Here, There and Everywhere: Four companies look for creativity beyond the product development lab

[September 2005 - CMO Magazine] When most people think of innovation, their minds likely focus on one of two things: cool new products or whiz-bang technologies. While those areas have certainly yielded success for many a company (and will probably continue to do so), today's strategic marketer is taking a more holistic view of innovation. As marketing becomes more integrated and cross-disciplinary, so too has the idea of what constitutes a marketing innovation. If you think of innovation as anything that yields a fresh idea or a novel approach, then virtually any aspect of marketing becomes rife with possibilities, from how you execute customer research, to where you communicate your message, to whom you're targeting with that message. To illustrate this broadening definition of innovation in marketing, we've assembled a sampling of companies that are leading the way. More