“What does innovation in your industry mean to you?” was the question the video producer threw at me. Tough call. Being in the advertising business – the world of “creativity and commerce” – we have to find ways to be innovative every day. It’s part and parcel of our success.

The question originated because Park&Co is among the ten finalist for the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce IMPACT Awards. The chamber is producing a short video on each company for the May 19th award show. So we have to look sharp, sound smart, and be really, really innovative.

I suppose my best answer is found in our recent ADDY Award winning work. No, this isn’t going to be a puff piece on Park&Co. It’s just the best way to answer the producer’s question.

To us, innovation is about HOW we communicate to consumers through being “Ingeniously disruptive.”

We turned Tempe’s Mill Avenue into a catwalk and pedestrians into super models for a word of mouth campaign for MadCap Theaters: Gold ADDY

Words are worth a thousand pictures for Goodwill of Central Arizona’s outdoor and print campaign: Gold and Bronze ADDY’s, and just won a regional Silver ADDY.

We used gripping design and a twist on the navigation conventions of the web in the Halle Family Foundation website to dare visitors to “Ignore” or “Fix” social justice issues surrounding women and children: Gold ADDY

We created letters out of smashed car parts and the personal items you might find at traffic accidents to draw attention to Metro Light Rail’s “Stop on Red” campaign: Bronze ADDY

What I’m most proud of is that it wasn’t one or two ads that won a ton of awards. We won six ADDY’s with five different clients in a variety of media: WOM, web, print, outdoor, train wrap, and video.

So that’s what innovation means to us and how we practice every day in the advertising/communications/sustainable marketing world. What does it mean to you and how do you show it?