
Making innovation count: Why brands are becoming more ‘thoughtful’
In a rapidly changing world, the future of innovation is hard to pin down, but agility, sustainability and thoughtfulness look set to be the hallmarks of success.
In times of crisis, innovation is needed more than ever. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic growing in severity, is it a time for brands to refocus energy and shift to a more thoughtful mode of innovation?
Data shows that the spread of the virus is causing marketers to rethink planned product launches. A staggering 80% of marketers have paused product or service launches as fears about the impact of the pandemic build, according to an exclusive survey of 849 UK brand marketers conducted by Marketing Week and its sister title Econsultancy.
Global head of innovation, Michael Ward, leads Diageo’s team of 150-plus innovators across research and development, finance, marketing, commercial and supply chain. He believes marketers should think like cultural anthropologists and use sensory science, backed up with insight, to understand how consumer trends will evolve in both the near- and long-term.