I don’t count those attempts to copy competitors or conform with category norms: “Their margarine has vitamin E in it, so must ours!” I mean the kind of idea that makes everyone stop and ask “how did they do that?’. Take a look around your industry and ask yourself how often a competitor has made you ask that question.
I once worked with a very creative business. It was an airline - a category known for its conformity. Fortunately this airline had a Founder with an unusual world view. Whenever he decided to enter a category, he did it to overturn the status quo so that customers got a better deal or a more enjoyable experience. Not just from his business but, eventually, from the whole category.
Virgin Atlantic pursued three levels of innovation. At the lowest level they aimed for Brilliant Basics; doing something that everyone in the category did, but just a bit better. Faster check-in, more timely departure - we might call these hygiene factors.
One step up from that, the whole company seemed to be caught up in a drive to create special moments in the customer experience. Magic Touches didn’t cost much but their impact was huge - this was the airline to offer choc ices to passengers on flights lasting more than 4 hours. It made passengers smile and competitors grind their teeth.
Every now and again someone in the business would come up with an idea that would stop the category in its tracks and make customers re-evaluate their choices. Ideas so big that half the room would gasp “impossible’.
They called these Game Changers because they were highly disruptive. Virgin Atlantic was the first airline to send limousines to collect Business Class passengers from home and drop them at an exclusive check- in.
It’s still rare to find a business that nurtures new ideas. Something we call greenhousing - an idea taken from horticulture that acknowledges not every plant that grows is immediately identifiable. Some turn out to be weeds, others healthy flowers or fruits. But, for several weeks, it may not be possible to identify which is which. So, new ideas need to be kept alive and debated to see how they grow.
If your attitude is ‘rip out the weeds’, you’ll have an emptier garden.
Chris Harrison leads The Brand Inside
www.thebrandinsideafrica.com
