To me, there are two types of innovation: the expected (the evolution of semiconductor capability under the influence/inspiration of Moore’s Law) and the truly inspiring surprise (Twitter, the iPhone). Part of what makes this job so interesting to me is seeing the results of both types of innovation, and then trying to figure out if they’ll being lasting business value.
Trying to devine the true impact of a new technology, new device or service is tough to do on a continuous basis. Ask the guy who uttered the following:
“There’s no chance the iPhone will gain significant market share. . . “
“It’s hard for me to be excited about the Android phones . . . “
Both of those are from former Microsoft CEO, Steve Balmer. So, you know, it’s tough out there for a prognosticator. But perhaps the most powerful, and simple, declaration about the tranformative power of innovation comes “2001: A Space Odyssey” author, Arthur C. Clarke, with: “Any sufficiently complex technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
And here’s where the marketers finds herself today: having to distinguish real, useful magic from flash-and-pop magic — while also keeping the marketing department running. It’s much harder to have to track and investigate new technologies or new approaches to marketing while simultaneously actually engaging in the various daily acts and processes of marketing.
Tracking innovation or advancements in technology and technology enabled processes needs to become a discipline but can’t become a fixation. Spend too much time tracking every new development can lead to analysis paralysis or, almost as pernicious, a bad case of bright-shiny object syndrome. (Check out my colleague Jake Sorofman’s piece on this topic.)
Helping you pick the truly important innovations in a sea of bright shiny objects is one of the key drivers for our Cool Vendors documents, not to mention our ongoing coverage of topics such as the emergence of augmented reality technologies. In each of those documents you’ll see how we evaluate and frame these new technologies or technology enabled approaches to marketing in terms of their affect on the business of marketing, not just the technical operations.
So go check out our research on all these Cool Vendors as well as those represented in our Market Guide to Augmented Reality. We’re picking separating the digital wheat from the chaff so you don’t have to do it.
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