Innovation impact

Among the world´s brands that most of all influense our lives seven of top ten are what could be considered "innovation brands". The list generated by Brandchannel.com´s readers is topped by Apple because of its unparallelled success with the Ipod, now in the hands and ears of more than 10 millions people and part of a creative solution on how music may be purchased in the digital age. It's then followed by Google (innovative primarily in its ad-solution business), IKEA (both an internal and external innovation making us, the customers, the assemblers and transporters) and Starbucks (bringing quality coffee into our mobile life while providing others a second home or office in their mobile lifestyle).

Other brands based on innovation are Mini (making small cars cool) and Nokia. Only three brands based on mature business concepts did make it: Coca Cola, Virgin and AlJazeera.

What does that tell us? Does innovation build stronger brands? Perhaps not, who would argue that brands such as Porsche, Louis Vuitton, Microsoft, Nestlé and American Express aren't strong brands, although they are not driven by innovation? A better explanation is probably that innovation drives publicity and among brand experts publicity is perceived more important that is actually is for us, the customers.

More interesting is the wide difference among the geographic regions. In the US, the top 5 in the survey consists exclusively of truly innovative companies including Target that are challaging Wal-Mart with new kind of partnerships not least in its fashion range to add quality perception to a low price strategy. In Europe/Africa (since when did those two continents become a pair?) only three innovation companies made top 5, in Asia/Pacific two did and in Latin and Central America none made it. Does that mean the US market is the most innovative? The simple and not to complex answer to that question is yes. And I think it is the correct answer.