Rogaine - lesson learned from innovation blunders

Here’s another great story with lessons learned from innovation blunders.

It’s an excerpt from Why (Smart Companies) Do Dumb Things by Calvin L. Hodock

In this series of case studies, Hodock shares insight on avoiding 8 common mistakes in new product development. 

In the case of Rogaine, it was mismatched positioning.

Fifty million American men experience male-pattern baldness. In 1996, they received some very good news.  The Food and Drug Administration cleared Rogaine, a topical 2 percent minoxidil solution, as an over-the-counter hair regrowth drug for men and women with common hair loss. Hallelujah! Men suffering from hair loss often experienced “anxiety, loss of self-confidence and even depression”. Rogaine gave hair-challenged men a dual benefit—a full head of hair and the restoration of self-esteem.

Rogaine had a natural contagion, because the preliminary buzz purported it to be nothing short of a miracle. As a result, it had an avalanche of positive publicity prior to its market introduction. Wall Street was especially euphoric about Rogaine’s prospects, and its parent company, Upjohn (now Johnson & Johnson), did nothing to temper the financial cheerfulness coming from the street. In this situation, Rogaine’s positive buzz turned out to be destructive rather than helpful. Here’s why.

Balding males naively believed their departed hair follicles would return instantly by rubbing Rogaine into their scalps twice a day for a month or so. Rogaine initially attracted the most extreme cases of male-pattern baldness, primarily older males in their fifties and sixties desperately grasping for their youth. Rogaine could not deliver for these extreme cases. There was a deep ravine between positioning expectations and product delivery. 

 

Rogaine is a complex product, as explained to me by a Pfizer marketing executive. It is only effective in about 40 percent of the cases. It can take eight months to see the best results. The product is not particularly effective in cases of frontal baldness or receding hairlines. Compliance is essential to see any results. It must be used twice a day. If treatment is stopped, reversal occurs, losing any benefits from treatment. The application process—rubbing it into the scalp twice a day—is awkward.  Rogaine later attempted to make it easier with an aerosol foam version.  

Since many of the initial users represented extreme cases and a desire for instant gratification, they dripped out; their perceived expectations—“where’s my new hair??—weren’t instantly achieved. The buzz-worthy product was still talked about, but the talk turned negative from a large segment of disappointed men, dampening Rogaine’s prospects for marketplace success. 

Rogaine currently does target younger men with a more forthright approach that the product works for a certain type of male-pattern baldness, but it is not a panacea for every conceivable case of male baldness.

                   

The makers of Rogaine made two major mistakes:

1. Rogaine made no attempt to dismantle the early perceptions that it was a miracle product. This set an unrealistic level of expectation with respect to its product performance with the brand’s early bird customers.
2. Rogaine required an extensive educational process to help men understand its strengths and limitations; this was never acted upon.

The net result was a wide gap between positioning expectations and product performance.

The product must be able to deliver on the positioning’s benefit promise, or there will be inevitable consumer backlash.  It’s hard to get the toothpaste back in the tube. That’s why marketers must get the positioning strategy right the first time out of the staring gate. 

Second chances are very rare. 

Rogaine never lived up to its potential, because the initial positioning and target segment were wrong from day one.

10 insights about corporate creativity from J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler

"I talk to so many people about the lack of creativity in companies in America. Part of creativity is contrarianism, " says Mickey Drexler, CEO of J.Crew.

"Creativity battles common wisdom. Because if there's common wisdom, there's an opportunity. In my own experience, whatever was a good idea was a bad idea to most people," he says in a recent interview with Fast Company.

Here are ten of his insights on what it takes to be creative.

1. "Every business could be creative."
2. "Companies are in the Stone Ages organizationally."
3. "Most companies should have a rule about how big they get."
4. "America's companies are built to destroy creativity."
5. "You have to keep moving forward."
6. "I'm a very proud micromanager."
7. "You cannot copy high quality."
8. "You can drown in data."
9. "It's aggravating to be a public company."
10. "Simplicity is very difficult to achieve."

Read the full article at http://www.fastcompany.com/

How to get brand ideas from UNhappy customers

on Responsiveness

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." 

- Bill Gates

How to gain brand sophistication through simplicity

on Simplicity

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” 

-Leonardo daVinci

How to know if you're a leader

on Leadership

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." 

—John Quincy Adams

Insight for brand leaders (and those who want to be)

on Leadership

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” 

— Peter F. Drucker

1200th blog post

Today marks my 1200th blog article posting.

