How companies communicate their value proposition has huge impact on sales and brand building.  Recent changes in communication technologies, related to this, customer information search and buying behavior, is changing how companies can effectively communicate with their customers. The ongoing digitalization of markets and marketing, provides vast opportunities, and has accentuated the need for companies to re-invent their marketing.  With new technologies, companies also acquire more data about customers and their information search behavior. Such data is increasingly being used to target and personalize communication, bridging the creative and analytical competencies.

Marketing innovation management is about developing and implementing new concepts for communicating to acquire new customers, to increase sales with existing customers, or to strengthen their preference (i.e. loyalty) for the brand. The innovation process starts with defining the business problem. This will clarify what value the new concept will create for the company. The next stage is a creative process where a number of concept ideas are developed and evaluated. This stage relies heavily on various forms of marketing research. A business-case is needed before a decision to invest in development.  of a new communication concept. A projection of the expected cash-flow effect, the risk elements and plan for implementation are key elements of a business case. When the new concept is developed a detailed plan for implementation is required. As most innovations have a slow adoption phase, companies need diagnostic information about leading indicators to know if a new concept is being successfully implemented.

In this course, students will develop a marketing innovation on their own. They will employ methodology for defining business problems, creation of ideas and concepts, testing, and projections of expected cash-flow effects. Guest lectures will provide examples and give inspiration to studying marketing innovations.