Branded innovations

Branded innovations can potentially help advance a business in three
distinctive ways.

▪ They can create or improve the offering, making it more differentiated
and more attractive. In this context, the innovation can be represented by
a branded or sub-branded product or by a branded feature, ingredient, or
service.

▪ They can create a new subcategory to change what customers are buying.
The branding challenge is to manage perceptions of the subcategory and
to influence which brands are relevant to it.

▪ They can affect perceptions of the organization or corporate brand with
respect to innovativeness in order to make it respected, to give it energy,
and/or to make its new product offerings more credible.

In each of these roles, the ability of the innovation to achieve its potential
impact will be enhanced if it is branded, assuming that the innovation merits
branding and that the brand strategy is well conceived and executed.

David Aaker
Innovation: Brand It or Lose It
CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW VOL. 50,NO. 1 FALL 2007 9