What happens if we think of innovation as the new advertising?

Innovation and advertising need each other. There is a symbiotic and synergistic relationship between the two – innovation needs advertising to ‘get out there’ and advertising needs innovation to give it something new to say and bolster creativity.

Yet, innovation’s potential can be under-realised. How can it grow to be the power that advertising is? The answer is writ large as some of the world’s greatest ad talent gathers for the Cannes Lions; advertising is just really good at marketing itself.

Advertising has managed itself into a position where it’s the ‘corporate System 1’ go-to for almost all growth challenges.

Advertising has managed itself into a position where it’s the ‘corporate System 1’ go-to for almost all growth challenges. And yet, I’d argue, it is innovation that can create stronger, more price inelastic brands; more efficient advertising; engaged employees; higher returns and more valuable businesses.

Above: The Cannes Lions is a great marketing event for advertising itself, something innovation can learn from.

There is an innovation gap that’s stalling growth; we need to reframe innovation for the C-Suite so it becomes more accessible and is de facto used as a key growth driver. It’s time for an innovation nudge to start a great change.

So, what’s the challenge?

The innovation gap is a problem because innovation’s potential, despite significant evidence of its power as a growth driver, is all too often unrealised.

A few years ago, jump! developed what we considered to be an amazing innovation for a category-leading client of ours. No capital expenditure [CapEx] was needed, it was difficult to copy, there were no natural competitors and it was a Giffen good i.e. demand increased as price increased for this everyday, non-luxury item.

‘Home Run!’ we thought. But then the client backed down, opting instead to pump the money into advertising to support their under-pressure core brand with additional spend. The commercial reality was that the understandable short-term pressures of our industry lead to the emergence of a chasm separating what we say we will do (innovate) and what we actually do (attempt to reinforce loyalty to existing business). This is the innovation gap, and it's is a problem because innovation’s potential, despite significant evidence of its power as a growth driver, is all too often unrealised.

Above: An innovation-focussed 'home run' was ignored and, instead, the brand pumped money into advertising to support their under-pressure core brand.

There are reams of reports from the likes of BCG, Kantar and Nielsen showing that companies and brands that innovate outperform those that don’t. Yet, only 25% of C-Suite-level execs have an innovation lead in place. If it’s nobody’s job, it won’t get done. This is part of the challenge that companies face when it comes to innovation; if a company must take a risk, it seems that a known risk (advertising) will be taken before an unknown one (innovation).

Advertising is known and visible but, as commented by Mark Ritson, it is only “10% of the total marketing game”.

To disrupt this, we need to reframe innovation from an unknown, intensive risk, pulled out on special occasions, to something more accessible and familiar, part of the everyday marketing environment, like advertising. We need to shift people from thinking of ops and engineering and CapEx, to thinking of creativity, growth, excitement and performance. Hence the provocation to learn from the best – advertising - and see if we can accelerate innovation, benefit marketing and grow companies.

I’m a fan of advertising. It rocks. We all love it. Gorillas, horses, meerkats, bouncing balls - the excitement is infectious. Advertising is known and visible but, as commented by [brand consultant and former marketing professor] Mark Ritson, it is only “10% of the total marketing game”, and yet it occupies far more time and energy. Corporate System 1 in action.

We need to borrow from advertising and reframe innovation as more of an efficient and, perhaps, accessible contributor to the overall marketing and business mix. Innovation doesn’t have to be disruptive - the key is to make sure it’s important to many people, not just a niche.