BAI Retail Delivery
Just got approval to move ahead with our new campaign for this year’s Retail Delivery Conference & Expo. The theme is “Where innovation meets action” and it’s all about how the banking industry can use fresh thinking to survive and even profit during the current (and coming) economic doldrums. Wendy Tigerman and I developed the overall direction. She’s writing. Anat Rodan is designing the materials.
We kick it off with a new print ad, then we’ll be doing web ads, direct mail, and video concepts for the event itself. It’s the largest industry conference & expo in — I think — the world and we are thrilled to be working on it for our third year.
Your post caught my eye, especially the part about your up-coming conference theme and the problems of the industry you mentioned.
So here were some of my questions:
If the Banking Industry wins by using Innovation, who loses? Or in other words, what is Innovation targeting to displace?
Is the Banking Industry competing for the same set of clients (against each other), or are you asking them to collectively attack a common foe and increase the pie?
If the Banking Industry collectively attacks the same problem, is Innovation the right tool to use considering the inequalities in implementation and opportunities of the different markets they exist in.
If Innovation does not seem like the likely tool of choice for an entire industry to use, then they will assume that it is to be used individually within their own companies, which will imply they are competing against each other.
If you are creating a conference focusing on how each should compete against each other for clients, then your focus on innovation is dead on.
Tim, my firm’s the design and advertising agency, not the creator of the entire conference (as I think you probably realized). But I’ll answer what I can.
First, why would you assume innovation is displacing anything? Seems to me that innovation is simply a critical component in the survival of any company or industry. Theoretically, it should already be there and, if it’s not, it needs to work its way into the fabric of every aspect of a company’s operation.
In a down economy, the reality is that people tend to freak out, to withdraw, and to fear innovation. But innovation is precisely what’s needed. And not innovating almost certainly dooms companies to be run over by those who do.
As an overall industry, (and this is just me talking) I think banking needs to start serving its customers better and more humanely. Retail banks who do that will gain market share. Those who continue to gouge people and create walls of enmity between their customers and their company will lose those customers. In my opinion, accessibility, service and fairness are the characteristics of banks — and other companies — who will thrive during the next few years.
Bottom line for me is that innovation is a tool both for competition and for change in the industry as whole. I don’t see a need to discourage it in either category, or anywhere else for that matter. It’s the lifeblood of a vibrant economy, and it’s what makes it interesting to be in business. Or to be alive, for that matter.
I’d love to hear other opinions.
freeassoc, please don’t think I’m apposed to innovation. It is a very valuable tool, so are conferences. I just have a hard time associating conferences with innovation, or action for that matter.
I tend to use Innovation as a tool to facilitate ‘creative destruction’ which implies change, and often radical change, which implies something else must cease to exist to allow the innovation to occur and thrive.
What I tend to find with my clients is a confusion between Innovation and Kaizen, or “continuous improvement”, which also creates change, but builds itself on the infrastructure at hand, rather than creating an ENTIRELY new systems, process’, or markets.
I wish you and your team the best of luck on your campaign.