WHY VALUE-BASED INNOVATION?
A few decades ago, people wrote and sent letters to exchange information, express gratitude, and build relationship. Today, new solutions are replacing the old ones, we use instant messaging and video chat instead. Solutions come and go but jobs and values remain.
Value is the cornerstone of innovation. As innovators, we must remain laser-focused on the customer struggle (their job) and the personal benefits (values) they obtain when the job is done, so that we can develop products / services that sell.
Are you able to identify values that your customers are seeking? We have spent more than a decade fine-tuning the JTBD methodology, advocated by Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, and applying it to tackle some of our clients’ most challenging business problems with proven successes. Come and join us to learn the customer-centric approach to innovation. In this new flagship program, you will…
Swimsuits are typically meant to be worn while swimming – but Gucci has other plans for its £290 ($381) version. The high-end brand’s swimsuit, a white one-piece with a vintage Gucci logo and cross-over straps, is simple and trendy and already proving to be a hit. However, there is just one problem with the designer suit – it can’t actually be worn in a pool. On the product details listed on Gucci’s website, it states: “Due to the nature of this particular fabric, this swimsuit should not come into contact with chlorine.”
However, the confusion over the purpose of the bathing suit hasn’t stopped people from purchasing the garment, which is currently sold out everywhere.
Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele even recommended “saving it for skirts, denim and anything high-rise”.
The design flaw has amused people on social media who are still questioning why the brand created an expensive swimsuit you can’t swim in.
Gucci designers went above and beyond the functional value of a swimwear and successfully spotted the need for feeling sexy and attractive (emotional value) and to be perceived as open-minded and fashionable (social value) to spice up this classic fashion item.
(Source: The Independent)
In Japan, rice cooker manufacturers are in fierce competition. As technology marches into the future, a bowl of “perfectly cooked rice” has become a “national obsession”. Some expensive models, priced at USD 1,000 or higher, even offer granular control of boiling, steaming and storage.
But is it what we call customer-centric innovation?
In response to the ever-growing diabetes, obesity, and heart disease epidemics, a Malaysian manufacturer invented “Grayns”, the first rice cooker in the world that automatically removes excessive, unhealthy sugar content from the rice grain during the cooking process. The product hit the market by storm and is recommended by nutritionists and doctors worldwide.
The project team successfully spotted unmet customer needs; they want to feel free (emotional value) and reduce guilt (emotional value), and want to be perceived as a disciplined person (social value). This product has successfully steered the company into a blue ocean where competition is irrelevant.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal)
Kimberly-Clark invented the adult incontinence category 30 years ago when it launched the Depend brand. But company research showed that many potential consumers with bladder issues (40% of adults over 50) weren’t even considering the products because they all look and feel like adult diaper, the stigma attached is hard to remove.
The new “Depend” undergarment is a creation of completely new material and production technology with a trendy packaging with transparent windows. They successfully created a product that didn’t remotely look or feel like an adult diaper. The message was that people with bladder issues could reclaim their lives. They are suitable to be wore with different types of clothes — even tight jeans, cocktail dresses — that people didn’t think they could wear anymore.
The Depend brand became the 2014 Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Winner and generated USD 60 million in sales in its 1st year. The tremendous success shows their deep understanding of unmet consumer aspirations, grounded in demand-driven insight. The K-C team were able to convert something that caused consumers anxiety into a source of confidence. (emotional value), and also helped consumers to be perceived as young and healthy (social value), to make them socially active once again.
(Source: The Dallas Morning News)
DURATION: One Day
CLASS SIZE: 15
TRAINING MATERIALS: VBI Design Kit
THEORY / PRACTICE: 30/70
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