It's quite an exciting milestone.  

Thanks to the colleagues who helped post their insights over the years.  

And thanks to you who have continued to read, follow, and comment.

 

"600 creative minds strong, spread across continents, acting as one." - GYRO

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I love the copy is this ad. 

What A Time To Be Alive

The bright, new technologies of now are bringing humans together as never before.  In just one click, we can share our innermost thoughts with a million other minds.

We can swap pictures of kittens.  We can bring down governments.  We should feel like gods.  But somehow we don’t.

Because most what we feel is numb.

It seems we’ve switched on something that we can’t switch off.  The current of information is endless now; it knows where we work and it follows us home.  It bombards us with multichannel assaults on our time and attention, and the more it continues, the more desensitized we become.

So the big question is this:  In a world made numb by digital noise, what can any business or brand do to make itself relevant again?  Why should anyone care?

It is the question we reinvented our company to answer.

After three decades helping world-class businesses succeed, we have had the courage to change our culture.

Entirely.

The kind of ideas our clients need now can come from anywhere and take any form, so we’ve swept away the “creative apartheid.”

These times demand an agency with unconventional DNA, a collective team of influencers, curators, editors, thinkers, inventors and producers.

With all the energy, excitement and passion of a start-up – we have created a global ideas shop.

We are 600 creative minds strong, spread across continents, acting as one.  United by a single propose:  to produce ideas that ignite.

These unstoppable ideas, fired by emotion, are behind everything we want to achieve for our clients.  Emotion is the key to intimacy between businesses, brands and people.  It’s there in every choice humans make, whether they’re buying laptops or signing million-dollar contracts.

Ideas that ignite emotions are ideas that ignite business decisions.

And our right to exist as a company depends on our ability to find those expansive ideas – on every project we’re given and every single day we come to work.

We will never be afraid to do whatever it takes to make businesses and brands matter to people again.

WE ARE GYRO.

300 designers can't be wrong

Design professionals say they get their inspiration out of the office.

Where will you go today to be inspired?

Global blog readers expand my horizons for innovation

I always enjoy seeing where my blog readers are coming from.

Just in the last day or so, we’ve had visitors from US locations, including:

• Alexandria, Virginia
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Cedar City, Utah 
• Ithaca, New York
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
• San Diego, California
• Sturbridge, Massachusetts
• Sunnyvale, California
• Troy, Ohio

And we’ve had visitors from locations all over the world, such as:

• Bombay, Maharashtra
• Den Haag, Zuid-Holland
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Leicester, United Kingdom
• Lima, Peru
• Samokov, Macedonia
• Santiago, Chile
• Singapore, Singapore
• Sydney, Australia

Innovation is…

Smartpones with apps that help you choose paint colors.   

Robotlike vacuums that zoom around floors.   

Websites that practically design your rooms.   

That’s innovation, all right.   

But to us, innovation isn’t just the whiz-bang stuff.   

It’s anything that streamlines and inspires.   

In this blog, I celebrate advances big and small.   

You see some of the people, products, and services that are changing the way we live.   

And you might be surprised that some of our innovators favorite things are refreshingly old-school.   

After all, innovation is really whatever is revolutionary to you.

Listen to an audio review at www.airsla.org/broadcasts/BetterHomes

2 key insights from the patent-approval overhaul

Starting last fall and stretching through mid-2013, the U.S. has been overhauling the patent-approval process for the first time since 1952.

The biggest change:

Our first-to-invent system, which favors creators, will become a first-to-file system, which favors whoever files first.

Uncle Sam says the reform will speed innovation. Experts checked the numbers in a recent article in FAST COMPANY.  There were two particular insights relevant to brand innovators:

1. GOOD FOR INNOVATION—Shorter average patent wait time. 34 months and going down. Startups that qualify for the new fast-track option get their patents reviewed in as little as 12 months, which makes it easier to bring their products to market.
2. BAD FOR INNOVATION—Fewer patents issued to noncorporate inventors. 31,923 in 2010 and going down. When Canada switched to a first-to-file system in 1989, the race to file intensified--and individual inventors were put at a disadvantage (compared to big firms with lots of resources). A similar scenario could play out in the U.S.

You can read the full analysis at www.fastcompany.com/magazine

 

6 things strategic thinkers do well – and how brand innovators can learn from them

I know how it is with inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. 

