In my view, I do not think innovative or creativity is always good. I read this article from Stanford Social Innovation Review titled "When Innovation Goes Wrong"$(1).$ One piece that really spoke to me was this quote$-$ taken from a Wall Street Journal article: "Companies today, Leslie Kwoh observed, routinely attach the term $$innovation$$ or $$innovative$$ to just about any new product or service. $$But that doesn$$t mean the companies are actually doing any innovating,$$ Kwoh noted. $$Instead they are using the word to convey monumental change when the progress they$$re describing is quite ordinary.$1"$ In my advertising world, we get requests from clients every day to come up with a "never been done before", exciting, innovative idea. So$,$ our creative and strategy teams spend hours trying to come up with an earth shaking idea. And then we find out the client really just wanted to use our standard offering but give it a "fun and sexy" name. We wasted time and resources for little impact$-$they don't actually want innovation, but they feel obiligated to ask for it anyway.

I was also thinking about this in terms of Innovation Uncertainty, specifically "identity uncertainty". Sometimes we get a request from a bank. Maybe they are promoting a new credit card or rewards program. And they ask for innovation that is going to make them appear to the consumer as edgy and smart. But this bank is well known for its buttoned up$,$ austere, and serious mission. If they are attempting to rebrand, then ok$,$ maybe this is effective. But if they are just doing this because thats what the industry says they should be$,$ without considering their company's sense of purpose, it will be unsuccessful and create brand confusion for consumers.