Bottom Line | Innovation

When clients ask us about Bottom Line Innovation they often ask if we’re talking about profit. While it would be tempting to accept this definition, profit really doesn’t do justice to the concept. Sure, our objective with each project engagement is to increase client profitability, but that’s not really the bottom line we’re talking about. 

For example, if a client asks how to market a product to millennials, we could demonstrate to the client how to it would be possible to use web 2.0 techniques such as blogging, social networking, viral messaging and guerrilla tactics to “join the discussion” and increase brand recognition with the millennial audience.   We understand that each of these techniques is a potentially innovative way to increase profitability. We also understand that using web 2.0 as a marketing strategy is like using an electric space heater to warm your house—it rarely gets the job done and if you’re not careful you can get burned. 

This is why it’s critical to understand the client’s true bottom line before defining an innovative solution--marketing a product to millennials in this case. We need to break through the noise and really get to the root of the challenge—get rid of the catchphrases and jargon –and get to the bottom line. A client that wants to market to millennials is really asking how to sell more of their product to millennials. If the bottom line is that increasing brand presence in the web 2.0 world would accomplish this, then it might make sense to create a Facebook page, get the CEO on Twitter and work on a blogging strategy. If however, branding is not the issue, perhaps the way to market the client’s product to millennials is to establish a partnership with a company that sells a complimentary product, often purchased by the same audience. 

At the Cambridge Innovation Group, bottom line innovation is our guiding principle. It means we don’t get caught up with the trend of the moment. We get to the root of the challenge. We craft and deliver innovative solutions. Our clients receive winning strategies that are replicable and sustainable long after the project engagement is complete.