Innovation is changing. Today, innovation is not only generated by functionality and patents but also by dialogue with society and people. Consumers use brands and their products as an expression of identity, to create their own narrative of how they’d like to be seen. But how do products, services or media become cultural goods? And how can companies boost technological performance with cultural authority? By observing social changes and developments, responding to them. And by conveying a meaningful world view using relevant cultural codes.

If hotels no longer sell beds but experiences and meaningful memories and thus turn their guests into exploreres instead of tourists, or if a manufacturer of sports items puts its customers’ sporting ambitions on a par with the fight against social conventions, then cultural innovation happens. It isn’t a question of developing the right story or blindly following every trend, however. Cultural innovation requires an awareness of a company’s history and commercial conviction. This turns brands into powerful symbols that people can readily identify with.