How do you escape innovation hell? With Experiences

At our 9th Annual Client Summit, Joe Crump a VP of Strategy & Planning asked an important question. How do you escape innovation hell? He explained that we recognize innovation when we see it but when it comes to innovating ourselves we fail 80% of the time. His reasons for the failure were:

• We mistakenly equate innovation with creativity, which makes innovation feel more like serendipity


• We don't really try to innovate. Most of us are just content making incremental improvements to our work


• We measure the wrong things. We obsess with click-through rates instead of wowing the consumer with brilliant engagement.


• We use the wrong tools. Focus groups are the enemy of innovation.


• We rely on processes that kill innovation.


• We equate innovation with advertising. As Joe put it, "If I were in the television ad business, I would assume the crash position."

His solution? "Stop obsessing on marketing messages, and start obsessing on better product experiences," Joe said. Then he gave a preview of the Razorfish Experience Wheel, a new process that Razorfish is developing to create fresh consumer experiences. In other words he believes (as I do) that it comes down to the experience.

While that may not be a new concept, what is continuously missing is the attention that's given to it. Everyone wants an Apple like experience for their product but don't have the guts to invest the time and resources to get one. And not just that we often aren't stubborn enough about the product vision. Without that, the product is destined not to be innovative. Watch the presentation and few coverage by David Deal as well.