Renovate Before You Innovate: Why Doing the New Thing Might Not Be the Right Thing (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Armin A. Brott (Contributor)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his 1999 bestseller, The End of Marketing as We Know It, business guru Zyman argued that Madison Avenue–style marketing campaigns were done for: the purpose of marketing was to get more customers to buy more products, not to amuse people with arty ads. In his new book, Zyman drops another bucket on the marketing world: innovation, the designing and branding of new products, is a waste of time and money. "Only one of every 58 new product introductions succeeds," he points out, and those that do may end up cannibalizing a company's existing brands. Renovation, he says, is a better way for companies to spend their resources. Using a steady stream of large-scale examples (Coke, P&G, etc.) and statistics, Zyman drives home the need for executives to retain customers, to think in terms of what customers want (not in terms of what they can be sold) and to require dollar-based accountability from marketing strategies. General readers may stumble over terms like "value proposition" or "top-line" vs. "bottom-line" growth—a glossary would have broadened this book's audience. But Zyman already has a legion of fans, and these will be eager to snap up his tips on how to leave a company's "essence intact [while] giving it new vigor."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

According to bestselling marketing expert Sergio Zyman, many companies rely too heavily on innovation to solve their problems. Whenever a brand or business gets old and tired, the impulse is to scrap it and start over with something fresh. It sounds great, but more often than not, innovation simply doesn’t work. Zyman knows this firsthand— he was the chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola during the disastrous launch of New Coke.

So what’s the alternative? Zyman now preaches the power of renovation, not innovation. Recapture the essence of your existing brands, products, and core competencies, and do more of the things that made you great in the first place. For instance, Coca- Cola’s essence was about authenticity, continuity, and stability, and New Coke undermined all three qualities. It seems obvious in retrospect, yet too many managers are so impressed by innovation that they approve ideas no one will buy, such as premoistened toilet paper or smokeless cigarettes.

With Renovate Before You Innovate, Zyman explains the tools managers need to revitalize their marketing strategies and improve their growth rates. This book will challenge the conventional business wisdom and help companies make smarter decisions.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (October 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591840546
• ISBN-13: 978-1591840541
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #852,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is unique among other "innovation" titles, because this one really has innovative ideas!, May 4, 2009

By	Rebecca Clement "Publisher, Soundview Executi... (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

If you visit the business section of a bookstore, it may be impossible to randomly pull five books off the shelf and NOT have one of those books contain "innovate" or "innovation" within its title. The irony surrounding the flood of innovation business books that are drowning the marketplace is that there's little or nothing innovative about the books themselves. The vast majority are rehashed revisions of earlier editions that may have a few updated examples. However, Sergio Zyman's book titled - "Renovate Before you Innovate" - breaks the cycle and stems the flow of innovation regurgitation. Zyman states that while innovation sounds great in theory, it usually degrades down to ineffective, haphazard marketing when executed. The author believes that renovation is the key that unlocks sustainable top-line growth. Soundview likes this refreshing approach because Zyman simply defines renovation as doing the things that made your organization great, only doing them differently - which includes creating a compelling customer experience, preference for your business and redefining your competitive space. This is truly an innovative book in a sea of wanna-be imitations.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Renovate your thinking first!, December 12, 2007

By	Sahra Badou "Bibliophile" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

According to the author, many companies rely too heavily on innovation to solve their problems, and they attempt to start over with something fresh to revive old businesses. The author says that this is the lazy approach to marketing, and it typically doesn't work. In fact, according to the author, 9 out of 10, innovation does not work. He further adds, "'Innovation' is just another word for `giving up'. It's saying that things are so bad that it's easier to get into an entirely different line of business than to deal with our problems."

The author preaches the power of renovation, not innovation, to accelerate and sustain top-line growth. He says that it starts with recapturing the essence of your existing brands and products and doing more of the things that made your business great in the first place. In a word, renovate. This means no longer doing different things with existing assets, but doing better things with them instead.

