Newness

One of the key learning that we can get from Helmut Krone is what it means to be innovative.  Krone defines “new” as what you’ve never seen before; something that is not related to anything you’ve seen before in your life.  New things are hard to judge because you have no frame of reference and there is a tendency to distrust them.  Usually somebody else has to tell you the merit of the new creation.

In Krone’s opinion people confuse being fashionable with being new.  People think that recognizing and applying what is in and trendy makes them innovative. 

Krone also believes that “doing your own thing” or innovating for the sake of innovating might not always be the right way to go. 

When you face a situation where there are two options: “doing your own thing” or make the ad as good as it can be, you should chose the second alternative.  Until you know how to solve a problem on an honest and effective way, you should copy what it is out there and working.  Krone admits that for several years he copied the work of Bob Gage, until he developed his own personal style.

How important is to be innovative?  The following words illustrate Krone’s thoughts on that: “Beauty and style are qualities I count as secondary.  The only quality I really appreciate is newness.