What better time than this holiday season to serve up some thoughts on innovation by drawing parallels to food?
Design and innovation are passions of mine, in addition to food. Among their similarities, they both require a balance of science and art, and both often end with a somewhat unexpected, truly remarkable, serendipitous outcome. The following steps provide a glimpse at some core ingredients needed to produce successful brand innovation.

Define innovation. I am blessed to be married to a professionally trained chef. We still chuckle remembering the time when I stared at my options for Parmesan cheese in the store and opted for the green-canned variety. “Cheese is cheese” was my line of thinking. Eight years later, I fully embrace Parmesan Reggiano, aged 22 months, and would never go back.
As you think about innovation, don’t make the same mistake I did. Cheese is not cheese and innovation is not innovation. You likely will not find true innovation unless you clearly align your organization on the type of innovation you are seeking.
Different people have different ideas of innovation. Are you seeking disruptive innovation (a la Clayton Christensen) or incremental innovation? Technical or commercial? Graphic or structural? Internal (cost savings) or external (consumer facing)?
Innovate strategically. Stick to your strengths. Start with what you do well, what you stand for, and the reasonable adjacencies—those white-space areas on the package that consumers logically link back to your brand equity—that will still be “on brand.” Crest Whitestrips is very effective in this approach. Its hinged plastic tray contains extensive white space around the small primary and secondary labels.
In the food world, even the best chefs know their limitations. Understanding your limitations needs to be top of mind for your brand when it comes to innovation. Crest can innovate with whitening products beyond toothpaste (Whitestrips, Night Effects) because it’s on-equity and in line with Procter and Gamble’s mission of creating healthy smiles. Could Crest develop the next great thing in oral anesthesia? Probably. P&G has vast technical and financial resources. Would it be on brand for Crest? Probably not.
Try and try again. It’s the whole ready, aim, fire metaphor. Companies often spend too much time getting ready and aiming when we should be firing and learning and firing again. My wife’s spinach dip is a perfect example. It’s been a 10-year “launch and learn” experience.
Or, look at this sequence of ready, aim, fire in the context of rapid prototyping. Spend a little. Learn a lot. Fast. This approach needs to be the mantra for your innovation focus. Jones Soda puts just this spin on its go-to-market strategy. The niche-beverage company throws many new products into the marketplace and then sees what works. Underperforming products are discontinued. Jones Soda frequently launches with quirky offerings. “Fufu Berry,” moderately carbonated soda in 24-packs of 12-oz glass bottles with customized labels, and “Monster Mojito” soda in ghoulish four-packs available exclusively at Target stores near Halloween, have spawned a cult following.
Brian Erdman shares more thoughts on managing innovation.

--By Brian Erdman, Brand Consultant, LAGA