During a recent trip to New York City, I sat in on a presentation about innovation and creativity in the publishing industry. Although the media world — and the rest of the world, for that matter — is becoming increasingly digital, the part of the talk that intrigued me most was about examples of companies being innovative using print.
For example, when recently preparing to re-launch Fanta Orange in a new market, the soft-drink company created an edible ad printed on rice paper that was infused with the new drink formula, giving readers an opportunity to taste something that would otherwise be incredibly difficult to describe.
Another company's ad in a music magazine enabled readers to sample various bands' music simply by laying their smartphone on the printed page. A far cry from the days of long-suffering Sam Goody employees peeling off plastic CD wrappers and loading up a Discman for customers' sampling pleasure.
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And last year, Nescafe came up with a clever print ad that included two pop-up paper mugs, complete with packets of instant coffee. Just add water.
Now I'm not saying any of these ads will turn the tide. I'm pretty sure the Internet is here to stay. But each is a good reminder of the ongoing importance of unconventional thinking. Whether you're a broker, a carrier, a technology vendor or an editor, it's easy to fall into routines and settle for the way things have always been done. And we all know what comes of that kind of thinking.
I don't have to tell you that the industry has long been guilty of complacency and even, dare I say it, Ludditism. As Veer Gidwaney wrote in "What the insurance industry can learn from Netflix," "Insurance companies today have some of the lowest net promoter scores of any industry … Paper-based, fax machine-powered transactions are still the status quo in insurance, and that's unacceptable."
However, we've seen a dramatic upsurge in new ideas during recent years, many of them made possible by technology. In recent years, many companies have sprung up that are great examples of this newfound ingenuity. And they cover every facet of the benefits world, from wellness and telemedicine to prescription cost savings and financial wellness.
As long-time Benefits Selling columnist Brian Hicks recently wrote, "Leading in our industry is easy; just be the person willing to do things a little differently."
I promise you that we'll hold up our end of the bargain. How about you?
(And don't worry, I'll do everything I can to make sure we don't include any ads that taste like employee benefits.)
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Paul Wilson
Paul Wilson is the editor-in-chief of BenefitsPRO Magazine and BenefitsPRO.com. He has covered the insurance industry for more than a decade, including stints at Retirement Advisor Magazine and ProducersWeb.
