I’m frequently asked who the most innovative marketers are.   When I go to the many conferences on marketing and internet marketing…I see that usually the keynotes and most of the speakers are coming from big well know brands….

Guess what?  That’s not where the innovation is happening.   I touched on this on my post called Marketing Democracy a few months ago.   The reality is that the best most innovative marketing is coming from the mid tier, not at the far left side of the long tail.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that something happens to marketers when the get to the top of the food chain….they get conservative.  I get the feeling that these marketers are more concerned about getting knocked off than actually pushing the ball aggressively down the field.

Nothing can be more clear on this that the visit we had this morning to our office from the marketing folks at Icelandair.

Now what is interesting about them is that they are based in a country of only 300,000 people yet they carry over 1.5 million passengers each year.   They are the only airline on earth that carries more passengers than the population of their home country. (they also shared some other interesting stats about Iceland…like 62% of them believe in elves)

So what makes them interesting is the focus on a two pronged strategy:

Getting travel to and from Iceland  and  Convincing the world that trips from the EU to North America and back are faster & more convenient through Iceland.

The also are unique in that they split their business right down the middle between online sales and leveraging the old fashioned channel of travel agents and tour operators.

But what really has me excited is that they have decided to embrace an all online marketing strategy…no more print, no more bill boards, no more TV or Radio…just the internet & WOM.

That my friends is innovation…it’s the kind of boldness that you won’t experience when you get your weekly “escapes” email from your big airline full of trips that don’t even originate from your home airport.

And you know what will happen?  They will succeed.  The other airlines will eventually copy their tactics…and their marketers will get promoted.

So when you are looking for innovation in marketing, be careful….chances are the best innovation is coming up behind you.