In the beginning, there’s just you and maybe a partner. You do everything. You make the calls, and you answer the phone. You make the presentations, and you make the powerpoint. You write the website and you code it. You order the midnight pizza and you take out the trash.

 

So, when it’s time to “be strategic,” I know how tough it can be.

A recent article in Inc. Magazine helps provide some guidance.

“Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete,” writes Paul J. H. Schoemaker. “Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.”

One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.

Schoemaker says, “After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well.”

Here’s his list:

1. Anticipate – Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry. Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better.
2. Think Critically – Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes. Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions
3. Interpret – synthesize information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously
4. Decide – balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Leave perfection to higher powers. Take a stand even with incomplete information and amid diverse views
5. Align – foster open dialogue, build trust and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge. Bring tough issues to the surface, even when it's uncomfortable.
6. Learn – encourage and exemplify honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons.

I know this may seem daunting. I’ve run companies and advise start-up companies, including my latest venture Bioscience Bridge. So I appreciate the chance to share strategic insights and experiences with other innovators.

Power Brand Experience: how Starbucks creates and manages high-touch, high-volume personal brand engagements

Starbucks in Shanghai

Go big or go home.

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm looking back at the key concepts that influenced my perspective on power branding.

We have learned that coffee king Starbucks can create and manage millions – literally millions – of engagements across the country with the same energy it would with just a few.

Deborah Taylor, director of local marketing integration for Starbucks, shared with us how they did it by embracing a high-volume, high-touch experiential plan, executed on a nationwide scale, to create and maintain a consistent experience across thousands of brand ambassadors. Plus, Starbucks’ agency partner, Derek Drake of Passage Events, tells about how they developed a system to manage the process.

It’s well-known that the brand experience is a hallmark of the Starbucks retail store. So, the goal of its events is to extend that experience outside the store.

The first element of the event brief is to be fun and approachable. An example is a “Fender

Blender,” in which consumers sit on a bike and pedal-powered the blender to mix their drinks. This took about 20 seconds and the Starbucks staff had 20 more seconds to connect with the consumer.

The second element is to surprise and delight. At events held at major transit stations when people are standing in long lines, Starbucks employees might spontaneously appear to make commuters’ day a little nicer. At impromptu gatherings, Starbucks employees might show up with as little as two hours’ notice to distract the crowd and share some of the barista experience outside.

The third element was to spread the word. To extend the experience, Starbucks often set up

blogging stations at the events.

Creating high-touch, high-volume events: Applications for other power brand marketers

You can help apply this creative approach to your events. In brand event planning, connect in a relevant way, honestly engage the customer, make it easy to communicate, and motivate to take action.

I created this template to list some of the ways you could increase the “touch” of your event and extend the impact of the experience.

Power Brand Experience: brand engagement through event marketing

The rules of branding are being rewritten in real-time by marketers around the world. What do you do in an economy like this? How do you engage customers?

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm reflecting back on the changing environment -- connecting with customers requires absolute relevance and complete and total control over the total brand experience. 


Back in 2009, I wrote that "In the event marketing channel, that means finely tuned programs more intricately connected to the overall marketing mix – after all, the sum is more powerful than the parts."

I have proposed that Experiential Marketing be summarized in the four cornerstones of event branding:

1. Building the anticipation, 
2. engaging the audience, 
3. extending the experience, and 
4. magnifying the impact

It’s more even useful to think of it as face-to-face marketing.  Of course, face-to-face marketing has existed as long as marketing itself and in modern times in a variety of formats, including mobile marketing, trade shows, conferences, street events, and more.  

What’s different now is the requirement to deeply connect, not just speak through these venues and others. 

And that in turn requires a nuanced understanding of what makes for effective experiences that move people to action.

I really appreciate the many clients and colleagues who have help create great brand experiences over the years.

Power Brand Experience: how Microsoft transformed its events into turbocharged experiences

Microsoft MGX event

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm looking back at the key concepts that influenced my perspective on power branding.

Quite possibly the world's largest spender on event marketing, Microsoft became a marketing juggernaut by transforming its event and trade show portfolio into a turbocharged, experiential machine.

Local, regional, national and global events are being mixed and matched into super-relevant engagement platforms. The fusion of event delivery and digital technology has never been more urgent. And live marketing is being measured more than ever before, showing Microsoft what's working and why.

