India Innovation Outlook 2018, a first-of-its kind India centric primary research conducted among corporate and business leaders by First Partners-Mindsight Research & Analytics to identify the top trends on innovation has identified Reliance Jio as the no 1 innovator brand in India ahead of Airtel, Flipkart, Paytm and Oyo in that order. Google has been identified as the no 1 global innovator brand.
Among the 5 key sectors of the society viz Politics, Entertainment, Business, Not-for-profit and Government, politics is believed to be innovating the most in communication campaigns (25 %). The most innovative campaigns named in these sectors are Har Ghar Modi (Politics), Padman Challenge (Entertainment), Reliance Jio Digital India (Business), Me Too Campaign (Not-for-profit) and Swach Bharat (Government).
The research was conducted among 135 Heads of Marketing, Digital Marketing, Communication and Corporate Affairs of leading global and Indian brands across the 8 cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
Among the other findings of the study, the key ones are:
- Majority of leaders (63%) are dissatisfied with the level of innovation they are able to drive within their organizations
- Innovation, to be relevant in today’s environment, must deliver business results as well as mass-scale social impact. Otherwise it gets relegated to creativity
- The most popular innovator strategies today are less about originality and more about incrementalism. Strategies which enable incrementalism are Master of Reinvention (28%), Fast Follower (24%), Improvisation Champion (23%).
- Innovators successfully trump inventors in their respective domains and become synonymous as domain leaders over a period of time.
- The most potent trigger for sparking innovation is the leadership’s risk-taking attitude (26%) followed by a mission to solve complex problems (23%) and communication which energizes people (23%). Increasing R&D spends alone is least helpful (18%).
- Innovation can be institutionalized by organizations and elevated as a powerful strategy by building a strong culture of innovation (32%) along with leadership’s passion (28%) for it.
- Communication plays a dominant role (69%) in building a strong culture of innovation with Leadership’s leading by example as the single most important factor (31%).
- The sectoral ranking in innovation in communication has Politics (25%) on the top, followed by Entertainment (23%), Business (21%), Not-for-profit (16%) and Government (15%).
- The future outlook for innovative communication points to a greater thrust on creating new dialogues with stakeholders (weighted score 25) and least on innovating with the medium (weighted score 18)
- Technology (weighted score 33), Start-ups (weighted score 32) and Consumer Brands (weighted score 31) are likely to innovate the most in the near future, with Healthcare (weighted score 29) next in line. Least innovation expected in Agriculture (weighted score 23)
- Technology to be the driving force for innovation in communication with Artificial Intelligence (weighted score 43), Messaging apps like Whatsap & WeChat (weighted score 41), Big Data (weighted score 40) and 360 degree videos (weighted score 40) leading the pack.
The study was conducted by First Partners communication consultants along with Mindsight Research & Analytics, a research firm which works on translating public opinion into actionable insights through a comprehensive suite of primary and secondary research services, evidence-based stakeholder insights, analysis, and measurement.
