How innovation can play a key role in the life of a brand
For a company to stay alive over time, it has to innovate. With the emergence of new technologies, brands must take the opportunity to innovate. They can't stand still and risk being overtaken by their competitors.
When it comes to innovation, cannibalization is a widely used strategy. A cannibalization strategy consists of innovating your existing product and launching the new one on the market. This is a strategy used by Gillette, for example. The brand says it would rather be outdone by itself than by its competitors. That's why we repeatedly see new Gillettes with different features being launched onto the market.
In terms of services, the Facebook is a good example where innovation played a key role. Mark Zuckerburg created Facebook in 2004. The social network was used to create profiles with the aim of sharing personal information and photos in circles of friends, in a simple and effective way. As users grew, the social network innovated over the years and became much more than that. It became a company with Internet access initiatives in emerging countries and became a platform for advertising, R&D, etc. Thanks to a strategy of innovation, Facebook has become the largest social network in the world. 13 years later, it has gone from a social network created by students to the 4th most valuable brand in the world, according to Forbes Magazine.