Stick or twist: when is the right time to invest in innovation?

In my opinion, startups make the best innovators – though I’m happy to be challenged. They react quickly, develop at lightning speed, and are generally ahead of the curve, or any sort of competition.

Take the low & no drinks industry, for example. It was largely created – in spirits, at least – by a bedrock of innovation driven by small independent brands. There is, however, a fine balance between knowing when to focus single-mindedly on a small core product range and when to innovate for growth. Brands like Coca-Cola focused for over a century on one product before diversifying via innovation.

Brands like Caleño are no different. For our first three to four years, we focused on two core products. The industry was new and a huge amount of consumer education was needed. Now well into our fifth year, things have changed. The consumer has matured in their understanding of the category, and sub-segments have expanded.

Diversification has in our case become a way to drive continued focus and growth. Deciding on how and when to innovate can be achieved by asking a simple set of key questions:

• What does the industry look like now? (Consider competitors, consumer behaviours, economic factors and cultural changes.)
• What happens if we stand still/do nothing/do not innovate?
• What’s the unique value only our brand offers?
• How do we redefine that offer?

Answering these questions often leads to a reassessment of your brand and its core components. Do you still have the right product range to match the current and future market landscape? If the answer is no, then perhaps something needs to change. Not adapting can be just as risky – just ask Kodak or BlackBerry.

In Caleño’s case, we released our ‘Ready to Party’ cocktail cans to create a convenient and accessibly priced market entry point for non-alcoholic spirits. Our bottles have a headline rsp of £18, so recognising the price sensitivity of the low & no market supported our decision to innovate in this space.

Later this month, you’ll also spot some big impact innovation landing from Caleño, which sees us double down on one of our key bets in the low & no industry. Watch this space.