Age of Abundance
By Naseem Javed
You might have the best team
with the best of innovation, but there are these
overly diluted markets out there, glutted with
look-alike themes and contents, brands and identical
services. The challenge is to fine-tune a marketing
process that will not only re-energize the production
but produce a shaper edge in original ideas, design,
quality and value, and build a unique iconic name
identity.
Recently, we came out of the age of curiosity,
entered the age of scarcity and are now sinking
in the age of abundance. Everything is here.
Today, all over the world, millions of identical
companies are producing millions of identical
products and services, and they are pushing identical
prices on identical delivery platforms. On top
of that, they have identical management and identical
corporate behavior all the way from the boardrooms
to the cubicles.
Furthermore, there are identical brands, identical
names and identical business and identities. If
you've seen one, you've seen them all. There seems
to be a serious lack of originality, substance,
courage and leadership. Is this age of abundance
going to drown us?
Why we ended up here
Compulsory and forced innovation has limits; there
are only so many ways to re-design a car. Moving
ashtrays and coffee mug holders every two years
is not a new model of a car. Levitation is. A
computer in its current hardware shape is completely
outdated. So are thousands of other things.
Our current culture is responsible for this lack
of original and creative innovation. Office cubicles
have taken away the power of innovation as masses
have been conditioned to rigid conformity, visible
isolation, linear formations and assembly-line
mentality. Copying has been awarded as a safe
play.
Three solutions
1. Bring down the wall. Like the Berlin Wall,
bring down the cubicle and run around like the
Incredible Hulk. Ask your teams to create at least
one new idea every day. Discuss it with some serious
effort. If not immediately applicable, then file
it away for future reference. Ask and ask again
and again: Why are your products and services
SO similar to your competitors, including the
colors, prices and the brand names. Only if asked
with persistence and honesty will it create and
open doors to innovation. Don't blame others,
just search for innovation.
2. Find the ropes. Like Spiderman, avoid the elevators
and scale the headquarters. Jump and bypass your
immediate bosses, as often they are the ones directly
responsible for playing it safe by adopting simple
rules and for following others with identical
goods and services. Go to the top; it is easy,
all you need are ropes and good swings. Innovation
is the bond and the glue between new products
and customers. Good ideas will easily rope in
the management. Next time, ask before pushing
the elevator button: Is this the only way to go
to the top?
3. Fly over the globe. By air or at least via
the Web, circumnavigate the globe -- not merely
once a year but, rather, daily or even hourly.
There is a wild, wild world out there. The ideas
and opportunities are endless. Global research
is critical today. To stay ahead, lead your teams
to sharper innovation. This can be achieved by
observing global trends and market shifts. Put
your suits away; try a robe for a change.
In conclusion, you might have the best team with
the best of innovation, but there are these overly
diluted markets out there, glutted with look-alike
brands and identical services. The challenge is
to fine-tune a marketing process that will not
only re-energize the production but produce a
shaper edge in design, quality and value, and
build a unique iconic identity. When there are
too many identical business journals, it seems
comic books, after all, are nothing to laugh at.
(Naseem Javed, author of Naming for Power and
Domain Wars, is recognized as a world authority
on Global Name Identities and Domain Issues. He
introduced The Laws of Corporate Naming in the
80's and also founded ABC Namebank, a consultancy
established in New York and Toronto a quarter
century ago. Naseem also conducts executive workshops
and conferences on global image and name identities
issues www.azna.com/ceo.htm)
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