MRM Worldwide

Teresa Nord: Director of Innovation

Successful innovation relies on finding and leveraging “The Tipping Point.” The tipping point is that magical place where technology and consumer need collide and create a whole new set of behaviors (or enable old behaviors in a new way). Finding and leveraging the elusive tipping point is not easy, but can create momentum that will propel your company to the top.

The Perfect Wave
Surfers devote their lives to finding and riding a perfect wave. Every summer the surfing community makes their pilgrimage to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, to find and ride the perfect wave. It is no accident that the beaches of this small Mexican village yield massive bone-crushing waves. Factors like ocean dynamics, sandbanks and wind produce these waves. If you find the factors, you find the waves.

Are there consistent factors that make tipping points? If so, and we can identify those factors, we can find (or create) tipping points and ride them to innovation success. There is certainly a lot of instinct and “I know it when I see it” in finding a tipping point, however, I believe that at least one of these three things is usually present in guiding and influencing innovation.

1. Better Technology
Sometimes somebody just makes a better widget. When almost everybody has a widget, and somebody makes a much better one, it takes off and changes everything. The best modern day example is the iPhone®. When Apple® launched the iPhone on June 29, 2007, everything about mobile computing changed. Better technology changed our expectations and, as a result, rewrote the rules for an entire category. The smartphone segment as we know it today was designed by Apple, but now includes Android®, Blackberry®, and Windows® trying to do more than just follow their lead. The new smartphone segment opened the door for innovation for many, but most especially for app developers.

2. Big Consumer Benefit
When an innovation solves a basic human need in a very simple way, a tipping point is created. Amazon® understood Newton’s First Law of Motion. An object at rest remains at rest unless something makes it move. Consumers want convenience, and there are a lot of things that they will buy from their “at rest” state in their own home. Amazon started with the easy stuff like books, and made consumers comfortable with this new “buy online” model for low-consideration, low-risk purchases. Amazon then added value to the equation by making suggestions, while slowly adding in more and more types of items available to buy. Amazon capitalized on a consumer need or desire to create widespread e-commerce. The rest is history.

3.Money and Power
Often there are competing solutions to the same problem. It seems logical that the best technology will win, but often, it’s just not that clear. In the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD battle, both technologies had a long list of pros and cons, supporters and naysayers. Despite the overwhelming opinion that Blu-Ray was the better technology, the debate roared on for a very long time because both sides had strong backing from powerful players with lots of cash. Once the majority of movie studios and game makers chose Blu-Ray, the war was over. The lesson: even though Blu-Ray was ultimately the superior technology, Sony® would have lost the war without money and the ability to persevere during a long battle.

Making Waves

Tipping point opportunities are not marked with big flashing signs. They are never obvious, and only rarely “found in the wild.” Often, they must be created. It may not be possible to manufacture the perfect wave, but you can make a ripple by throwing a stone in the pool.

Where to start:

Solve someone else’s problem

Napster changed the music industry forever. Consumer need? Yes! People loved sharing music and accessing music digitally (especially getting music for free). But it failed because the people who created the music, and the people who produced the music lost 25% of their revenue. (Oh, and it was illegal!) Enter iTunes. Apple stepped in and solved “the Napster problem.” Hey consumer, here’s your music digitally, and it’s legal. Hey music industry, we’ll pay you! Bingo! Tipping point created.

Be a Band-Aid technology

QR (or Quick Response) codes are taking off. I’m seeing them everywhere, even in the Target toy catalog. Why? Consumers get value from connecting the real world with digital content. Barcodes don’t do enough with the new mobile revolution. Augmented reality and image recognition is not yet ready to trigger experiences with real objects. Mobile phones cannot yet read RFID chips. But, QR codes CAN connect the digital world with the real world. They are a Band-Aid technology for a growing need. Yes, RFID chips or mature image recognition capability will replace them, but they pave the path and celebrate success in the meantime. Again, tipping point created!

Solve a problem that consumers don’t know they have

In 1996, General Motors launched OnStar®. Before OnStar, no one ever imagined that your car could call 911. General Motors looked at vehicle safety in a whole new way. They turned it upside down, and in doing so, found an opportunity to solve a problem that consumers never thought about. No matter how safe the vehicle, accidents happen. When they do, people get hurt. When people get hurt, they need help. What if your car can get you the help you need? Enter OnStar. Tipping point created. The battle for innovation in vehicle telematics rages on today.

Surf’s Up!

To realize innovation you have to do something. Action is required. You cannot surf from the beach!

1. Get in the water. Get on your board. Give it a try. If the perfect wave passes by while you’re watching, you missed your wave. To realize a real success, it usually takes some education, some tools and some effort. Get started.

2. Be prepared to fall. You must fail to learn and to succeed. Innovation success is almost always preceded by many failures.

3. Fall smart and adjust future tries. Don’t just fail; know WHY you failed. This failure may lead to the next success Maybe you went for the wrong wave, maybe the timing was wrong. Learn from every “failure” and apply it to the future.

4. Succeed smarter. Use successes to propel you to your next attempt. Use the adrenaline as fuel. Understand WHY it worked, and try your best to replicate the circumstances the next time.

Then…repeat.

Teresa Nord

Follow My Twitter: @teenord