Category — Innovation

Successful innovators know what they want their customers to become. By Beth Ann Kaminkow. We are living in wildly exciting times for companies to innovate. Consumers most certainly expect it and many demand it. Some consumers want to be part of it; they feel there is reciprocity in the relationship that makes them co-creators, and the tools now exist to enable this.

As it happens, much of my husband’s life work has been dedicated to innovation. Michael’s expertise specifically focuses on exploring the underlying costs and dynamics of how organizations invest in innovation to create new value. Among family, friends, colleagues and clients, Michael is notorious for responding (when asked his advice), “That’s not the right question” or “What do you want the outcome to be?” As annoying as these responses can be, they can be game changers … read >>

The biggest ideas belong to the fearless and unreasonable. By Sharon Love. Robert Cooper and Scott Edgett, founders of the Product Devel-opment Institute, estimate that “46 percent of the resources companies devote to the conception, development and launch of new products go to projects that do not succeed — they fail in the marketplace or never make it to market.”

Why is innovation so fraught with failure? Why do some companies succeed at innovation, and others, despite their best efforts, fall short? How is it that companies that were once the picture of innovation — like Kodak, for instance — fade away? It wasn’t that Kodak didn’t keep up with the times. It introduced digital cameras, inkjet printers and other accouterments of the digital age. It kept its innovation engine running, and yet that wasn’t enough … read >>

Imagine a supermarket where packaged goods are made to order. By Peter Clarke. It’s amazing how technology has changed our lives over the last few decades with the advent of personal computers, smart phones, and the internet. However, with the exception of improvements at self check-out, the retail store remains essentially unchanged, especially the store shelves.

As marketers seek to satisfy the desires and preferences of an ever growing populous with pre-packaged flavors, scents and sizes, the proliferation of product offerings clogs our shelves, confuses our shoppers and stresses our planet. We need to rethink product packaging, as it is the single largest category of landfill waste and the biggest component of ocean litter that harms marine life. While we have embraced the convenience of disposability, the reality is that a disposable society is no longer a sustainable one … read >>

Loyalty-enabled apps are heat-seeking missiles of promotional opportunities. By Spencer L. Hapoienu. Shopping apps are multiplying daily to entice shoppers into bricks-and-mortar stores. These apps are offering a variety of benefits — from locating available parking spots in the mall, to offers that periodically flash alerts on the app, to in-store GPS to help locate the bee pollen and musk-scented cologne for your Uncle Al.

But like all apps (including the mindless but habitual kind), shopper fatigue will quickly excise the app from the phone if it doesn’t do more than flash an alert for an offer that looks like the same offer in the circular. Given the numerous apps available, how is a consumer to decide which mobile apps to download? In the old dot-com days we used to talk about stickiness, or how to make an application so formidable in its functionality that consumers couldn’t bear to lose it … read >>

Understanding emotional benefits is vital to successful innovation. By Julie Wittes Schlack and Ed Chao. New products so often fail because marketing or innovation managers implicitly assume that unmet needs are rational, that the story starts and ends with consumers who want more convenience, higher quality, or better performance. However, in the end, all rational benefits ladder up to emotional rewards for consumers — they satisfy some emotional need.

For example, convenience often delivers pleasurable feelings of relief from mental exertion. Lower price often delivers strong self-esteem — consumers feel good about themselves for their savvy shopping abilities. These are powerful emotional rewards, which subconsciously drive consumers to seek new products. Rational needs are simply intermediate pathways to what we humans really want: pleasurable emotional experiences. Therefore, focusing innovation on emotional needs offers a more powerful connection to purchase and behavior motivations … read >>

A big idea won’t fly without quick and brilliant implementation. By Allen Adamson. What does the sexy, new, ultrathin LG OLED 3D television have in common with Procter & Gamble’s Tide Pods — those cute little three-in-one laundry cleaners? What do Kraft’s Sizzling Salads dinner kits, which allow you to put a “homemade” dinner on the table in minutes, have in common with 3M’s oh-so-convenient Scotch Pop-Up tape dispenser?

And, what does the Scoop Coffeemaker from Hamilton Beach, the single-serve brewer that lets you use any ground beans, have in common with GE’s Bright from the Start light bulbs — or, for that matter, what does it have in common with Yonanas, a terrific device that allows you to make an incredibly creamy but healthy treat that looks, tastes, and feels like soft-serve ice cream? They are all the result of successful brand innovation, the process by which an idea or invention is translated into a good or service for which people will pay money … read >>