The first is that the brand must be a pioneer. It must be out there on the wild frontier, pushing the bounds of technology and science, and seen as years ahead of its competitors. It must give the consumer a genuine benefit – a product or service that makes life easier. The third key driver is contagion. An innovative brand must be the topic of conversation and have a buzz about it. Only in fourth place do we find the seal of public approval – innovative brands are ones that people agree are a good buy.  The fifth key driver is trust – a brand that consumers respect for themselves, no matter what others say. And the final driver of innovation is understanding – brands that demonstrate they get what goes on in consumers’ lives and show they have a role to play.
A lot of the most successful web-based brands, such as eBay, Amazon, Facebook and Google, are not delivering totally new concepts – their innovation lies in making something easier than before. It’s not the first player to market that often has the success, but those who make the idea work really well. And the same can be said for Tesco – a supermarket is not exactly a new idea but it has an image of taking incremental steps to make consumers’ lives easier and is effectively communicating this via its ‘every little helps’ campaigns.
Apple, Microsoft and Sony tend to come out top of most studies of innovative brands … because they have ubiquitous innovation: they deliver across all of the key drivers – not only pushing the boundaries of the product but ensuring that this delivers products that are easy to use, fun to talk about, gain peer approval and can be trusted.
Popularity: 1% [?]
