Advertising vs open innovation

advertising vs open innovation

Advertising is the main way to communicate with customers. Companies spend enormous amounts of money on advertising and the total global spend is close to a trillion USD. This is approx. 1 % of the global GDP making it one of the biggest global industries.

But advertising is far from perfect. Most of the global advertising is controlled by Google and Meta algorithms making it difficult for companies to differentiate. Also, a century old John Wanamaker‘s statement “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half” still remains relevant. Most importantly, advertising is based on interrupting customers and not on organically growing their interest.

As an alternative, open innovation is affordable, has a better ROI, and is not based on interrupting. We suggest that a small part of the advertising budget is dedicated to open innovation, and – once the results come in – it will be obvious open innovation is a more effective way to to communicate with customers.

To invest in open innovation email Andrea at andrea@openinnovation.me.

Written by: Nikola Tosic
Publishing date: 27 Feb 2023