Cred is the new currency of the corporate world. Cred not only puts you at the heart of early adopters, it allows for innovative and profitable innovation. Brands like Nike and Nasa, Volvo and Stutterheim, Google and Sonos are already doing it. The innovations of years to come will spring from the combination of strengths; by creating innovation upon the combined existing, knowledge of two front-runners. Cred will position you as a potential partner and must be considered an objective in every strategy.

Action: Use early adopters as a target group. Understand and keep track of how they perceive your brand, as their opinions will be the ones of your audience in not too long. Our research show that the most successful brands navigate with a clearly aspirational audience in mind in order to make sure that they are first in understanding when to introduce new innovations. Google for instance, a brand that is working hard in delighting us all works towards a defined audience of urban influencers. Working with a clearly aspirational audience allows Google to be several years ahead of their average user. Time means money. And this amount of time allows Google to be first on almost every innovation.