Innovation Without Limits – Does Innovation Travel Well?

Winners of the Cannes Innovation Gold Lion 2014, for “Fiat Live Store”, Isobar Brazil took to the Lions Innovation Stage to share the experience of moving a global auto giant “from hardware to software”, effectively changing how we buy cars, forever.

Little Black Book caught up with Isobar's Chief Creative Officer of Americas Fred Saldanha to take look back at the Lions Innovation presentation.

LBB> What issue or topic did you choose to tackle and why?

Fred Saldanha> The theme of the presentation at Lions Innovation was ‘Innovation Without Limits – Does Innovation Travel Well?’ It stems from a project that we developed last year for Fiat Chrysler, which took the Gold in Cannes Innovation - entitled 'Fiat Live Store'. The curious thing about it was that the first question posed by one of the judges when we presented this project at the Festival was, “why did we do this in Brazil?” The jury couldn’t understand how such a complex project could have arisen in a country like Brazil. And this was the big topic: why can’t innovation emerge in peripheral countries and be adopted in developed countries? So when we came to pick a topic for our session this year we knew that talking about “Innovation that travels well” would be a good theme, as its based on our own real-life experience.

LBB> The schedule at the Palais is pretty insane – what made your session stand out? 

FS> I believe everyone who sees the opportunities innovation offers to build brands and wants to better understand how to implement ideas in their market would’ve been deeply interested in our presentation. If brands cannot survive without the constant search for innovation today, there’s nothing better than a good partner like your agency to help you build that path. Our starting point is always the difference between developed markets and peripherals, and how innovation is regarded in both. In addition, we shared some innovation examples that travel well and may impact various markets. We also showed a few ideas that won’t have been seen at Cannes before.  And it was fun! 

LBB> What sort of questions or ideas did you want people to come out of your event thinking about?

FS> I’d like the advertising industry to evolve the idea of seeking innovation for its clients through solutions that solve people’s real problems. Not just innovation for the sake of innovation. We are not a research laboratory, nor a startup. Like other advertising agencies, we must seek ideas that are relevant to people’s lives and that ultimately make sense to brands and their overall purpose.