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Innovation Overview

Introduction to Innovation Challenges

• Common Misconception: Companies often have numerous ideas but struggle with successfully bringing them to market.

• Key Issues: Lack of talent, resources, experience, or corporate commitment hinder the effective implementation of innovation processes.

• Focus of Innovation: Success lies in accurately defining the consumer proposition, considering aspects like:

  • Price-to-value equation

  • Product positioning

  • Packaging, distribution, and display strategies

Essential Process Suggestions

New Product Development Challenges

• Most companies follow established product development processes but struggle with execution.

• Important to identify what types of innovations are necessary:

  • Disruptive Innovation: Redefines categories of products, e.g., digital photography made film obsolete.

  • Less Disruptive Innovations: Innovations that fit within existing systems and can be marketed more easily.

Strategies for Successful Innovation

Phase 1: Idea Fishing

• Purpose: Assessing the quality of existing ideas and evolving them into viable products.

• Categories for Idea Generation:

  • Consumer insights: Understanding consumer needs and behaviors.

  • Supplier outreach: Leverage supplier knowledge for new concepts.

  • Employee outreach: Engage staff in the ideation process through competitions and innovation fairs.

Phase 2: Creating Opportunity Area Platforms

• Platforms: Groups of ideas arising from fishings trips that can be developed further.

• Qualitative Research: Identify which platforms have the most potential for meeting consumer needs; examples include:

  • Health beverages

  • Sports beverages

  • New packaging solutions

Phase 3: Iterative Insight Mining

• Objective: Continuously refine and improve product concepts until all elements effectively align:

  • Elements include name, positioning, pricing, packaging, and promotional strategies.

• Feedback Loop: Engage consumers to validate concepts repeatedly, ensuring that all product aspects contribute to a cohesive offering.

Consumer Insight Approaches

1. Consumer Insights

• Methods:

  • Conventional Focus Groups: Engage target consumers in discussions about new products.

  • Ethnographic Approaches: Observing consumers in their natural settings.

  • Online Focus Groups: Using technology to gather opinions across the globe.

  • Shopper Intercepts: Directly gathering insights while consumers shop.

  • Quantitative Research: Collecting data from large groups to identify trends.

2. Supplier Outreach and Consulting

• Suppliers can offer new product ideas through their expertise in manufacturing and processes. Different types of suppliers can enhance the ideation process:

  • Suppliers to suppliers, market research partners, freelance consultants, etc.

3. Employee Outreach

• Engagement Strategies:

  • Competitions for invention, naming, and problem-solving promote creative participation.

  • R&D fairs allow non-R&D employees to contribute insights to product development.

4. Other Notable Approaches

• Crowdsourcing: Utilizing outside talent for innovation challenges.

• Global Product Trends: Keeping abreast of trends through databases and research to inspire new ideas.

• Trade Shows: Attending industry events to gather insights and network for ideas.

Conclusion

• Critical Elements for Success:

  • Continuous experimentation and the willingness to iterate based on consumer feedback.

  • Understanding that innovation is an ongoing process that often requires creative problem-solving and adapting strategies based on market trends and consumer needs.