71Signal
Score
D
Design WeekSeptember 19, 2026

Originality is overrated. Elaboration is the thing.

The article emphasizes that in brand strategy, the focus should shift from striving for originality to elaborating on existing ideas. This approach can lead to more effective campaigns and better consumer engagement, as it allows brands to build upon familiar concepts rather than starting from scratch.

◎ EmergingcampaignstrategyN AHarvard Business Review

Design Week: There’s one statistic I reach for when a client asks why creative costs what creative costs. Which is often. Sigh. In 2013, Werner Reinartz and Peter Saffert of the University of Cologne published a study in Harvard Business Review.

They took 437 TV campaigns for 90 fast-moving consumer goods brands in Germany, had trained consumer […]

Intelligence PanelSignal score: 70.5 / 100
Primary Signal
Emerging
Building momentum — trajectory being tracked
Brand Impact
Medium
Impact score: 70/100 — moderate relevance to positioning decisions
Novelty
Moderate
Novelty: 60/100 — iterative development of an existing theme
Action Priority
Soon
Flag for the next strategic review cycle
Scoring Rationale

The article presents a significant perspective on brand strategy that encourages practical application, though the idea of elaborating on existing concepts is not entirely new.

70
Impact
weight 35%
60
Novelty
weight 30%
80
Relevance
weight 35%
Brands Mentioned
NN AHHarvard Business Review
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