MANILA – TBWA\Worldwide Chairman, Jean-Marie Dru was one of the keynote speakers of the inaugural Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) Digicon. On the second day of the conference, which was entitled, The Power of X: Digital Multiplied, Dru opened the day’s plenary with his talk on ‘How disruption can foster innovation’.
Known as the inventor of Disruption, Dru opened his talk with his definition of the concept, “Disruption defines a vision that breaks market conventions and creates new platforms for growth.” After which he went on to share the fifteen paths to disruptive innovation: sustainability-driven, open, reverse, brand-led, structural, partnership-led, revival-based, data-driven,price-led, anticipation-driven, business model, asset-based, usage-based, added service, and insight-driven disruptions. He cited examples for each path and showed how asking the ‘beautiful question’, “An ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something – and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.” In short, ask, “What if?”
Amongst his examples were Toms, a brand of casual shoes, accessories, bags, and apparel, which helps provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth and bullying prevention services to people in need: every purchase equals a donation to programs that help improve the future of children, families and communities in need. The innovation was inspired by the disruptive question – What if you considered social responsibility not as a philanthropic initiative but as a way to reinforce your core business?
He also cited the brand Haier, the giant Chinese household appliance maker, who chanced upon an unexpected product design while responding to irate washing machine customers who complained that the ones they bought failed to work. Inspiration came in the form of technicians’ reports stating that the reason why the machines didn’t work was because they weren’t washing clothes but potatoes. The what-if question – What if you let unexpected usage of your product inspire new product design?
Hermés asked – What if you partnered with a business as far removed from your own as possible? – thus, was born the Apple watch Hermés, “ a partnership based on parallel thinking, singular vision and mutual regard…a unique timepiece designed with both utility and beauty in mind”.
The beauty of the ‘beautiful question’ is that it inspires innovation and refutes the thinking that disruptive innovation is destructive. This kind of thinking according to Dru has created an ‘innovation deficit’, because it discouraged companies from formulating their own ‘what-ifs’, seizing opportunities, and creating possibilities. Everyone, Dru insists must embrace disruption, “Innovate in all shapes and form.” And in the digital age there is much opportunity to be creative, “ Now everybody can be very interactive, very digital, very smart, and you see incredible new stories, thanks to the Internet. It’s been tough for everybody, but it’s an opportunity at the same time.”
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Jean-Marie Dru’ s career spans five decades. He is an awardee of the French Légion d’Honneur for his long lasting contribution to the advertising industry and to the business world. He was inducted into the advertising Hall of Fame in New York in April 2016. Dru has published six books on advertising and marketing: “Jet Lag” (PowerHouse Books, 2012), “How Disruption Brought Order” (Palgrave, 2007), “Beyond Disruption” (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002), “Disruption” (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1996) and “Le Saut Créatif” (Lattès, 1984). His new book, “The Ways To New. 15 Paths To Disruptive Innovation” (JohnWiley & Sons Inc., 2015) was released in December 2015 in New York.
In addition to his duties as Chairman of TBWA\Worldwide Jean-Marie Dru currently serves as the Chairman of the French Academy of Medicine Foundation and Chairman of UNICEF- France.
