The Momentum Effect, the Innovation Manual and engaging the innovators

In 2008 my colleague Jean-Claude Larreche published a book The Momentum Effect with the tagline “how to ignite exceptional growth.”  I highly recommend this book to you, especially if you are in marketing (and it is endorsed by Sir Richard Bransom, a superb marketer).  And of course growth is also what the Innovation Manual is about so there is a thread linking both books.  This link is most clearly seen in my Chapter Seven Building the Market for the Innovation where in one section I build on Jean-Claude’s work.  In particular, on the role of marketing in designing and communicating powerful offers.  Jean-Claude focuses on the idea of offers whose benefits to the customer far outweigh their costs, so they create what he calls vibrant satisfaction and vibrant retention.   Essentially, the customer becomes emotionally engaged with the product or service, even becoming advocates for it. 

 

I apply these ideas to the task of getting those customers who are innovators to engage with the innovation, adopt it and thus give this innovation credibility in the eyes of other customers.  Unless this happens the innovation will fail within a few months.  Who are the innovators?  Well this will be the topic of another blog, but for the moment let’s define them as that small segment of customers interested and willing to take a risk on new things.  In other words the customers who get new markets started.  In Chapter Seven I look at the “Virtuous Circle for Engaging Innovators.” This circle involves making sure the new offer has advantages over the status quo, building satisfaction by removing sources of dissatisfaction and recovering innovators with grievances, and creating customer advocates for the innovation.  Following Jean-Claude I note this doesn’t mean “some” advantages, “good” satisfaction scores or a “complaints department.”  It means being systematic and open-minded to what are the real benefits and costs of the innovation to the customer (many firms are myopic about the costs, just focusing on the price paid).  It means identifying what are the clear and verifiable advantages of the innovation over the status quo (be this existing products or alternative uses of the customer’s money).  It means getting satisfaction and customer retention scores in the 90^th percentile.  And it means a pro-active strategy for listening closely to the innovators and moving speedily to remove sources of dissatisfaction or recover angry innovators.  All of which has a high payoff because the innovators are the catalysts for success or failure in the mass market.  Thus high and early marketing investment on a small segment has a compelling rationale through future profits. 

 

However, where I extend the Momentum Effect is to argue that for breakthrough innovation “positioning” (choice of which advantage to promote) is another critical part of the engagement story.  Of course positioning is an accepted part of all marketing, be it for innovations or existing products and services.  But for breakthrough innovation it is key and firms often get it wrong, choosing a poor frame of reference (which mental category does the innovation belong to) or the wrong points-of-parity or difference.  The Innovation Manual contains examples of this (both good and bad) and a tool to help managers think about the right positioning to engage the innovators.