Our client has a hypothesis that a new consumer trend presents an opportunity to develop a new product.
1. We validate the trend and size the opportunity, looking also to see if competitors are acting on this.
2. We follow with a web survey among customers to gauge interest and identify key targets, we met with channel partners to determine their appetite and T&Cs required
3. We study the behaviour and attitudes of key targets in-depth
4. Co-creative focus groups help to define the concept
show approach
Innovation
Successful innovation relies on harnessing your full creative potential, selecting the best ideas and developing a plan to deliver success. We're dedicated to ensuring our research enhances rather than stifles your creativity and with a long track record of global innovation projects we're confident you'll be delighted with the results.
Every project is different and no single method suits all, but our flexible multi-disciplined approach means we can always guide you through the product development cycle.
Discover – the creative spark
This is the critical stage where new ideas are generated. Ideas can be large or small, left-field or incremental but they need to be captured and nurtured if they are to go forward. As a creative research agency we facilitate this process by leveraging stakeholder insight to drive success. Our focus groups and co-creation workshops enable you to clarify your ideas, scale the opportunity, and develop the concepts so you can select the winning ideas with confidence. By deploying a wide range of latest qualitative tools and techniques we provide the structure and environment to harness your organisation's creativity.
- Identify opportunities – To focus in the right areas you need to understand the nature and size of the opportunity
- Generate ideas – Capturing your best ideas, bringing out the creative capabilities within you organisation.
The Seedbed - Generating insights to inspire your innovation
The Hothouse - Creating the environment where your ideas can flourish
Select & Refine - select the best ideas and make them work
Having great ideas is just the start of the process, but you need to know which ones will sink, which will swim, and which ones will fly. Our multi-layered approach allows the mix of ethnographic insight into your customers' views, identification of stakeholder needs, co-creative concept development backed up by rigorous and extensive scenario modelling. The work we do focuses on 3 key areas:
- Idea screening – Sifting the real commercial winners from the plain good ideas.
- Concept testing – Bouncing ideas off stakeholders
- Product refinement – Developing ideas, refining around stakeholder input, building market needs
The Refinery - Converting your ideas into commercial propositions
Decide & Go - exploiting the full potential of your concept
So the product is developed, it meets and exceeds all your hopes, but how do you ensure your customers know about it, how do you ensure your channels know about its benefits and how to best sell the benefits, and how do you ensure your comms messages are communicating the right message to the right audience.
Our research looks into:
- Business analysis – Modelling market opportunity of innovation. Business case development, scenario modelling, market scoping
- Go to market strategy – Identify channel needs, adapt marketing plan around client sales environment
- Comms testing – Test the comms messages against target audience, clarify the impact of your marcoms
Evaluate - what’s working, what’s not and what can be done about it
Take a deep dive into success or failure of your product launch, perform an audit of product status against market expectations. More importantly understand what factors are critical in driving sales performance. We use latest ethnographic techniques to uncover what really impacts on your product performance post launch, unpicking successes and failures during the customer journey, in social media performance and in your pricing strategies. And of course knowledge gained here feeds directly into your next phase of innovation.
Approaches
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Our client is seeking to leverage a new technological development – how might this be of use to its customers.
1. Ideation workshop with key stakeholders identifies possible opportunities.
2. We size the maximum potential market for each opportunity across a range of geographies
3. We hold co-creation workshops with key targets to develop concepts
4. A quantitative study sizes the potential market, using conjoint we determine the optimum specs and price points
5. Communications are honed via online focus groups with the different target groups show approach
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The salesteam identifies a potential area to develop service offering.
1. We conduct customer visits with key targets and with channel partners serving these to gain ethnographic insight of current working practices, compensatory behaviours and to discuss potential opportunities
2. Results of the first phase are presented and analysed in an ideation session with key stakeholders – a series of concepts are outlined
3. Quantitative concept tests with customers and channel partners to gauge appeal and potential volumes
4. Marcoms materials are tested via online groups show approach
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Our client has developed a new product following internal R&D process.
1. We place the product with target customers and have them keep an online diary of usage observing general behaviours via video records and also set specific tasks to hothouse the test
2. Placement customers are brought together in focus groups to share their experience, identify bugs and suggest solutions show approach
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Our client has developed a new product following internal R&D process.
1. We place the product with target customers and have them keep an online diary of usage observing general behaviours via video records and also set specific tasks to hothouse the test
2. Placement customers are brought together in focus groups to share their experience, identify bugs and suggest solutions
3. Post-launch we conduct a web survey of users to understand u&a identify show approach
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Our client has developed a new product and is ready to go for launch.
1. We test positioning and messaging via focus groups and a quick web-based survey
2. Post launch we test the effectiveness of the launch campaign and coms and evaluate the user experience feeding KPIs into the next generation of the concept show approach
Case studies
Next gen tech features tested globally
Situation
A leading technology manufacturer was looking to introduce a new generation netbook so needed to gauge appeal of the new portable computing device, and to understand customers' key expectations with regards to product functionality and usage applications.
Outcome
We provided our client with a deep understanding of product's appeal and potential, with clear recommendations for optimal functionality and design that would make the product an attractive and unique proposition in a crowded and competitive market place.
Solution
Our solution was a programme of focus groups with frequent users of internet on-the-go, who were either current or potential netbooks and smartphone users. The groups were preceded by a desk research and retailer interviews and followed by a quantitative web-based survey. The study was conducted in the US, UK and Germany.
Refinery framework steers development of printers into niche market
Situation
A leading global consumer technology company was looking to launch a printer into the niche schools market so needed to grasp the critical product features required and the purchasing dynamics within the market.
