Deathmatch – Relevance versus Innovation
At DUX this year one of the first presenters started their presentation by stating, “Let’s not call it innovation anymore, let’s call it relevance which is really what it is.” The ‘it’ he was referring to were the aggregate insights found during ethnographic analysis.
Ethnography is all the buzz these days because it has been repeatedly shown to provide deep insights into consumer behavior and it’s cheap. Unfortunately, what he was really saying was that observation provides insight and from that relevance was the desired result.
Relevance, simply stated, is finding the way a system most naturally fits into the target consumer’s current lifestyle. The iPod is relevant because it is extremely easy to use (both to get media on it and to play that media), beautiful, and a status symbol to some extent. Relevance is very important when dealing with consumer acceptance.
Unfortunately, relevance only deals with current patterns. Innovation occurs when leaps of faith and creativity are socialized and patterns change or new patterns are created. Innovation changes the world. Let’s agree to strive for changes for the better. Relevance is nice, but innovation is excellence.
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