Australia's peak advertising body, the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), has wheeled in "serial entrepreneur" Creel Price to address some of the biggest issues facing blue-chip marketers on innovation at its annual forum to be held this Thursday in Sydney.
AdNews is the exclusive media partner for the AANA’s Connect conference. Price, the co-founder of marketing services group Blueprint, which was sold for $100 million a decade after start-up to ANZ’s private equity division, is the keynote speaker this week with an address around the 'Seven Deadly Sins of Innovation'.
Price says number one on the hit list of sins for marketers and companies is “having an overt affair with innovation itself”. Another was the problem of people talking up their capabilities on their CVs who then fail to deliver when their feet are under the desk.
“Appointing a chief innovation officer or creating a specialist innovation division only alienates the rest of the organisation,” Creel says. “Staff not considered ‘smart’ enough to be involved in innovation will do whatever it takes to derail this innovation train – why should they be left the boring stuff to complete when others are having all of the fun and taking all of the glory?”
Price’s address is one of a big line-up for the AANA’s Connect Conference, which includes Suncorp Group’s marketing boss, Mark Reinke, on big data and the implications for marketing teams.
Toyota’s brand communications manager, Adrian Weimers, will address media fragmentation and multi-tasking, while McDonald’s marketing director Madeleine Fitzpatrick takes on the rise of consumer power and the need to shift away from a “pessimistic view” of online trolls and the loss of brand control in digital media to one which is about focusing on opportunities.
Carlton United Brewers, Westpac, Ferrero and Subaru marketing heads will also participate in a CMO Q&A panel on digital, social and mobile.
Price says few industries are facing as much fast-paced change as the marketing and advertising sectors and finding innovation hot spots has never been more critical.But another of his 'Seven Deadly Sins of Innovation' is the problem with companies and marketing looking for greener pastures.
“When innovation is being stifled and corporate growth isn’t happening, most leaders look for answers everywhere except in their own backyard for inspiration. They look to new technology, they play copycat games with competitors and they drool over resumes that seemingly make their own people look a little average. How many times have they got to be underwhelmed by the results of a new employee to realise people talk themselves up on resumes and in an interview.”
Finger-pointing over failure is another on Creel’s hit list. “Gun-shy” employees and leaders that scramble for safe options is a real issue inside companies, he says. “Leaving important decisions to committees that have no face, only a due diligence checklist to butt-cover the future,” was another challenge for marketing teams, according to Price. Click here for full details of the AANA's Connect conference this Thursday.
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