Innovation: From Corporate Buzzword to Business Imperative in 2007

Innovation: From Corporate Buzzword to Business Imperative in 2007

February 21, 2007

- New Weber Shandwick Survey Reveals 76% of Senior
Executives Expect Innovation to Grow in Importance -
- Findings Reflect Greater Emphasis on Promoting the
Company and What It Represents, With Less Emphasis on
Individual Product Brands -


    NEW YORK, Feb. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- According to a
recently released survey by Weber Shandwick and KRC
Research, the bedrock of the new "Creativity
Economy"(1) in 2007 will continue to be innovation,
with 76 percent of senior executives agreeing that
innovation will become more important over the next five
years.  The survey, titled "The Changing Face of
Marketing and Communications in Today's Creativity
Economy," also reveals that 78 percent of senior
executives agree that innovation is important to their CEO,
with most CEOs similarly responding that innovation is
important to the company. 

    Innovation has long been regarded as a buzzword
enthusiastically discussed in boardrooms, but with the rise
of the Creativity Economy, innovation is top-of-mind for
decision makers.  As the Web 2.0 movement helps propel
innovation to the forefront of the global business stage,
an overwhelming 86 percent of senior executives surveyed
believe that the marketing and communications functions are
increasingly critical tools for successfully navigating this
new operating environment.  This phenomenon likely will
continue to gain traction as next generation Web 3.0
expands beyond its infancy.

    Companies are infusing innovation throughout their
organizations.  Seventy percent of senior business leaders
use internal communications to promote innovation among
employees, and more than two-thirds believe that driving
innovation in their business processes and customer
experiences are more important than innovation in product
development.  

    "The emergence of the empowered consumer means
that companies can no longer just talk about innovation as
a strategic imperative.  They must seek new ways to live it
by involving the consumer and integrating innovation into
their corporate DNA," says Billee Howard, Executive
Vice President and Managing Director in the Global
Strategic Media Group at Weber Shandwick.  "Embracing
innovation, while driving stronger emphasis on what
corporate brands stand for, will be vital to a company's
success in 2007."

    Interestingly, the Weber Shandwick study found a
growing emphasis on promoting the company and what it
represents (where the company becomes the main brand), and
less emphasis on individual products. Nearly 60 percent
said that their companies are shifting marketing and
advertising expenditures to enhance the way they think and
talk about their company, not just the products themselves.


    Nearly two-thirds of senior executives have already
reported greater emphasis on understanding and
incorporating the customer's viewpoint.  Furthermore,
nearly 80 percent of those surveyed expect tighter
collaboration between product development and marketing in
the innovation leadership race. 

    The survey also identified the top three tools
companies are using to drive innovation, including:

    * Better meeting customers' needs (88 percent)
    * Marketing and communications (82 percent)
    * Internal collaboration (82 percent)

    These findings further support the important role a
company's internal culture plays in driving innovation. 

    "The customer has never played a more significant
role in helping to direct how business gets done,"
says Jennifer Risi, Executive Vice President in the Global
Strategic Media Group.  "In the race for innovation
leadership, meeting customers' needs in new and creative
ways is charting the course, and finishing in the front of
the pack will mean the difference between success and
failure. Successful use of communications strategies and
techniques, particularly those that carve out leadership
and distinction for the corporate brand, will be critical
to success in this new era."

    As the role of innovation evolves, marketing and
communications will play a greater role in a company's
success more than ever before.  Already, 68 percent of
senior executives report that they're expanding their
communications strategy thanks to the advent of the
Creativity Economy -- a percentage that is sure to increase
as the new business paradigm takes root.  "As
companies' emphasis on innovation continues to grow, so too
will the need for creative, well-articulated communications
strategies," said Risi.

     (1) "Creativity Economy" is a term coined by
BusinessWeek used to 
         describe the new economic environment. You can
obtain additional 
         information at http://www.businessweek.com

    The Changing Face of Marketing and Communications in
Today's Creativity Economy

    A total sample of 104 U.S. senior executives (CEOs,
presidents, chief marketing officers and other top
executives) were interviewed by telephone from June to
August 2006. KRC Research conducted the survey for Weber
Shandwick. 

    About Weber Shandwick

    Weber Shandwick is one of the world's leading global
public relations firms with offices in major media,
business and government capitals around the world.  The
firm specializes in strategic marketing communications,
media relations, public affairs, reputation and issues
management, and offers corporate communications counseling
services.  Weber Shandwick also provides specialized
integrated services including Web relations, advocacy
advertising, market research and visual communications.  In
2006, Weber Shandwick was named Large PR Firm of the Year
(PR News U.S.), European Consultancy of the Year (The
Holmes Report) and Network of the Year (Asia Pacific PR
Awards).  The firm also won the United Nations Grand Award
for outstanding achievement in public relations.  To learn
more, please visit http://www.webershandwick.com .

    Weber Shandwick is a unit of The Interpublic Group
(NYSE: IPG), which is one of the world's leading
organizations of advertising agencies and marketing
services companies. 

    About KRC Research

    KRC Research is a full service market and attitudinal
research firm.  Research partner to Weber Shandwick and
other Interpublic Group agencies, KRC specializes in
strategic communications research, including research to
support product communications, corporate communications,
public affairs, and social marketing.  KRC provides a full
range of primary research services, including surveys,
focus groups, and executive interviewing.  Find out more at
http://www.krcresearch.com . 


    For more information, please contact:

     Laura Bachrach
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]


SOURCE  Weber Shandwick