Innovation and Disruption at the Heart of What We Do
When you think about brands that are innovating and paving the way for the future, companies like Apple, Google, or Amazon might come to mind. Nintendo, however, probably does not. After all, Nintendo was first launched in the 80s, around the same time we were jamming to Paula Abdul and doing the electric slide. (I have to pause for a second and say, for the record, the original Nintendo was a huge part of my childhood. I was, and probably still am, the reigning champ of Super Mario Brothers.) But Nintendo is, in fact, continuing to innovate after all these years. This just proves that no matter how long you’ve been around, as long as you’re tuned into your target audience and recognize how their needs and choices are changing, you too will never go out of style.
So why am I bringing up Nintendo and can we move along? I promise we will move along in just a minute, but first, Nintendo’s new gaming system was recently featured in a Mashable article which argued that Nintendo is disrupting the industry. In the article, author Tina Amini interviews one of the gaming industry’s most recognized video game developers, Goichi Suda. He notes that Nintendo’s consoles “…don’t just evolve in the most obvious ways to get better, but they provide new ways to play and enjoy games.”
Staying True to Your Roots yet Continuing to Evolve
Whether or not your goal as a company is to “disrupt the industry,” I think we can all agree that the base of Amini’s article holds true for most companies, where standing out from the competition, breaking into a new space, or narrowing in on your buyer persona are all things we’re continuously refining.
It’s no different for us at Sassafras. When it comes to our work, we’re constantly asking ourselves what can we do that’s different, or as is quoted in Amini’s article, “that the customer or consumer wants but doesn’t know they want.” Part of embracing innovation is knowing that thinking outside the box sometimes results in head-scratching, and we need to be okay when new ideas don’t always work the first time. Staying true to who we are as a company but always expecting more of ourselves is how we embrace innovation every day–or at least how we try to do so.
As a result, we choose to be persistent and relentless in our quest to create a top-notch story design for every one of our clients. Whether we’re working on a consumer-facing program or a B2B presentation, we always try to think outside the box, stretch the limit of creativity and, of course, ensure it leaves the door with the Sassafras stamp of approval.
That’s our story, but what is yours? How do you continue to push the limits of creativity and innovate among the sea of innovators out there? We would love to have a conversation with you about your story and how we can help knock the socks off your competition.
#disruption #mashable #sassafrasmarketing #innovation #nintendoswitch