Sellion

I NS IG HT S

brand development specialists

Discovery - The Pursuit of Breakthrough Ideas

How do individuals and businesses develop new products and services? It all begins with a trip into the Ocean of Opportunity and charting the waters. Before we set sail, we need to know where were going. Shall it be the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, or the South Atlantic? The relational concept we need is a Product Innovation Strategy, which helps denes the territories of strategic focus for our efforts. Although ideation and concept development should be an open-minded process, borders remind us of what ideas are in and out of bounds and improve the quality of ideas we produce in the time we allocate to the Discovery process. The following list of techniques, organized according to whether were looking outside or from within, will help your organization come up with new ideas.

External Environment
Use Voice of the Customer (VOC) research. This involves conversing with your customers, trying to identify their problems, unmet needs and simply asking for suggestions where you can improve. If in Business-to-Business, try to understand their business operation and its workow. For consumers, try to uncover how your product ts into their lifestyle. Using and maintaining customer proles will not only focus your communication beyond the generic and subjective, but it will elicit more candid responses now and in the future. Specic techniques include interviews, brief surveys, customer visits, and running a weblog. Work with Lead Users - organizations and individuals that are passionate and active users of the functions and benets your product provides, whose needs extend far beyond an average user, and who are generally well ahead of current market trends. Analyze your customers industry for shifts and disruptions that affect the activities in their value/ supply chain. Where there are problems or trends, lie opportunities for emerging markets and products. Develop alternate scenarios of the future that reect best and worst cases, as a tool for creating and revising your product innovation strategy. The future is uncertain. Knowing how to react in advance of unexpected changes is at the heart of all strategy be it commercial, military, or personal. Analyze your competition for their strengths and weaknesses, in addition to their keeping an eye on their activities up and down the value/supply chain. Look into your suppliers activities and ventures. Talk with them. Are they currently engaged in or pursuing other activities and areas from which you may take advantage of, now or in the future? Observe - Attend trade shows, read trade publications (foreign & domestic), read academic/scientic journals and weblogs, and watch the activities of universities with departments engaged in R&D related to your innovation strategy. Acquire professional intelligence services that can provide you with specic industry trend reports or research, analysis, and recommendations customized to your particular needs.

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brand development specialists

Internal Environment
Conduct primary research & development that is based on stages separated by critical review sessions. These sessions (aka gates) will examine progress to date, determine technical and commercial viability, and decide whether to proceed to the next stage, return again after more study, or cancel the project altogether. Such discipline results in research projects that are directed, focused and more productive than those based on sheer curiosity. For special organizational conferences and events, organize multiple breakout sessions that foster open discussion of the organizations industry and trends, their strengths and weaknesses, and lastly suggestions where opportunities may lie. Develop in-house suggestion schemes and idea banks. Electronic tools may include intranet discussion boards or weblogs. Employ in-house Ideation Evangelists whose sole job is the coordination of all activities related to idea generation, collection, and dissemination. Try Plussing - If you already have an idea intended for one line, try asking other line managers how they could apply the base concept to their products. Give personnel time allowances for scouting and personal creative development projects. Use creativity tools and conduct staff exercises such as storyboards and skits. You may consider commissioning outside professionals to come in for special sessions to help induce creative thinking.

Results
The purpose of all these techniques is to identify opportunities in the form of: Unmet needs, problems, emerging areas, profit areas, and voids and gaps. With these opportunities in hand, well shape them into: Major initiatives and ventures, research projects, customer solutions, new line extensions or even platforms, and lastly revised product roadmaps.

About Us
Sellion is a brand development company specializing in bringing health, beauty, nutritional, and homeopathic products to market. Our multi-disciplinary team can help you in the ideation process, and investigate the merits of your concepts, build a business case, development strategy, and launch plan for marketing and distribution across the US retail landscape.

For more information, give us a call at: (401) 294-2660