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Dark Side of Innovation

Innovation is one part of the whole success story. There have been many brands - both established and new product which has failed miserably in the market. We can cite as many examples as we can. But delving deep into the reasons why these products have failed can give us new insights regarding the brand failures.
For example, Hero Honda Karizma was a major innovation in the motor cycle segment. Still it could not woo customers to buy the product in large numbers as the company anticipated. The product had everything that the customers would have loved like total new look, new engine, updated suspension etc. Still it could not pull out money from customer's wallet. The same fate waited for Daewoo Cielo and Crystal Pepsi - one of the biggest brand failures of these companies.

Now the question is why?

If we delve into the whole problem we can understand that company's perception about the product was different than that of the customers. Though these products were among the best innovated products, still it could not stir up the expectations of the customers.

Innovating a new product or extension to the old product without proper marketing strategies like positioning, segmentation, targeting there is an odd chance that the product will be a success.

Conclusion

Innovation and differentiation are like two sides of a coin. It is the company who innovates and at the end of the day it is the customer who differentiates. But the irony of the situation is that you can never anticipate which side the coin will fall. Had things been so easy, fate of the movies at the box office would not have been decided on "Friday, first day first show". Every human being is a product of innovation when he/she comes out of their mother's womb. But how they add value and execute themselves in the course of time is what differentiates them from others.

So innovation should go hand in hand with marketing and understanding the need gap of the customers.

Concluded.

* Contributed by: -
Sampad Kr. Swain,
Currently pursuing MBA from ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad.