Most Innovative Companies of 2009

Which company would you bestow the honor of 'Most Innovative' upon for its performance in 2009? Would it be a mammoth like Google, for continued innovation and investment in technologies of the future like clean energy and smart grids? Would it be a decades old entertainment company like Disney? A social media service like Twitter, which allowed protesters in Iran some much needed freedom of press? A solar technology company? A utility?

Here are Fast Company's most innovative companies of the year.

As a sneak peak... here are the top 15 companies on the list:

1. Facebook - Ranked 15 Last Year
2. Amazon - Ranked 9 Last Year
3. Apple - Ranked 4 Last Year
4. Google - Ranked 2 Last Year
5. Huawei - New!
6. First Solar - Ranked 18 Last Year
7. PG&E - New!
8. Novartis - New!
9. Walmart - Ranked 33 Last Year
10. HP - Ranked 12 Last Year
11. Hulu - Ranked 3 Last Year
12. Netflix - New!
13. Nike - Ranked 27 Last Year
14. Intel - Ranked 6 Last Year
15. Spotify - New!

Eight Keys to Marketing Success

Marketing can seem like a complex puzzle, and particularly during recessionary economies it can make or break a company.  Here are eight simple keys that will help you evaluate your promotional efforts and make improvements that will have a real impact on your bottom line.

Read these eight points and ask yourself, 'Is this the way we operate?'


1.  Marketing is at the core of your business model and you infuse your brand message into every level of the company and every person on staff.  Marketing is not an isolated department or a short list of activities.  It is a never-ending process that is ongoing throughout your business, every day, all the time.

2.  There is vision and purpose behind your promotional efforts - a cause that becomes the rallying cry of employees, partners and customers alike.  For example:  Dove's campaign for real beauty, milk (it does a body good) or Chevy's 'may the best car win' slogan.

3.  Customers understand and care about the value you offer and the position you hold in the marketplace.  Remember, you aren't truly differentiated unless your target market knows and appreciates the things that make you stand out.

4.  You have a marketing action plan in place and you follow it faithfully.  This can be as simple as a few page tactical plan that integrates all your marketing activities in one place and defines the mix, timing, responsibility and goals for each promotional task.

5.  You have realistic expectations for your marketing efforts.  It takes time for some activities to bear fruit and not everything you try will be a success.  Marketing is a constantly evolving, long-term endeavor and understanding that upfront can help you hit your targets in the end.

6.  You place the highest value on developing strong relationships with customers and partners, and you commit to delivering on your brand promise consistently.  Every interaction and every transaction should be a positive experience for each person or entity you deal with.

7.  You measure the effectiveness of marketing activities - adjusting campaigns along the way, testing consumer response, and maximizing ROI through flexibility and accountability.

8.  Your customer is at the center of every marketing activity and message.  Marketing isn't about you!  It's about the person you're trying to talk to.  Look at your marketing plan from the customer's perspective and ask yourself 'What would I want to see, hear or be offered?' - 'What would make me buy?'

Why Best Practices are Losers

by Michael W. McLaughlin on January 28, 2010

(I completely agree with this blog post about the drawbacks of over-reliance on best practices. Just because a method worked in one situation does not guarantee that it will applicable to another scenario. Innovation and creative thinking will always help you blend historical successes with new approaches to find the unique mix of solutions that are best for your company.)

If you spend any time with a service provider, it won’t be long before you hear how the use of so-called “best practices” will pave the way to client success.

Using the best practices developed by other organizations, you’ll hear, will accelerate the design of a solution to most any problem. Listening to this, you’d think best practices were silver bullets.

The problem with the best practices approach is that it usually doesn’t work.

Starting any project with a canned solution narrows your focus to how you will implement that solution, instead of broadening your thinking about what should be done. I’m not suggesting that professionals blindly use the best practices of others without some consideration of the client’s situation. What can (and does) happen, though, is that teams begin with an analysis of how to make someone else’s answer work when they should devise innovations for the situation they face.

What makes the use of best practices even more dangerous is that it’s a follower’s strategy. By leaning on the well-worn solutions of others, you’re dooming your client to a future of following the pack, not leading it.

Of course, there is value in learning from the experience of others. If another organization has addressed a similar issue, it’s helpful to know what they did. And best practices can jog your thoughts and maybe even inspire you.

But as a tool for guiding strategic initiatives, it’s a real loser. Remember, one company’s best practice can too easily become another’s sunk cost.