As the American economy continues to recover from its prolonged sickness, companies have had to configure new and innovative marketing strategies to sell their products and services. Several marketing, media and advertising connoisseurs at the 2009 Association of National Advertisers Multicultural and Diversity Conference in Phoenix shared what ‘innovation’ means to them. –terry shropshire
Angela Burt-Murray, editor-in-chief, Essence magazine: Innovation means completely rethinking your old ideas about what works and really finding new and exciting concepts that can engage people in ways that they never thought about before. And I think that innovation is recession proof. If you bring people a good idea, they will get excited about it.
Crystal Werthem, multicultural manager, Ford Motor Company: It’s a must – absolutely. In today’s economy and with everything going on in the marketplace, if you’re not an innovator, you will die. Innovation is critical and fortunately for us at Ford Motor Co., that’s something that we’ve been able to bring to the table in a down economy so that we can actually prosper.
Kevin Walker, co-owner, Culture Lab: For us, innovation means being a little bit ahead of the curve. You see something that no one else sees and go after it and make it happen.
Phillip Moore, co-owner, Culture Lab: … And when you go after it, then they know that you were the one who did it … and that’s what we’re doing now.
