[Biz Takeouts Podcast] 82: An African Path to Success & Effective Measure

24 Feb 2014

Biz Takeouts Marketing and Media Radio show, we chatted to David Blyth, group managing director for Yellowwood Future Architects (@askYellowwood), an independent marketing strategy consultancy. We spoke about Transformative Innovation: An African Path to Success. Later in the show we talked to Alan Morrissey (@AMorrisseyEM), managing director for Effective Measure South Africa, to find out more about what the company is up to.

Get all the information by listening to this week's podcast of the show, which airs every Thursday 9am-10am streamed live via 2oceansVibe Radio. [twitterfall]

[Biz Takeouts Podcast] 82: An African Path to Success & Effective Measure

Lineup

By telephone on Thursday, 20 February 2014, we hosted David Blyth from Yellowwood Future Architects to find out more about the Informative innovation white paper the organisation has just released.

What does Transformative Innovation mean?

David: Transformative innovation is innovation that does more than just take market share from competitors. It is about transforming categories, unlocking new markets and creating favourable conditions for market growth. Crucially, for the African context, it is innovation that creates jobs and upskills, empowers and contributes to prosperity on the continent.

In the paper, you refer to three kinds of innovation namely, T, T-1 and T-2. What are these?

David: T-2 innovations create shareholder value only. This kind of efficiency-driven innovation can often lead to serious brand damage and limits long-term business growth. For example, shrinking the pack size of a product without changing the price.

T-1 innovation is the typical arena of customer innovation and could be considered the core purpose of business: to better give customers what they want. Much has been written on this area of innovation - see the Yellowwood blog for tips on better innovating to create customer value. This kind of innovation becomes increasingly difficult with time, as each category fragments and competition becomes fierce.

T innovation is where transformation begins. This kind of innovation creates market value, rather than taking market share from a competitor. It creates new categories or attracts new users to a category - generating far greater long-term returns for the business. MTN's introduction of Pay-As-You-Go, for example, transformed the niche, contract-only mobile telecoms industry into one of the largest, most profitable industries on the continent.

Why is Transformative Innovation so important for South Africa and Africa?

David: Transformational innovation has the power to turn South African and African businesses into global leaders, and to transform our societies for the better. It doesn't require enormous research or NPD budgets; it just requires being cognisant of your role in society, and in this phase of African development. It requires building a culture of innovation, respecting the views of all your people and committing to create real, people-centric value from new thinking - instead of simply approaching innovation from a product point of view.

Link to the white paper on Transformative Innovation: An Africa Path to Success

Get all the other questions, answers and more by listening to this week's podcast below.

In studio we chatted Alan Morrissey from Effective Measure South Africa to find out what they've been up to, and what is Effective Measure doing in the future.

You will be speaking at the Shopper Indaba event happening next week 26 and 27 in JHB, what will you be sharing there?

Alan: Effective Measure did a research survey last year looking at ecommerce in South Africa, so we will be releasing the results of this research and how South Africans are shopping online.

What are your thoughts on DMMA becoming the IAB?

Alan: I think it is an exciting time and a good move for the industry. The change will benefit publishers and brands who will not be represented by the IAB.

What is next for Effective Measure?

Alan: We are working on three exciting projects, various research projects, the release of the panel data to Effective Measure members as well as some brand information.

Get more information on Effective Measure to go: www.effectivemeasure.com

View some of Effective Measure's research, survey, case study and fact sheets below (PDF):

CMCI Fact Sheet
Custom Surveys and Research Polls
EM Branding
KIA AU Open campaign
Target Market Fact Sheet

The news roundup covered:

If you are interested in getting interviewed on Biz Takeouts, or want to suggest a show topic, email Warren Harding (@bizwazza) on moc.ytinummoczib@stuoekatzib.

Podcast

If you missed the show, download (36.5MB) or listen to the podcast (39:00min).

Episode 82: An African Path to Success & Effective Measure

Date: 20 February 2014 Length: 39:00min File size: 36.5MB Host: Warren Harding

Bizcommunity.com's Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media Show takes South Africa's biggest online marketing, media and ad industry platform to the airwaves and gives relevant, useful and interesting insights into all aspects of marketing in SA, Africa and beyond. Each week, the show features the movers and the shakers of the industry, current media trends, upcoming events and brand activities.

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