Why marketers need to find their own disruptive altitude
by Mary Harper,
02.02.2016
Disruption is in, but you need to find your own style, writes Standard Life's
Mary Harper.
It’s official. Innovation is out, disruption is in.
Making things better is so 20th century. Smashing it out of the court with
something mind-blowing is the new black.
We’ve all heard the "we live in an age of
disruption" adage. We certainly live in an age of talking about
disruption, if the data is to be believed.
Every industry is bursting with examples of inspiring
start-ups that have caused uproar and panic in traditional verticals, like the
now infamous Airbnb and Uber, and organisations are rushing to set up
innovation labs and ‘accelerators’ in a bid to keep up.
But what is disruption really? And is attempting to
launch an entirely new business model via a centralised ‘disruption incubator’
the only way incumbents can respond?
What kind of disruptor are you?
Consider these definitions of disruption:
"A radical change in an
industry…especially involving the introduction of a new product or service that
creates a new market."
And
"A disrupted
condition."
The good news is that these definitions aren’t
mutually exclusive. Media and practitioners naturally gravitate toward the
first – it’s more inspiring and definitely more newsworthy. But there’s also a
lot of room for the second. It describes how all healthy businesses need to
adapt, which is to adopt new ways of working and thinking that evolve over time
and negate the pressure to find the elusive ‘silver bullet’.
Find your disruptive altitude
Yes, new business models are a reality and, arguably,
are the most hard-hitting in the disruptive spectrum. Lark, a ‘personal
wellness’ app, has recently appeared on the market as a real challenger to the
likes of MyFitnessPal. Instead of focusing on data-collection and
visualisation, Lark’s specialism is coaching its users to be the best they can
be.
This solves two customer problems at the same time:
the pain of providing food and activity data; and knowing what to do about the
results. The interface is simple, the engagement informal, and the
recommendations realistic and achievable. In other words, it’s about the
outcome, not the input.
Disruptive
spectrum
Value-chain disruption is also hard-hitting.
Ad-blocking gives people a faster, cleaner, more secure web experience, and is
forcing advertisers and publishers to rethink how they connect with consumers
in a meaningful and useful way.
Then there are disruptive operating models. Drug
company AstraZeneca joined forces with LBi to create the Digital Innovation
Group (DIG). The teams blended medical and digital expertise to create a
patient-centred, rapid prototyping model that is now taking on and solving some
of the biggest challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
Lastly, there’s disruptive engagement. Sport England,
previously a staid government body, recognised the gender gap in UK activity
levels and saw that traditional, male-centric ways of encouraging exercise
weren’t resonating with women. By getting to know this audience, it distilled
the challenge into three key insights that led to the awesome #thisgirlcan
campaign, which is continuing to have a huge impact, smash its targets and
inspire women all over the UK to get fit. In effect, it was a disruptive idea
that positively
disrupted the lives of thousands of people.
disrupted the lives of thousands of people.
So is there a magic formula?
Unfortunately not, but all these examples seem to
have a few things in common:
·
The creation of space and time to
think and create.
·
The use of insight to inspire and
inform.
·
A real-life problem to solve or
opportunity to nurture.
·
Being brave enough to move in a new
direction and get the support you need to do it.
·
Putting digital at the heart of the
solution.
Disruption comes in many forms and is accessible to
every business. All you need is the will to make a positive change.
Comments
Post a Comment