In the noisy and crowded world of marketing, the biggest challenge is to be exceptional. With the consumer constantly bombarded with marketing messages, marketers have to find a way to breakthrough the noise to attract consumer’s attention. It is in this context that marketers have shifted from campaigns that talk to consumers, to campaigns that engage and build meaningful and personal relationships. But to make this shift successful, what a marketer thinks and what a market does needs to be innovative.
Speaking at Transform, the Middle East Brand Summit, Pierre Lategan, Partner & Lead Strategist, Bellwether said, “According to CISCO, around 40 per cent of the Fortune 1000 companies wont exist in the next five to 10 years if they don’t innovate.”
In the Middle East, the UAE ranks 36 on the Global Innovation Index and has set the goal of being ranked in top ten by 2021. While the other countries dependent on oil prices are now looking for alternative avenues of revenue generation. Mr Lategan said, “Governments and quasi governments in GCC are looking to innovation to help them achieve new revenue goals.”
A McKinsey study conducted over a period of five years on “innovative companies” came out with the report that one thing common in them was clear purpose to make the world a better place. According to Mr Lategan, “Our role as a brand is to develop brand strategies that provide clear purpose and come up with great ideas of value that sets our brand apart.”
Advising on how to come up with great ideas, Mr Lategan said, “Let the unconscious mind take over. There is research to prove that it’s a powerful thing – the unconscious mind processes data 500, 000 times faster than the conscious. One way to do this is stress. Stress but don’t panic because stress makes the brain become innovative and unlocks your genius.”
