Rethink / Innovation: A Framework To Use in Turbulent Times
In decades to come, COVID-19 will be the why behind new waves of innovation. Every economic downturn has proven that the applied pressure of surviving in a volatile market creates a sense of urgency for brands and organizations that are reacting in fear, opportunity, and need.
Yet innovation was always happening; it’s only in times like these where it can take center stage, morphing from an opportunity to an executed solution.
2020 doesn’t just mark a new decade but rather a milestone to look back on for when ideas, concepts, and visions became realized behaviors, products, and solutions. Furthermore, 2020 broke open a world of dialogue and scrutiny of the corrupt parts of our society: police brutality, systemic racism, and social inequality. Following the death of yet another Black man, George Floyd, we saw a global reckoning with our nation’s history and culture. It’s an uprising that will make 2020 a year that will go down in history.
As the innovation arm of a global design and technology agency, we believe that companies need to get ahead of industry disruption by immersing themselves in an innovation mindset.
R/GA Ventures is built on the principle that innovation isn’t just a startup game. We believe that innovation is in its strongest form when it’s a collaborative approach of integrating corporate organizations with startups and their technologies, coming together to face the question of what’s next.
Still, the mindset is only the first step. Brands and organizations then need to adopt an innovation framework that allows for transformation to take shape, especially when considering working with a startup as part of a broader strategy. Our framework is simple: examine your market, find what’s possible, and deploy a solution.
It all starts with making an observation.
In just the last few months, we’ve quickly seen immediate shifts sweeping across almost all industries, from auto to sports to retail. It has caused disorder in the way we navigate our everyday lives, forcing us to explore the unknown, seeking answers around how we:
- Interact: How can we recreate familiar experiences virtually while also preventing Zoom fatigue?
- Work: Can anyone work from anywhere?
- Eat: Is it ethical to order delivery during a pandemic?
- Shop: What will the experience of shopping be like in the future?
- Exercise: Will we ever return to brick-and-mortar gyms?
- Take care of mental health: How can organizations avoid employee burnout?
Change leads to new ways of thinking, acting, and doing. It is often the permission an organization needs to say yes to innovation and the accelerant to create a “new normal.” As a team that identifies innovation strategies, the first question we always ask ourselves is, what’s happening in the world around us? And how will current events, consumer behavior, and the state of our culture influence the future?
Now, seek out the opportunity.
In a recent article, we explored how some of our portfolio companies are beginning to lead in embracing a new normal, using their technologies and products as solutions to service other brands.
These portfolio companies are leveraging new or accelerated consumer behavior shifts as a market opportunity. Things like consumers wanting more touchless experiences, demand for gig-economy based mobility and delivery services, and spending even more of our lives online are driving forces in how these startups want to penetrate existing or evolving markets.
Your organization can do the same by identifying the opportunity for your business. Whether it be completely changing your business model to exploring an entirely new category of your business or finding a new way to engage your customers, there’s always an opportunity.
Finally, zero in on a solution.
Innovation solutions aren’t one size fits all. In our thinking, we like to pose the question, why start a new solution from scratch when you can plug a workable solution into a larger machine?
Startups live on the cutting edge of technology, consumer behavior, and consumer trends. Use this time to test solutions that solve not just for today but for tomorrow and look to startups to guide you. Be open to newcomers with fresh ideas — they just might be able to help.
Over the next few months, we will be sharing a series of thought-provoking perspectives on how companies should be using this time to rethink how they can attack and get ahead of industry disruption across verticals like data, privacy, commerce, and even sports, all using this framework.
To learn more and stay in the know, visit ventures.rga.com and follow @rgaventures on Twitter and Instagram.
