The meaning of innovation.

Ad and Pr Lab — Panteion University

At the beginning of the new semester’s Ad & Pr Lab courses, our first assignment was to define innovation.

After watching some videos which explain this complex definition: 1. Our approach to innovation is dead wrong by Diana Kander 2. The art of innovation by Guy Kawasaki and 3. Speed up Innovation with Design Thinking by Guido Stompff we ended up realizing that innovation is much more than just a pioneering idea that will impress some investors. There are other factors which influence the success of a start up.

- Our approach to innovation is dead wrong:

In every aspect of our life we have been taught to work in a certain way. Whatever the subject we work on might be, we always follow ‭a ‬predefined way of thinking and acting. That leads everyone not knowing how to react when the time comes to apply the things we have learned. That is happening due to the fact that there is not only one correct approach and we have not been taught to react in realistic situations. That is the problem we observe in innovation and entrepreneurship. Even though the courses on how to start a buisness and market our product have been increased dramatically throughout the decade the actual number of new succesful companies have been decreased. So as it is mentioned above, the learning process is not corresponding accordingly. The standar foundation we are taught, is to get a‭n idea‬, create a‭ business plan find an investment and then you will get the‭ customers. ‬But that’s far from the truth. People are overoccupied creating the right business plan covering every possible scenario that they forget about the most important thing which is interacting with people and experiment with your ideas, things that you do not actually learn from any innovation cour‭se‬. Human behavior is difficult to predict so ‭spending all the time creating a buisness ‬plan based on a ‭«cookie cutter»‬ will not get any customers. Taking the above things mentioned by Diana Kander in her speech into consideration we came to the conclusion that we totally agree. Knowledge has become «stiff»‭ and especially in our professional ‬sector, interaction with future customers and experiment of our product ideas with different ways is a must. Success will only come by finding evidence and approval from people not by working with a based plan approach.

- The art of innovation:

Firstly Guy Kawasaki tries to pass on to us his impressions about innovation that he gained through his carrer experience.

No.1: Make meaning instead of make money. Only by trying and want to change the world we can get a step closer to innovation.

No.2: Make mantra. We need to explain why our meaning should exist in a 2–3 word mantra which will express our purpose.

No.3: Jump to the next curve. Basically it is a matter of perspective. As we already know, great innovation occurs when we get to the next curve and don’t get stuck in a problem that can’t be solved.

No.4: Roll the dicee. What we need to design is an intelligent product with creative features. For example, there are products like the iPhone that can change the meaning of our life in a productive way. The main characteristics are: deep — intelligent — complete — empowering — elegant.

No.5: Don’t worry be crappy. We are allowed to have elements of crappines on our evolution which show us how to improve our project.

No.6: Let 100 flowers blossom. For example, positioning and branding end up to what consumers want and really see in our products.

No.7: Polarize people. Great products polarize people and make them either passionate about them either haters of them.

No.8: Churn baby, churn. We need to hear to people’s different opinions and change our product because only by keep evolving we can get better.

No.9: Uniqueness and value. We have to communicate it to the world as marketeers.

No.10: Don’t let the bozos drag you down. We must always jump into the next curve and escape the negativity.

Additionally to those steps we must perfect our pitch, especially if we are innovators who are starting something brand new.

- Speed up Innovation:

According to Guido Stompff who introduces us to speed up innovation, every innovator must deal with problems as challenges that he can overcome by being creative and staying positive. Furthermore, he claims that team work can be a powerful ally to innovation that needs many minds in order to keep evolving. After, he presents the “Catch-22” of innovation. “Catch 22” is an untranslatable English phrase for situations where individuals are in contradictory. For example, when someone presents something new to investors, the odds are 200 to 1 that he will be asked about the money that he spent to make it.

In conclusion:

We understand that innovation can’t be defined in a simple way. There are multiple factors which control our ideas and the way to success.

This article is about a class of the Ad and Pr Lab in Panteion University.

Related posts:

Many people are so obsessed with healthy living and fitness that they don’t want to stop exercising even when they have a cold. Or even the coronavirus. How acceptable is this? Experts from the…

The IOV team is pleased to announce that Karine Arama has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the company. Karine joined IOV in September of last year as Head of Investors Relations and has…

Dennis Young is a self-taught artist located in New Castle, Delaware. He worked in healthcare for many years but now he is a full-time artist. Around twelve years ago, he decided to paint again and…