• by Alan Hart , August 6, 2019

This episode of “Marketing Today”was recorded live at the 2019 Incite Group Brand Marketing Summit in San Francisco. The topic of this panel discussion was “A Brave New World: Developing a Culture of Marketing Innovation.”

I moderated the discussion, which featured Alison Herzog, former marketing director, global social business and digital strategy at Dell; Russell Barnett, CMO of My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream; and Karen Kelly, marketing director of The UPS Store.

The panel discussed the importance of flexibility and the willingness to do something different, why employees have to know what your "why" is and buy into it, why innovation is the heart and soul of success, and why you should be data-informed instead of data-driven so that you are still following your gut.

Alison Herzog shared her must-have for marketing innovation:  “You have to have a culture of trust, so that anybody can speak up, whether they want to call you to the carpet and say ‘I think that is a terrible idea,’ or be willing to throw out things that feel crazy.”

Karen Kelly explained how the guarded gates of innovation can open up when you “give people permission to spend some money. Let them try some new tactics."

Russell Barnett said he encourages younger employees by stating, “I want to understand who people want to be when they grow up. Because I am on my way out.”

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

          -- All the panelists introduce themselves and offer their must-haves for marketing innovation. (01:28)

          -- What are the necessary ingredients to drive innovation? (03:38)

          -- How do they get their marketing ideas? (09:42)

          -- What do they think of innovatively titled roles for marketing teams?  (18:06)

          -- What is their brainstorming process for products and brands? (20:27)

          -- What is the best way for a marketing team to propose and implement innovative tactics in the corporate world? (22:12)

          -- How do you structure innovative brainstorms or processes to try to spark the creative synergy or creative thinking? (26:35)

          -- How does one eager millennial marketer convince one very old-school team to go into the modern age? (31:27)

          -- When will My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream have a two-ball single-serve pack of Mochi balls? (36:10)

          -- How can you effect change to try new things when you are lower on the totem pole? (37:59)

           -- How much do you rely on regional test marketing before launching nationally? (39:55)

         --  What does the future of marketing look like? (42:25)