I had a chance to share time at a conference with Jeff Singsaas, general manager of event marketing at Microsoft.  He offered a taste of where the event industry was headed, from the redeployment of dollars to portfolio analysis to measurement and professional development.

Singsaas imparted this 5-part formula for winning events:

1. A stable team of really good business people – to increase consistency of execution
2. Making sure everyone is clear and accountable – to navigate account and budget
3. Process focus – to remove variation and duplication
4. Clear roles & responsibilities – to improve communication and accountability
5. Great business acumen – to track budgets & metrics

From his vantage point at Microsoft, Singsaas saw the trend toward digital events being added to the marcom mix. This meant pairing tactics from the e-world to leverage traditional media – all in the context of successful meeting promotions and management.

 

Given this trend, there are four cornerstones of great marketing in this digital space:

• a clear value proposition of what the customer wants and needs.
• a more connected sales and marketing effort.
• a definable business strategy with goals and objectives for the events.
• storytelling that can make the message more compelling for customers.

Creating “the show that never ends” also means designing digital event tactics that can build anticipation, deepen the interaction, extend the experience, and magnify the impact beyond the venue.

Building anticipation means appealing to participants’ excitement and curiosity. Pre-meeting communication can provide practical information that address concerns. In this phase, one must avoid over-promising and under-delivering.

Deepening the impact means creating more relevant and meaningful interactions with customers. Planners should use technology as a means to this exchange, not simply having some gadgets in the meeting.

Extending the experience after the meeting can be accomplished in many ways using CDs, custom websites, and downloadable photos.

Magnifying the impact of an event helps leverage the investment in any convention, sales meeting, or customer event. Examples are posting meeting content online, hosting a keynote presentation in a virtual space, or even broadcasting live from an exhibit booth with updates from the show. Blogging from breakout groups is another common technique.

Rewriting the rule of event marketing: Applications for power brand marketers

Your event planning team can help you apply these best practices by connecting traditional event tactics with digital tools. 

I created this template to help list some of the ways you could get more from you next event when you build anticipation, deepen the interaction, extend the experience, and magnify the impact beyond the venue.

Power Brand Experience: how Xerox created “the conversation” objective for its trade show portfolio

Trade show portfolios continue to be streamlined, amped up, and transformed into better-performing platforms that provide a greater return than ever before. 

The way Xerox reinvented its trade show efforts emerged from research, strategic planning and new tools. 

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm looking back at the key concepts that influenced my perspective on power branding.

Rosie Madison, VP of industry marketing, at Xerox shared with us the factors that led Xerox to rethink its exhibit strategy, how it weighed the risks of changing its game plan, and the internal and external hurdles the company had to overcome. 

Most of all, they offered insight on how the company measured success.

According to Xerox research, an effective trade show begins with “the conversation” objective. 

During the event set-up, the brand team should focus on what conversations with attendees are desired.  Then, the trade show plan can be created to fit that interaction.  Xerox customer research helped them design exhibits that could be flexible and customized for each show.  Plus, they allowed efficient traffic flow and easy customer dialogue.

Further, these successful brand conversations go beyond the booth itself.  The trade show staff must be effectively trained.  In order to make this training more consistent on a show-to-show basis, Xerox has created an e-learning platform with specific trade show selling curriculum.  Market research and sales force feedback guided them that selling at a convention booth was different from an office sales call. Therefore, different selling strategies are necessary.

Another point of evaluation is the exhibit venue.  

The trade show team must learn about the venue for events to determine why it is a good fit for “the conversation.”  How can the venue become part of the sales strategy?  How can it be leveraged for the area branch?  How can it be used to make greater impact with local customers?

Finally comes the process of managing and measuring these programs. 

The Xerox team creates a forecast and plan that include set criteria for each event – by brand – with the projected budgets to be allocated and target sales to be generated.  Because of the large number of trade shows at which Xerox exhibits, the review calls are scheduled weekly with both the agency and brand team.  The agenda includes a discussion of the criteria for upcoming shows, as well as a report of progress to goals.

Transforming the trade show portfolio: Applications for power brand marketers

When power brand teams create strategies for conventions, scientific meetings, and trade shows, you can begin by focusing on how you will facilitate customer conversations. 

Your plans are designed to help with Awareness, Attitude, and Usage.  That means you will educate exhibit attendees with new knowledge, engender a new positive attitude, and above all, change practice.

All three of these dynamics can and should be measured.   

Based on our learning, I created this template on which to list some of the ways you could make your trade show programs more productive and more measurable.

