Miles Davis once described his career by saying “I have to change, It’s like a curse”. This quote depicts the current business battle field better than ever.
Across industries, disrupters are reinventing the business landscape. While Uber is muscling up on the damp streets of London, the black cab drivers have become even more chipper. Meanwhile the hoteliers in the area and across the globe are wrestling with Airbnb pushing the configurations of accommodation.
I have to change, it's like a curse.
With disrupter brands shaking the ground under traditional businesses, companies demonstrating innovation are trying to crack the question about how to create a stable, even immortal, brand.
The Future Laboratory showcased in their “The Immortal Brand” trend report about the frustration with short-termism amongst consumers and how this frustration is fuelling a desire for long-term thinking.
While people are now seeking brands that can help counter their own short-sightedness, and act as long-term partners, companies need to adapt to this change in behavior. Many are having a hard time to answer this desire though. These players find themselves in a tricky position when trying to implement long-term plans is aggravated by the shortening tenure of their leaders.
So how can this trend be seen on the market? Look outside and you’ll see a sea of brands building on slow solid strategies that embrace consumers needs products and brands that will last and a sense of permanency. Physical stores are returning to the corners, embraced by formerly digital-only brands such as Birchbox and eBay. Fast food is suffering in comparison to ‘restaurant casual’, with global sales dropping sharply at McDonald’s while Chipotle and Nando’s are sprinting ahead.
On a product level you can see distinguish a trend called Uberlescence, where products are designed to last. As and example of this trend is designer Jake Dyson's light bulb that lasts for more than 180,000h. Some designers are also conceiving modular products that can be adjusted to grow along with you.
Dyson's Light Bulb
Inspired by the traditional approach of designing hardware to last for five to 10 years, Google's modular smartphone, Project Ara, has been designed by industrial design firm Lapka. Lapka created a system that could be constantly adapted to the user's needs, therefore withstanding this test of a change in needs.
So how do you keep up with the Joneses and ensure you won’t stumble on being stuck in your old ways? I’ve often noted that boardrooms and workshops are filled with agony about the idea of innovation and the idea of the amount of work it requires. I think that you don’t necessarily have to build grand projects or invade the moon. I think the answer is much more straight forward.
Google's Project Ara
Peter Ducker once stated that business has two basic functions—innovation and marketing. Innovation produces the products, and marketing tells the stories that sell them. These two activities drive results, and all the others are costs. However, brands often forget about innovation when striving for short term goals through campaigns and other marketing activities. This might have worked before, but today the game is different. As consumers' distaste for short-termism grows, the brands which incorporate long-term thinking balancing between innovation and marketing will enjoy an advantage in all areas of business.