Core essence is who you really are as a company or brand. It's the relationship customers and noncustomers alike have with your brand; it's what your brand stands for in their hearts and minds and the promises your brand makes to consumers. He warns that if you try to extend your brand beyond your core essence, customers will not cooperate.

If you succeed in leveraging your core essence, assets and infrastructure, you'll be able to grow your business successfully. He uses Starbucks Coffee as an illustration, whose core essence are building stores, motivating people, and sourcing the best coffee in the world. They embrace a philosophy of "Let's start with what we can build and see if we can sell it."

According to the author, true core essence is the most powerful and compelling attribute of your brand. The core essence of Windows, for example, is "user-friendly"; for Crest toothpaste, it's "fights cavities"; for Pepsi, it's "revolution, choice, and change." What you say your core essence is, is completely irrelevant. It is what consumers and customers think that counts. In fact, there's often a big disconnect between what you think your core essence is and what is actually on the minds of consumers. This leaves you with one choice if you want to leverage your core essence: you need to hit the street and start asking people questions about how they perceive your company and your brand. Doing this kind of research will enable you to see your company the way consumers do. Once you've determined your core essence, you will be able to use that knowledge to renovate every aspect of your business.

The author, Sergio Zyman, knows the downfalls of trying to grow strictly through innovation. He was the manager of one of the great innovation busts of the 20th century---New Coke. The New Coke formula was foisted upon the market in response to Pepsi's constant repositioning of original Coke's brand through such schemes as the Pepsi Challenge taste tests. Rather than challenge Pepsi on its brand's value proposition (giving consumers a reason to drink Coke), Coke decided to make its product taste more like Pepsi. It was a disaster. After only 77 days, Coca-Cola brought old Coke back to the market (this time as Coca-Cola Classic). It reconnected with its customers, deepened its relationship with them, and, in the process, increased sales. In that regard, Coca-Cola was lucky; corporate graveyards are littered with organizations that innovated themselves right out of business.

Nike has used its expertise in athletic shoes to get into new markets and attract new customers. It started off in a relatively small sector---making shoes for runners---but expanded into offering products for sports performance, such as water bottles, running shorts, and other gear. After that, it expanded into an even bigger sector--overall performance products. Finally, it raised the bar by venturing into any area that values accomplishment--Just Do It. Big players in existing markets cannot get complacent. The only way to stay alive is to keep renovating, remain true to the business' core essence, and keep doing better and more relevant things with existing assets. You must know what your core essence is, who your customers are, why they buy from you when they do, and why they go to certain competitors when they don't. In this case, you must give current customers a reason to buy from you more often by offering them value instead of just a product or service.

Everything you do communicates something about your brand to your customers and prospective customers. Even your prices communicate something about your business, and can be an important part of your marketing strategy. Most companies, however, fail to manage their prices at all. Prices tend to go one way---down. The author advices to think long and hard about lowering them, even temporarily. Temporary price breaks tend to become permanent. Your competitors will see your lower prices and drop theirs; once they do this, you'll have to lower yours again to stay ahead of them. It's a downward spiral that leads to decreased profits.

The differences between leaders and aggressors are illustrated in the following examples:

Diet and caffeine-free soft drinks were not introduced by Coke.
Overnight package delivery was not introduced by the U.S. Postal Service.
Online mapping was not introduced by Rand McNally.
Cell phones were not introduced by AT&T.

Not one of the above innovations was developed by an industry leader, but each one forever changed its industry. Had the leaders listed above been the ones to introduce these things, they would have been renovations---extensions of an existing brand. None of that ever happened, though, because these companies were asleep at the wheel.

