Dimensions of Creativity - Product and Market

In the previous post, I mentioned the three dimensions of innovation, and that the most lucrative ideas are often an intersection between at least two of these.  One of the intersections to consider is the product and market innovation intersections.   This post will give examples and tomorrow I’ll think about how this can be applied to blogging (for a bit of fun).

Thinking about this topic, the immediate example which springs to mind is the i-Pod.  This is the device by Apple for playing music which can be downloaded from the internet or can be copied from discs.  Why is this an intersection between the two dimensions of innovation?  The answer is i-Tunes.  The i-Pod by itself could have been another MP3 player on the market, with a few good features.  It is an excellent example of an innovative product.  On its own it would probably still have been popular, but with the addition of i-Tunes, it became a legend.  And the combination of the two meant the product innovation succeeded beyond what any original idea could do.  This is the power of combining the two ideas.

Or consider the current trend with certain books.  You buy a book on marketing (say, one by Seth Godin) and you get bonus material and links to websites with free e-books.  One book I bought recently on presenting gave a link with free credits for pictures from a stock photo agency to get you started.  These are all areas where the product (i.e. the book) was added to by the further market opportunities (i.e. the websites and free giveaways).

The way to harness this power is to think innovatively about all the products you have.  Are there any ways in which you can offer more than your competitors?  In many situations, this is a great way to get an advantage because the competition will be focussed on selling the product, but will not give proper attention to the after sales add-ons.  Especially if you’re a service company (e.g. accountant, lawyer etc.) where your service is very similar to others, you need to differentiate yourself in one of the other two dimensions.

So, while the product is important, it is not always the end of the story.