Page 166 - Free the Idea Monkey

Speaking of
the future . . .
Close your eyes and dream with us.
What if R&D, marketing, finance,
planning, account services and cre-
ative all got together for a day and reaps the benefit of exchange.)
were capable of birthing an idea?
What some companies call depart-
ments and partners are too often
silos — emblems of inefficiency.
Cross-functional, open
teams are the key to driving
industry-changing products,
services and new business
models to market. This is
true whether you work in a
big company or a small one.
To ensure that silos are not an
issue, some companies are even
putting these blended teams in
another building — an Innovation
Center — and saying, “You
have one year to change our
world — go!”
More than a decade ago we moved
to an “open” innovation model that
enrolled leaders from each division
and outside experts from around
the globe. Today, being “social”
and being innovative are one and
the same.
When engagement reaches this
level of mutual involvement, we
move into the third phase:
Phase 3: Co-creating dialogue
(The place where your company
Once we have defined and built the
right presence, along with craft-
ing the appropriate, engaging con-
tent, we can begin fostering true
exchange of ideas and emotions.
This is where your best ideas
can shine. We can create promo-
tions, campaigns and conversa-
tions based on user-generated con-
tent, and empower our customers
to not just be a part of our story,
but to erase the line between “us”
and “them.”
It’s important for your com-
pany to support a presence in social
media. These new communities are
irrevocably changing the landscape
for marketers and how we commu-
nicate and innovate. Increasingly
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