What gives your brand meaning is your answer to the customer's most important question -- "What's in it for me?" One great example of this can be seen in Coke's first venture into the Russian market. The company spent much time researching its competitors, and what it found was shocking. Coke's biggest competitor wasn't Pepsi, or some regional cola, or even vodka. Coke's biggest competitor was the city bus. Many Russian consumers simply did not have enough disposable income to buy a Coke and take a bus home from work, so they had to choose one or the other. Rather than being able to compete on taste and refreshment, as they had in other markets, Coke had to convince Russian consumers that it was a good value for the money, and that when it came down to a choice between a Coke and a McDonald's hamburger or a candy bar or a magazine or some other nonessential item, Coke was the best, and most satisfying, investment.

The author argues that it is of the utmost importance for companies to always be at their guard. If, for example, you run a neighborhood pizza restaurant, you might define your competitors as "other local pizza restaurants." However, when a chain like Domino's Pizza enters your market, you will suddenly be faced with huge competition with regard to time and convenience, even if you make a better pizza. You're also competing against cheap frozen pizzas in grocery stores; high-end pizza parlors and their frozen pies; make-your-own pizza products like Boboli pizza crusts; as well as local Chinese, Thai, and Italian restaurants. When the Super Bowl comes around, you'll be going head-to-head against chips and dip, too. The author's bottom line: Run your business aggressively to take on a variety of competitors, or you'll rapidly lose sales.

Even though you might think you're selling a product or a service, you're actually selling an experience. That experience is often the only significant thing that separates you from your competitors. In most cases, experiences have little to do with the products themselves, no matter how hard the companies that offer them try to make a connection. Harley-Davidson motorcycles, for example, are not the most comfortable or fastest, or best-designed bikes on the market. That's not what matters, though. The reason people buy a "Hog" is for the Harley experience---"ride to live, live to ride"; wind in your hair, American classic, etc.

In 2001, consumer research found that after 9/11, consumers started placing much more emphasis on family and relationships. Recent research found that, although 9/11 has become a less painful memory, there are some lingering effects. Consumers indicated that, on any given day, if they had to choose between making more money and taking things a little easier, they'd go with easier. The brands and products they find most appealing are the ones that make their time more enjoyable, not the ones that save them money. Time, it seems, has become a kind of new currency, and its scarcity has made consumers more conscious, discriminating and more aware of the "present tense" than ever before. Product benefits and attributes are simply no longer enough. Today's consumers want experiences---experiences they can feel and touch, experiences that will change their emotions, their attitudes and maybe even their lives. The author says that being able to compete on the basis of experiences gives you more opportunities to deliver value and differentiate yourself from competitors.

I highly recommend this book to all managers who aspire to become leaders in their respective industries. The most important lesson I learnt is that I have to first renovate my thinking before renovating my company!

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is this book out of print?, February 22, 2008

By	R. S. Madigan "MadAgainMedia.com" (Camarillo, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Renovate Before You Innovate: Why Doing the New Thing Might Not Be the Right Thing (Hardcover)

I found this book incredibly valuable for the following reasons:
- Mr. Zyman used excellent and impactful real-world examples to which Americans who have watched TV or paid attention to pop culture for the past 20 years can all relate.
- Mr. Zyman lived through, nay, created one of the biggest marketing blunders of the late 20th century: New Coke. His honesty and candor in admitting this and learning from that mistake gives him credibility and authenticity. He knows of what he speaks.
- This is an immensely readable book full of humor and relatable anecdotes. And it isn't dated in the least, the examples seem quite relevant to today's world.
- For anyone involved in product development, marketing or making strategic decisions, this book is a must-read.

As a result of reading this book, I'm afraid I've been annoying my colleagues to death with all the pithy examples Mr. Zyman has shared in the book. But these lessons have given me important perspective as I personally navigate my company's product and marketing roadmaps.

However, I'm perplexed why this book is out of print. I've written to Mr. Zyman and to Penguin, with no response. Neither the book, the author or the ISBN number are found on penguin.com. Mr. Zyman doesn't even mention this book in his bio on his website (www.zyman.com). What's going on, Mr. Zyman?

That being said, order a copy while they can still be found.