#professorgasline

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“How to pitch a brilliant idea”

This gave me an eye-opening fact. Those who want out of the box ideas always put pitchers into a box!  As a leader responsible for both selling and buying ideas, I found it important to understand the tendency of catchers to rely on stereotypes.

When I prepare for presentations, I normally focus on what audience is interested in most or how I can deliver key messages appropriately, but I realized I need 2 more perspectives, 3 successful creative stereotypes and the catcher’s tendency.     

I believe an innovative idea isn’t an innovation until it is implemented. Putting ideas into implementation requires many steps and pitching ideas is one of most important processes because innovation normally needs funding, team formation and official acknowledgment, which are provided through an approval process of pitching. 

I have learnt a lot about “innovation” as a pillar of Sloan Fellows Program. I had many opportunities to listen to innovators’ and entrepreneur’s presentation, but nobody told about this. Creating innovative ideas is critical and managing processes to develop businesses is important. But I think nothing would happen if ideas are not delivered appropriately to those who support the ideas.

I think I can be someone between the artist and the neophyte. So I will write down a phrase “be creative like the artist and be an eager learner like the neophyte in pitching ideas” on my innovation note.  

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This is one of my favorite Intel’s TV ads where a cactus with Intel inside could manipulate the owner with its thorn and push his boundaries into asking her out. This gave me 2 strong impressions, its advancing technology and its big influence on PC capability, which have influenced my PC purchase a lot.

Intel’s biggest competitive advantage is its technology to provide the most advanced microprocessors for PCs. However their products are very expensive due to their intensive investment in R&D and productions and high cost prevented PC makers from adopting the latest models that Intel wanted to sell the most. Intel tested and confirmed if direct ads to consumers would encourage them to demand PCs with more advanced microprocessors.     

One more key success factor was involvement of PC makers by subsidizing their ads. PC makers believed they owned customers. After this campaign, Intel has been owning the customers.

However this era is about to end (or already ended?). Except a few models PC is getting commoditized even with Intel microprocessors. Many people want cheaper PCs with minimum functions more. People put more emphasis on softwares (contents) than hardwares due to the advent of the cloud.

It is difficult to attract consumers only by technologies and functions. It might be necessary for Intel to add some emotional elements as a part of its brand promise. 

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Brands should evolving over time but from the customers and the historical point of views.

Brand manifold, I understand this word as multiple perspectives for brands. According to the reading, brands should be viewed from time and stakeholders’ perspective. The most important elements of this concept for me are “brand is living through time and evolving over time” and “customers own brands in a very tangible and immediate sense.” I think this is because companies (brand managers) tend to think about their brands only from companies’ perspectives (competition) and future perspectives.

My company changed a recipe of one big brand suddenly simply due to rivalry over a competitor and lost the brand equity dramatically. We didn’t consider how customers think about the brand. In addition, we didn’t care about the brand meaning from the long history point of view.  

When emerging brands grow dramatically, even large companies sometimes react quickly by looking only at competition. The concept of a brand manifold helps companies (brand managers) pause a moment and think about the brand from multiple viewpoints.