Power Brand Experience: 6 steps to successful event marketing plans

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm reflecting back on some of the important concepts that helped shaped my approach.

At an experiential marketing conference I participated in a few years back, Christopher Kappes, executive vice president of sales at Sparks, offered six key characteristics of an effective event plans. 

They are actionable keys to the brand team’s direction and the agency’s execution of the event.

The new imperative of the shifting market, as well as buyer behaviors, changes everything – and requires brand managers who want to thrive in this new world to innovate their Experiential Marketing from the ground up.

Once the art and science of the TV spot or print campaign or outdoor creative held priority. 

Today, investing marketing dollars effectively means not only understanding the new environment and developing an understanding of how to effectively engage the evolving buyer, but also learning how to apply that knowledge through a new vision of how to architect a marketing plan when your highest opportunity prospect is less likely to see your advertisement, has more choices, and has a louder voice than ever before. 

Enabling the customer to ‘look the brand in the eye’ has become the biggest task.

Power Brand Experience: 9 key principles of a well-crafted brand experience

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm looking back at the key concepts that influenced my perspective on power branding.

According to findings published for the Event Marketing Institute (www.eventmarketing.com), these are key principles of a well-crafted brand experience.

1. Authenticity. This is a critical foundation on which experiences depend.  Just one moment of damaged integrity can create a disconnect from which it is hard to recover, especially in a world so abundant with choices. This means a brand experiences must be true, honest reflections of the brand, the marketplace, and the context in which the customer will need or want them in real life.
2. Customer-centricity. A necessary condition for authenticity, truly customer-centric experiences are derived from the target audience’s perception of their world and their behavioral habits and preferences, accurately reflecting and heightening their viewpoint in the context of the brand. Such an experience crystallizes and positively reinforces an individual’s sense of certainty and confidence in their decision-making abilities and life choices.
3. Brand personification. Interactions that amplify brand values by providing a heightened sensory experience of them can impact deeply. These are iconic moments that form indelible and clear impressions of what a brand stands for that resonate with what an audience needs.
4. Interactivity. Interaction – as direct, relevant and personal as possible – with a brand is most likely to engage the audience. Adults learn best by doing and interaction supports the natural quest for self-expression and self-directed discovery.
5. Immersion. Enveloping the participants in a live experience has the potential to filter out the distractions that get in the way of the level of focus required for full engagement. In turn, heightened focus provides the opportunity to create the deepest level of understanding. It improves information absorption.
6. Ego-satisfying stories. Experiences that not only engage but do so in a way in which the participants can see themselves in an unfolding story, and in the process, triumphing over their challenges (whatever they may be) via affiliation with the brand, drive commitment. This requires a deft handling of psychology. The one question we human beings ask ourselves a hundred times a day – the question that spells the difference between success and failure – is “is this for me, or against me? And to what degree?” says Nathaniel Branden. Therefore, our ability to immerse participants in ego-satisfying stories is key. This requires the fundamental skill of storytelling too. Story is the most powerful communication construct for taking people from where they are and bringing them to the point of where you want them to go. Effective stories have a well-defined plot, antagonists and protagonists. Pacing is key, as is tension and myriad other storytelling techniques. And the effective communication of stories requires a multidisciplinary approach that collapses length of term and geography into multisensory representations of authentic applications of the brand offerings and values.
7. Sustainability. Great brand experiences are large or powerful enough to sustain engagement over time, as opposed to momentary interactions that only skim the surface. This is one of the key differentiators between product sampling and true Experience Marketing. In the former, you might get to sample how a new health food tastes while walking down the aisle of a store. In the latter, you live the experience of the benefits of a life fueled by more healthful choices. Sampling can be a component, but it’s not the totality. Moreover, in today’s world, live experiences can be extended via a variety of Internet mechanisms for enhanced sustainability.
8. Intimacy. A skillful orchestration of the qualities of customer-centricity, interactivity and ego-satisfying stories must generate an experience of intimacy by which each participant feels that even through the event is attended by many, it speaks personally and powerfully to the individual. This is key in this era of self-authored and co-authored content.
9. Measurement. Effective experience marketing acknowledges that audiences and markets define brands. Individuals empowered by brands to author their experiences volunteer opinions, critique and participation that allow marketers to mine much deeper and more substantial intelligence that can be used to refine live experiences, which should be done on an ongoing basis during an experience marketing campaign. This same information allows marketers to glean insights that help shape products and services and fully meet/exceed individual needs and expectations.

