Hasta La Creative!

Brand marketers have traditionally walked a tightrope between two distinct roles — creative visionary and revenue driver. They have been responsible for not only bringing forward the best innovative marketing strategies, but also for being able to predict how those strategies will directly affect the bottom line. But the status quo is changing.

Today, establishing relationships with customers is now (or should be) at the core of any strategy or campaign. And success is being measured according to less predictable and more indirect factors. Things like the campaign’s overall “cool factor,” its original and exciting uses of technology, or its status as “first to do something” are more and more becoming primary campaign goals. There are many reasons for this shift; chief among them is that marketers are recognizing that innovation has a trickle-down effect on consumer loyalty and engagement, thanks to the way technology is sculpting consumer-brand interaction.

This movement has given birth to a trend brand marketers are calling “technovation,” which is basically the intersection of technology, innovation and the creative, free thinking that brings them together. Technovation as a marketing tactic can complement, and sometimes even replace, more traditional creative mediums like print and TV advertising. And because it is, by its very nature, leading edge and original, technovation strengthens brands’ relationships with their customers who now view them as fresh and trendsetting, no matter how long they’ve been around.

Continue reading at AdAge.com