How can innovation inform your overall brand strategy?

I stumbled across this article and thought i'd share..
 ELIZABETH SCHOFIELD

Innovation as a Brand Strategy

As it often happens, over a drink with Holition CEO Jonathan Chippindale, an enthusiastic conversation sparked about the ways in which brands can innovate. Jonathan comes from an impressive background of luxury consulting, and his work at Holition, a leader in augmented reality, specializes in creating memorable experiences for some of the world’s leading brands.

In our conversation, we discussed how brands must protect their heritage while continuing to be relevant, and how this fits into the challenges introduced by digital media. It’s no secret that legacy fashion and luxury brands have struggled to identify, define and take advantage of the opportunities in online marketing; it’s also no secret that it’s now necessary to do so. Remaining relevant is absolutely vital for continued survival and success in today’s climate, and it has become painfully obvious for some that the role digital plays within this atmosphere is critical. After all, perceptions amongst consumers are shifting, in part due to the recession, but also due to the abundance of information with which they are now empowered. This led our conversation to how, exactly, brands can choose to maintain relevance. The answer… is innovation.

The truth, of course, is that innovation has always been at the core of fruitful businesses. In any industry that is not a monopoly, competition exists. With a competitive environment comes the need to somehow distinguish your brand. Businesses need an edge to succeed. This edge is often the impetus for the brand to become established. For legacy brands, we can lose sight of this over the years, and the crux of the ingenuity behind the company becomes somehow watered down. Whether a brand’s success is initial, long-term, or both, profitability is based largely on maintaining an advantage over the opposition. If we look back at the most notable brands, we see an ongoing commitment to innovation in one of three main areas: Marketing, Product and Price. With regard to marketing innovations, brands reinvent and refresh all extensions of the brand image to drive aspiration and desire. Innovating on the scale of price can mean discounting or re-visiting the approach to pricing altogether. And finally, innovations pertaining to product advance the items themselves and convey value in the goods we purchase.

While many profitable brands innovate on all three of these categories consistently and gradually over time, there have been specific brands that have used their direct commitment to one in particular to distinguish themselves in the marketplace. In a three-part segment, Fashion’s Collective will take a closer look at each of these categories, how specific brands have innovated in these ways, and the implications on the overall brand strategy.

All articles are reviewed and copy edited by Gina Conforti