In the overwhelming majority of cases, the key to a successful commercial innovation isn’t revolution, but evolution. While big ideas that lead to revolutionary change do occasionally occur, in the main the largest innovative gains come from clever incremental improvement, often using tools that are already available.
DLA Piper’s multifaceted branding rollout, under the leadership of global chief marketing officer Jolene Overbeck, is a closely managed accomplishment worthy of the most admired multinational corporations. By the same token, there are probably many large companies that would love to have an in-house news distribution system as sophisticated and affordable as the one that director of library services Mary Kay Jung designed for Thompson Coburn. And many companies would show a big jump in marketing IQ if they tracked the success of their marketing efforts as closely as K&L Gates, thanks to chief marketing officer Jeff Berardi’s experience. At one time, you might have fairly said that law firms had a long way to go to be classified as “real” businesses. Now they have to be on the cutting edge just to stay competitive.
