Is Innovative Marketing Indicative of an Overall Innovation Culture?

Today, innovation is viewed as being as integral to a business’ success as good leadership and a sound business strategy. Perhaps its present popularity is merely trendy, but the truth is plain: innovation is hot.

Here at Alphidia, our emphasis is on product development. The type of innovation we revere most highly is that which improves existing products or allows breakthroughs for entirely new ones. Product-related innovation, however, is just one of many different types. Some topple traditional company hierarchy and reorganize behind-the-scenes structuring. Others involve using technology in new and fascinating ways. But the kind that is most visible to customers tends to be innovative marketing.

That fact begs the question, is innovative marketing merely a carefully crafted strategy designed to earn sales or is it indicative of a company’s larger innovative culture?

A look at the numbers

On November 25, VentureBeat – a technology news site – published a sponsored article by Marketo – a company that makes marketing automation software – discussing the nature of innovation in marketing. The content of the piece was based on a survey conducted by the sponsoring company, which asked “senior-level marketers” questions about their industry.

Unsurprisingly, 4 out of 5 marketers believed that innovation was “important” or “very important” in their profession. They also stated the opinion that consumer brands were regularly the most innovative, a sensible observation that makes sense considering the nature of consumers’ purchasing habits versus those of businesses. Finally, they said that “knowing the customer [or prospective customer] is the key to innovation.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

It seems that these marketers, who value innovation and get an internal look at the companies that they represent, would be the perfect people to tell us whether innovative marketing belies innovative company culture. Fortunately, they were asked about that too.

Innovation culture

Despite their love for innovation and their belief that it is important, only 10% of those polled reported that the company that they work for has an innovative marketing approach. In fact, over three-fourths of the respondents said that their company culture was downright risk-averse, avoiding the opportunity to take chances.

If you were willing to read between the lines, there was another lesson about interpreting innovative marketing. Three of the companies declared to be leaders in innovative marketing

were Coca-Cola, Apple, and Red Bull. Of the three, only one (Apple) could be said to have truly innovative products. Coke and Red Bull merely produce good products and market them well. It’s hard to determine what exactly this says about how marketing relates to overall culture because the sample size is too small to make a strong statement about our biggest interest, innovation in product development.

Even so, the answer to the original question seems to be that, yes, truly innovative marketing does seem reflective of a broader innovation culture. The reason is that these leaders in innovative marketing don’t just promote their products. They promote experiences and, in many ways, that remains an innovative idea.