I recently came across Micaela Pfeffer’s blog regarding the Uuboard. It seemed like a wild idea to me, but at the same time I thought that this could be the future of transportation. One may believe that a strong shift in the way we carry out our daily lives would represent a clear example of disruptive innovation. If a particular innovation has the potential to reshape an existing industry or even create a new one altogether does it really need to be marketed?
I read An article by the Harvard Business Review in order to get a firmer grasp on the aforementioned question. I concluded that the answer depends on each person and department of a business you ask it to. Executives and the Research & Development department may argue that a simple marketing campaign is enough since the product may revolutionize an industry. Clearly consumers will see the massive benefits of the product and quickly adopt it. The marketing department, however, could dispute by stating that the process of breaking a customer’s brand-culture and schema may require extensive efforts and funding. After all, not everyone perceives a technological innovation as groundbreaking. In conclusion, I believe that technology may market itself only if consumers think that the advancements derived from it truly disrupt a market. Nevertheless, it is the marketing department’s job to make consumers think that; and hence every product or technological advancement needs marketing to varying degrees.
