Innovation need not be radical but it must meet a real need

The article discusses product innovation (NPD). NPD is often hamstrung by concept creep, in which ideas that start off as unique gradually get modified until they lost all their different character.

Innovation need not be radical but it must meet a real need

Laura Morris

Incremental innovation has received its fair share of bad press. FMCG firms have highlighted its drawbacks by pushing out me-too products such as line extensions or limited editions of brands, which have added little value to consumers in categories already abundant with choice. Often, such 'innovations' have delivered a short-term spike in consumer interest and sales but no sustainable long-term payback (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Innovation with short-term gain

There is also a danger of damaging brand equity. KitKat, for example, lost its way a few...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands