Across industries, brands today are searching for success in a rapidly changing—and crowded—world. To break through the clutter, you need to innovate. And to help our clients do just that, we explored how different industries are being disrupted and how successful companies can evolve and thrive at our 2016 U.S. Nielsen Consumer 360® conference last week in Las Vegas.
CEO Mitch Barns kicked off the event asking, “When you hear the word innovation, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
“For me, it’s pretty easy—new products, shiny new objects that we all count on to drive growth, efficiency and competitiveness in our business,” said Barns.
But while new products are an incredibly important part of innovation, Barns urged attendees to think more broadly about that definition. In fact, he identified four areas of innovation that are important for brands to consider today: product, operation, strategy and management.
“By broadening our view of innovation, we give access to many more people in our organizations, and we get a lot more of it in a variety of forms,” Barns noted. “The process of innovation appeals to that deep seated desire in almost every single one of us to make something new or make something better.”
Throughout the event, engaging sessions provided valuable insights on the topic of innovation and change. Key discussion topics included: how brands use measurement to improve their performance, accountability metrics in campaign planning and how comparable metrics are vital to successful cross-platform measurement. The sessions were designed to create an open dialogue and to seek answers to some of the biggest questions faced by industries and companies today.
In addition, our Nielsen Interactive exhibit provided attendees with the opportunity to test some of our latest innovations, including e-commerce solutions, media planning and measurement, retail execution and sales effectiveness.
At Nielsen, innovation has been key to our success and longevity. “We’re a company that’s been around for 93 years, and the only way a business can succeed for that long is innovation,” Barns noted. “And we’re as focused on it today as we’ve ever been.”
