“Innovation isn’t technology, it’s the way we think”

Here’s his perspective:

Let me start with a basic clarification – innovation does not mean technology. Today technology has taken over our lives so completely that we tend to equate innovation with technology. But there’s more to innovation than just the use of technology.

We humans are called ‘social animals’ due to our ability to be innovative, but lots of studies show that we are not the best ‘avataars’ of ourselves today. In fact, we are less innovative and creative today, compared to the past. Recent data shows that non-social animals are more innovative when it comes to their survival and in their day-today approach to life.

 Does this mean that unless there is a threat to survival, we humans don’t push enough to be innovative? May be not! May be, we have become too much of adaptors to be real innovators. AI, computers, machine learnings are rusting our internal machines and the ability to think fresh and beyond. We are being manipulated by machines, whereas it should be the other way round. It’s a sad, but harsh reality of our times.

The Head and Tail Analogy

It is believed that we humans had tails thousands of years back, but since we did not use them, they kept becoming smaller over many generations and finally disappeared. Hope we realize that we need to keep using one of the most wonderful gifts we have – the ‘brain’ – so it doesn’t suffer the fate of the tail!

Here I am reminded of a little story. We have all heard of the story about the thirsty crow and his innovative action. Here’s another story of the new-age, ‘evolved’ crow – the ‘hungry crow’. The other day I saw a video where a crow was trying to break a shell by banging it with a heavy stone. After few failed attempts, he quickly decided to throw the shell on the road with moving vehicles.  In no time, a car passed over it, and he got his meal. Knowing how creative and brainy the crow was, I felt that post-meal, the same crow would pick a straw from a garbage and drink the water from the pot with straw and not hunt for pebbles anymore!

Innovation Begins with Innovation

Now let’s talk about our own industry in the context of innovating. We, as a nation, have been a late entrant into advertising. We had our own share of challenges — multiple languages, cultures, etc., and the sudden shift from medium to medium. But we mastered well – kudos to our ability to adapt!

But we haven’t really pushed the industry to be innovative in many areas (barring a few of course). While Indians are the backbone of many global IT companies and many other sectors as well, our national brands have always struggled to put out cutting edge narratives. And I genuinely feel this is because Indian companies/ brands fear experimenting.

If you look back at every single innovation in history, each of them was born out of a good amount of experimentation. Look at our own food industry – with decades of wonderful experimentation, it has earned a name and place for itself in the world.

Innovation at Every Stage

We as an industry need to be innovative at every stage of our approach and thinking. I would in fact go a little further, and request companies and brands to be innovative and experimental right from the product manufacturing stage – that’s need of the hour.  The EV revolution is a good example, and so are products made from recycled plastic, or products especially made for the LGBT community- products or services which make consumers’ life easy.

I know we have made a start on the product front, but we have a long way to go. As a diverse nation, we do have many issues and needs which need to be addressed. The corporate giants who keep churning out margins are the ones who should be more responsible and innovative and put out braver new-age products – products that are much needed to make the world a better place for humankind. 

Let’s Make Innovation Viral! 

Apart from the big product differentiators, small little things like an innovative brand name, logo, label, packaging etc., can automatically create a differentiated and wonderful space for the brand, which further helps creative people like us to take a lovely brand story forward.

I come across many companies who list down ‘innovation’ as one of the core aspects of their culture/belief/mission/vision. But how many of them really practice innovation? Or push their category to go beyond? We are living in a contagious world. If one entity pushes out cutting-edge product innovations, it will automatically make its competition restless force them to up their game too. Now imagine the world with so much of wonderful innovations going around!

If every brand decides to be innovative in some form, it will push all of us on the other side to make every piece of communication more creative and memorable. Let’s not forget we are in the problem-solving business. So when it comes to communication, don’t force yourself to be innovative for the sake for being innovative and think technology first.

Let the idea drive the way forward and let the idea choose the ideal medium/ platform to tell the brand story. We tend to think of the medium first, and by default, think of tech /social/digital medium. This is not the ideal way to tell a brand story; and may not be the most impactful way to leave a mark on consumers.

In conclusion I would say, let’s pass on the innovative, problem-solving thinking to the next generation, as that’s what really matters to brands and consumers. New mediums, platforms, technologies and many more new avatars will keep popping up, which will help narrate our brand stories. But what will always stay relevant is the most powerful human tool — our ability to think differently and be innovative.