I'm grateful for the many clients and colleagues who have help create great brand experiences over the years.

Power Brand Experience: create greater value for product research with earlier brand innovation

On the occasion of my 8th year of "BRAND INNOVATION," I'm reflecting back on the convergence of advancements both in science and technology, and in the science of branding.

Over these years, we’ve seen medical breakthroughs in biotech research, as well as more sophisticated marketing discipline. It is because of this convergence that we now stress the value to research companies of branding earlier in the developmental cycle.

Earlier branding of science and technology products accomplishes two important financial objectives:  one, it can significantly move the product adoption curve to the left, which means a measurable acceleration of pre-launch awareness and launch sales uptake; and two, it can create greater value for future potential transactions, including co-promotion rights, licensing royalties, or even acquisition.

In a six-month series of interviews in 2004, I documented five BALANCING factors faced by executives of research-based companies.

1. Because so many discoveries are being made by small and start-up firms, they face the daunting scale of a blockbuster launch. This is true even in traditional “specialty” markets that now have billion-dollar potential.

2. When it comes to managing investor expectations, the discovery company is often pressured to grow or build its brands alone. On the other hand, if a larger company licenses or acquires a product, stock analysts expect to see rapid indicators of highly likely returns.

3. Timing the shift of resources from product R&D to brand marketing can be quite difficult. The typical research company CEO has spent years seeking capital resources to fund development, but knows a product launch will require a new level of human resources — particularly for a sales and marketing organization that researchers have less experience in building.

4. Most independent research companies find themselves walking an autonomy tightrope. There is an intense desire for self-reliance by product inventors, but the involvement of new funders or licensors inevitably leads to some shared control.

5. Perhaps the most surprising is that many discovery company executives still think a breakthrough can literally “sell itself.” They usually imagine unquestionable trial results in every phase of commercialization, an indisputable ability to publish in the best-reviewed journals, and an incontestable groundswell of support leading to an almost universal change in behaviors.

There has been even more evidence in the years since — and too many examples of disappointment when the old approach fails to achieve success. It is now commonly believed among the most successful brand marketers that “blockbusters are made.”

It is within this environment of convergence that I began offering product managers at science and technology companies a process called BRAND INNOVATION.

I called it Brand Innovation in order to connect to the scientific product innovation that drives the company’s efforts. And we demonstrate how to extend the innovation into brand positioning, packaging, put-ups, user programs, public relations, and more.

A creative innovation model that leverages the science of branding

This BRAND INNOVATION model has been developed using a thorough review of academic journals, trade publications, and branding books. It also draws from the conclusions of market research conducted in more than 36 U.S. and global launch programs. Moreover, it capitalizes on my experience with about 100 different medical, science, and technology brands developed and/or supported by my consultancy.

The model has been shown to be effective in both large multinational corporations and in small biotech start-ups.

The first step in the complete innovation process is called “C.H.E.M.®” — a verbal and visual nomenclature created to communicate a product’s performance and promise. It represents an expression of the product’s strategic direction and a blueprint for brand building (graphic above).

In this creative innovation model, a manager can reach the goal of captivating customers in ways that go beyond traditional “interruptive assumptions” of advertising. By applying the tool, brand marketers can truly create brand CHEMistry with customers.

Consider these areas of application for Brand Innovation

In my experience, there are a number of potential areas of brand construction during the early phases of research and development. These include creating the branded names, copy, graphics, and symbols for the product’s:

• Molecule/generic

• Methodology of research

• Manufacturing process

• Mechanism of action

• Medicinal class or category

• Mode of delivery

• Market segment

• Medical promise

How to begin now increasing the value of your research

For the research company executive interested in exploring this approach, begin now to add branding experts to your circle of advisors.

Invite science and technology brand consultancies to present to your management team and board early in the developmental cycle. You may also find that companies with whom you’re already collaborating (such as material suppliers, industrial designers, and testing organizations) have brand resources they could share with you.

Finally, if you are planning a co-marketing arrangement, assess the partner company’s Brand Innovation experience, key evaluation criteria beyond market experience and sales force size.

In conclusion, the convergence of technology and branding advancement creates an atmosphere well suited for increasing value of product research through earlier branding. Brand Innovation is an approach than can significantly move the product adoption curve to the left and can create greater value for future potential transactions.