Large companies aren’t privy to innovation as small businesses are, and yet sparks of innovation have founded many large companies. When a company reaches and surpasses a certain size, aspects like bureaucracy, a lack of adversity, and becoming comfortable among the upper-tier can inhibit further innovation. In contrast, small businesses scrapping to make a name for themselves often find that sparks of artistic innovation come much more naturally.
However, in order to capitalize on an idea, the business must see that it is in a position to do so, and then it must be bold. As stated by Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, “small businesses are nimble and bold,” which means that they can demonstrate the best way to go about utilizing potentially industry-changing innovations. So here, we’re going to delve into innovations that have propelled businesses up the ranks and redefined their respective industries.
Appealing to the customers and the boardroom
Apple grew to power thanks to its aligning itself as both a premium product and the most user-friendly brand on the market. The company leaned on the prestige of its own branding very early on, even creating the iTunes Music Store to add further exclusivity to its iPod creation in 2003. Jobs created new markets of personal computing and music distribution, as well as furthered UX design, but it was the way in which he was able to relay his innovations to businesses, the boardroom, and customers that proved to be a crucial innovation.
The Apple creator made himself part of the product, which added clear-cut explanations of his designs to forge unrelenting brand loyalty and tremendous financial success. Customers became connected to a person and his creations and mind, as opposed to just a brand name and its price point. He showed that, while innovative creations can shake an industry, becoming a great communicator can lead to you taking over.
Even the most storied products can be innovated
Innovation doesn’t necessarily have to be the introduction of a brand-new product that is superior to all that’s come before it. Sometimes, the best innovations come in the form of something that’s existed for a long time, become accepted as the norm, but is then tweaked to become an even better product.
Perhaps the starkest example of this is found in the iGaming industry, which trades in one of the most historic and unchanged forms of gaming. The mechanics of casino games like blackjack and roulette have barely changed for hundreds of years, with their continued popularity and familiarity not demanding evolution.
Even when casino gaming moved online to become iGaming, the mechanics didn’t change much, merely becoming digitalised and animated versions of the standard games. Seeing the increased competition between platforms, developers decided to pivot iGaming creations back to their land-based origins, with the creation of live casino gaming becoming one of the main attractions for many international iGaming companies, such as Canadian online casino sites, for example.
Further innovation was to also be inspired by this move, with the likes of Live Football Roulette, Age of the Gods: Live Roulette, Grand Baccarat, and Royale Blackjack spawning as a result of the introduction of live casino gaming.
Being bold can innovate in itself
Marketers are known for their innovative ideas and methods, following the changes in technology and society to benefit their marketing efforts. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some marketing firms have risen to the fore based on their ideas that have proven to be innovative – even in an industry that constantly works in innovation.
Many marketing companies aim to get a message across by showcasing the superiority of a product and why the target audience must have said product. BETC decided a long time ago to go another way, venturing down the avenues of being bold, entertaining, creative, and often humorous. This has led to unconventional but very memorable campaigns, like the Evian Babies series, the creation of the mini-game ‘Collapse’, to tie into Ubisoft’s release of The Division, and the Refurbished Tweets ad for Back Market.
Changing – or even just tweaking – the status quo through your own innovative ideas can lead to tremendous success if you’re bold and brave enough to back yourself.
