The New Innovation Springboard – Brand Vulnerability
“Some of the most revolutionary new ideas come from spotting something old to leave out, rather than thinking of something new to put in.” – Douglas Adams
There are more misses than hits when it comes to new product launches, with as many as 95% of new products introduced each year failing. That’s true even when they are backed by big companies and attached to well-known brands. Ever heard of Parfum Bic, Pierre Cardin frying pans or Jack Daniel’s mustard? These product blunders didn’t last on shelves very long.
The reason so many companies waste significant time and money on “innovations” that don’t breakthrough is simple. They are asking the wrong questions!
It is an age old adage that says that “customers can’t tell you what they want”, or as Henry Ford would put it – “If I listened to my customers I would have built a faster horse”. With today’s saturation of market choices, information transparency and real time communications knowing what we want as customers is becoming an ever more difficult plight.
But one thing we know, for sure, is that people can easily tell you what they DON’T want.
The average human may not be able to clearly point out what they need or even be aware of new technologies in the market that could get them what they truly want, but without a shadow of a doubt they will be able to tell you, in surprisingly clear detail, what they don’t want. Consumer frustrations, whether they be towards a brand in particular or towards an industry as a whole are becoming increasingly more evident and accessible globally. Social media has provided fertile ground from which to spread the seed of negative sentiment and rather than ‘coping with it’ companies should stop what they are doing and ‘learn from it’ in order to grow their brands.
How many times have we heard that inspiration for innovation is hard to come by and requires millions of dollars in R&D investment? How many times have we seen products flop after spending entire years of marketing budgets into research by the bulk? …and how many times, still, have we categorized as ‘innovations’ simple brand extensions that vary from promoting a different package or bringing to market a different flavor?
At the core of true innovation, the kind of innovation that disrupts categories, is the innovation that takes flight from solving existing customer frustrations – particularly if those frustrations are tangible across a whole category and require drastic reinvention. To solve customer frustrations you have to research what is broken (as opposed to what works well). Unfortunately, the state-of-the-art in brand research and customer satisfaction research only measures the positive, leaving the most important information never asked!
Consumer frustrations are certainly a fountain of knowledge for innovative companies that dare look into them with a humble eye. New category leaders will spring among competitors that best understand category frustrations, there impact on brand vulnerability, and the role they can play in daring to solve those frustrations.
Join SMEI on a webinar about how to use brand vulnerability to create something amazing taking place on April 10, 2014.
