Imagination in Marketing

Abstract

Rapid, non-linear change is a key feature in today’s marketplace. The pace at which knowledge is created, disseminated and rendered obsolete is constantly increasing. Knowledge, therefore, is only a momentary competitive advantage that rapidly becomes a commodity, often in discontinuous iterations. This results in a shift in the nature of value creation away from “knowledge-based application capabilities” and towards “creativity-based transformation capabilities.” Marketers, while generally recognizing this direction of change are unclear about how to adapt to it. The objective of this paper is to present a framework to help direct a company’s product strategy and value-generating capabilities for the future. To do so, the construct of “imaginative intensity” is introduced and described. Several propositions are advanced to provide a framework for harnessing imagination-based value, which is critical for an organization’s product strategy and innovation capabilities. Directions for future research are presented.