Outcome
Product features tailored for education market, with innovation focused on consumers' needs and framed around decisions makers' imperatives. Informed commercial discipline was introduced product design brief at an early stage. Understanding of the commercial operating environment ensured that comms messages were appropriate to the key decision makers.
Solution
Key players in the decision process were identified via survey, then participated in online diaries exploring actual usage in the schools environment, followed by a focus group discussions between users, buyers and product/marketing managers to clarify feature requirements. Follow up depth interviews with key commercial stakeholders within the organisation ensured all stakeholders gained a full 360° understanding of market.
Thinking
A history of the world – in 140 characters
A recent trend on Twitter has been the reliving of historical events as if they were happening in the here and now. A couple of examples include @RealTimeWW2, a ‘live’ account of World War 2, and @TitanicRealTime told from the perspective of a passenger on Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage tweeting as if they had just boarded the ship. Read more
6 tips for marketing the cloud
Cloud Computing – it’s one of those buzzwords that gets technophiles’ pulses racing, and keeps futurologists in beer money. But what about the general public? What do they make of the cloud revolution? We set about finding out. Read more
5 ways to funk up your co-creation
One of the great pleasures in the life of a researcher is having the opportunity to be involved in the creation and development of new products and services – from those first sparks of ideas, when those first little seeds are germinated right through to the detail of packaging, pricing or communications. Read more
Innovation and the commodity product – really?
So, is innovation relevant to commodities? Hell yeah! Not only to the traditional commodity markets, but to those markets where products are falling into the commodity trap – like mobile phones, for example. Read more
Time for a big rethink
I’m at the Economist Big Rethink conference today. A whole day focusing on consumers, how their role has changed as markets have evolved and, more importantly, what their role will be in the future. Read more
Freedom or Failure?
In his recent initial public offering letter (IPO) Mark Zuckerberg provided us with two interesting insights into the Facebook philosophy – “Done is better than perfect” and “Move fast and break things.” For me these two statements represent a more general shift in how software is developed and rolled out. Read more
Innovation through iteration and triangulation
I blogged a few months ago about the differences between academic and real-world research. I referred indirectly to two pretty textbook-ish terms in that blog: iteration and triangulation. Read more
Cloud: buzz word or dirty word?
Over the last 12 months we’ve been taking a detailed look at cloud computing, and in particular how it is going to impact both businesses and consumers around the world. Read more
e-luminate™ – a developer’s perspective
It goes without saying that the technological paradigm shifts of the last 30 years have had, and continue to have, a massive impact on the way we live our lives. No part of our day to day existence remains untouched by the digital revolution. Read more
Sharing in the digital age
There has been a lot of press coverage recently on the Congressional attempts to pass SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) bills. Read more
All stations via bank
From March Londoners will have a new way to pay for travel. If you’re lucky enough to have a contactless bank card you will be able to use it when travelling by bus. Read more
BIG Innovation
It was great to follow Martin and Ken’s reports back from CES – I’d love to have been there too. It got me thinking about the role of research in the innovation process. Read more
Seeing the future – in 3D
Hello again from the CES show in Las Vegas, where we’ve been checking out new consumer products being launched and showcased by leading global tech companies. Read more
So many gadgets, so little time!
Greetings from CES – the world’s largest consumer electronics show, which kicked off today with a whole host of new product announcements from the likes of Nokia, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Ford, Audi and many other leading brands from around the world. Read more
The state of Britain’s high streets: our verdict
To complement the recently published Portas Review on the British high street, we conducted two focus groups to gauge sentiment and find out what improvements could be made to make the high street more relevant to local residents. Read more
Playing in the clouds
As my colleague Martin recently blogged, the cloud is rapidly becoming the key focus area for technology innovation nowadays. I was brutally reminded about this when I trialled a cloud gaming service recently. I’ll come back to the “brutally” bit in a moment. Read more
Forecast: Cloud first, innovation later
I blogged a few weeks ago about my experiences at IP EXPO and just how much IT experts are evangelising about cloud computing. Read more
The reality of the Latin American technology sales environment ….
Vanessa and I have been immersing ourselves in the delights of the Plaza de la Technología and Plaza de la Computación in Mexico City. Along with Santa Ifigênia in São Paulo – it’s a must-see sales environment and critical to understand for any technology company selling into Latin America today. Read more
Transformation through innovation
With the recent death of Steve Jobs, the way innovation can drive change in societies has once again come into sharp view. Innovation is a hot topic, especially in the area of consumer technology, with the rate of product development and a seemingly insatiable demand from customers increasing at an ever-growing rate. Read more
Obscured by clouds
A lot of the research we’ve been doing this year has touched upon cloud computing in one way or another. This made me think: what exactly is cloud computing? I, for one, struggle to define it in just a sentence or two. Read more
Inspiring Innovation
A great example I learned of recently is the solar bottle bulb, developed by students at MIT in association with the Appropriate Technology Collaborative. Check it out, it’s inspiring stuff. Read more
Thought piece
Experts
Kate Anderson - Director
Kate is expert in researching consumer technologies (such as mobile phones, large-format printers and copiers, digital cameras and PCs. She is a champion of combined methodologies, regularly directing multi discipline research across four continents and has written extensively on the subject of research and innovation.
Martin Wootton - Research Director
Martin co-leads our quant research team. He is has built an enviable reputation for his expertise in a wide range of innovative statistical and trade-off techniques. Martin specialises in IT and Telecom sectors.
Bryan Atkin - Director
Bryan co-founded RS Consulting and is recognised across the industry for pioneering new research techniques. Bryan is also a leading thinker on product development, channel management, pricing strategy, market segmentation, customer satisfaction and loyalty tracking.
