learn, test, learn

Great innovators are agile and keep improving through a smart, iterative, hypothesis-based approach to innovation. This involves exploring critical assumptions, creating minimum viable or lovable products addressing real consumer tensions, and exposing them to people with the directive to tweak, pivot, persevere, or abandon at pace. 

Amazon embraces a “fail-first” approach to innovation — first attempt in learning. Every innovation is treated as a test case and something to learn from and improve on. Amazon Dash may not have been a success story, but they’ve used learning from this innovation to inform and develop other incredible successes, such as Alexa and Amazon Echo.

Kantar's Consulting practice has developed an “ideas” innovation approach to breakthrough innovation that not only embraces these innovation principles but makes innovation less daunting and even fun.

Illuminate. Kantar believes that great innovation has to be rooted in long-term forces of change — incorporating future thinking into the process. This can include understanding and prioritising the trends or energies affecting a category, and developing a series of future-forward opportunity springboards that form the foundation of all innovation endeavours.

Deep dive. Before any ideation happens, it’s critical to come to grips with a real human problem or tension. Kantar encourages client teams to immerse themselves so that they truly understand the unmet needs in a given space and what possible trade-offs have to happen to satisfy them. Deep dives can be done in numerous ways — from embarking on extensive insight mining to informal, clue-hunting tasks.

Envisage. With a clear and sizeable problem to solve, Kantar gets ideating. The best way to come up with great ideas is through various forms of stimulus and inspiration. Ideate with short “bursts of inspiration” — anything from experts and influencers to global lift and shifts in brand hat thinking. Be unconstrained, focusing on gathering a large quantity of ideas so you don’t lose any gems. 

Ask. Armed with a range of ideas, we now need to get a read on them from consumers. This can take multiple forms — from quantitative concept testing to qualitative concept clinics. Whatever the form of testing, it should be agile and allow for iterative innovation to improve and enhance the ideas.

Scrutinise. Breakthrough innovation should be more than just new and novel — it should move the needle and fuel growth. Therefore, any innovation idea has to be put through the wringer — checking feasibility, commercial viability, and potential impact on the market. 

Innovation is a key driver of growth for brands and businesses, and while it can be daunting, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or intimidating. By embracing a mindset of curiosity, creativity and experimentation, marketers and organisations can cultivate an environment that fosters innovation and growth.

Ultimately, innovation may involve risk and uncertainty, but it is a necessary component of success in today’s rapidly changing world, and should be approached with confidence, determination, and a bit of fun too. 

This article was first published in the 2023 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands report.

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About the author: Nicole Shapiro is director of consulting in SA at Kantar.

This article was sponsored by Kantar.