Startups have ideas and brands have money, says Evol8tion CEO, Joseph Jaffe
Kodak might be thriving today if the camera business had made an early purchase of Instagram, according to Evol8tion CEO, Joseph Jaffe.
Speaking at the ADMA Forum in Sydney this week, Jaffe said the best way for a brand to survive disruption is to invest in technology startups.
“Every brand has a startup soul mate,” he claimed.
Startups are looking to solve the same problems as brands but their lean business model means they can be more innovative and move faster, he said.
Jaffe recently advised Mondelēz International on an initiative to partner the company’s food brands including Cadbury and belVita with startups to innovate its mobile marketing.
“You should be carving out your innovation funds and your innovation budgets. You should be thinking about these connections and the earlier you do it, the better,” he said.
Related: Marketing innovation depends on cultural transformation: Cadbury, Oreo media chief
Startups are full of ideas but have no money, while brands have are full of money but have no ideas, Jaffe said. “Can startups help solve brand problems? The answer is unequivocally yes.”
The arrangement must, however, be a win-win partnership. “This is not about big brands taking advantage of startups and it’s not about startups taking advantage of big brands because [they’ve] got money,” he said.
Investing in startup companies is not as expensive as it might sound, Jaffe continued.
“For less than the cost of a Super Bowl commercial, you could have your own startup. You could start your own startup. You could invest in your own startup.”
Refusing to innovate will cost a brand a lot more, he said.
“How do you kill a dinosaur? The answer is you don’t. Evol8tion does.”
Adam Bender covers digital marketing and emerging technology for CMO and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
I’ve been a long-time fan of renowned effectiveness experts, Peter Field and Les Binet, and their work. But while their approach is clearly important, the marketing leader’s challenge to deliver effectiveness more often lies in organisational structure. I see the bigger question being whether a marketing chief has a seat at the executive table, and the ear and respect of the CEO and company board.
Every flagship smartphone in Australia includes hardware and software purpose-built for AR. A huge audience is ready and waiting. We have an opportunity to craft extraordinary, innovative work. But to get there, we need to push our creative thinking a little harder, writes Gil Fewster.
There are five tell-tale signs your brand needs to take a long hard look at itself.
In this bonus last episode of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with former ANZ group general manager of marketing, Louise Eyres, talks about the importance of thinking like a customer and using intuition to solve customer painpoints.
Why it's important for me to know that? I don't get it, sorry.
James Fogle
7 things you need to know about Facebook's mood experiment
Info graphic have proven to be very useful to create brand awareness and drive traffic. Thanks for sharing these Information.Graphic Desi...
Govind Dadhich
Image intelligence:10 must-see infographics for marketers
Best web hosting packages Vancouver WA understands that only technical support and domain associated email address can bring huge leads ...
Radiata Solutions
6 Ways to ramp up Social Media to Your Web Design
I had the same vision about change from CX terminology to HX. Even with almost the same title: 'Forget customer experience...' https://ww...
Ekaterina Khramkova
Forget customer experience, human experience is marketing's next frontier
Thank you, so do I.
David Freeman
Sustainability of message: H2coco founder's commitment to consumers