01 | Our proprietary
research toolbox:
research strengths
With creativity at the core, and the desire to see the world through
the eyes of the consumer, all our methods have been designed to improve
the product development process and product lifecycle.
+ Holistic and interactive product development
+ Iterative ideation
+ Real world creativity sessions
+ Evolutionary sensory workshops
+ Story telling groups
Holistic and interactive product
development
Building innovation – step by step
Innovation, for consumers to accept it, needs to be developed and built
step-by-step. Often, when innovative products and services are tested
with traditional testing methods, they fail. We work to build the link
between current products and services to the innovation so as to understand
the steps required to walk consumers to the new idea
Creating new ideas
Consumers, given the right structure and support, are excellent at ideation.
We use several techniques that generate successful ideas from the consumers.
Ranking and evaluating new ideas
Using our proprietery Idea Deck processes, we are able to work consumer
groups to rank and build numerous ideas. What usually results is not
only some ‘hot’ ideas for today, but also an ‘innovation
pipeline’ to fill the idea pools of our clients. The depth of
information from the emerging themes has delighted our clients’
development teams as they can use the learning for much more than the
current projects on which they are working.
Designing products and services or fine-tuning products, services
and product protoypes
Linking consumers to the actual design of the product saves time and
increases success. We use creative tools that give consumers the appropriate
structure to design and build products and services that best meet their
needs and wants.
Designing flavours, fragrances, textures, images and sounds
Unique in our proprietery development tools, we work with consumers
to design flavours. This is not meant to replace the technical teams
of our clients, but by analysing the process by which consumers design
ways to please their senses, themes emerge – and it is from these
themes that create winning ‘sensations’.
Developing concept statements –
or fine tuning of existing concepts
Given the right structure, consumers are best able to build concept
statements that appeal to them. This is an approach that takes an idea,
uncovers the motivating elements to the target consumer, and then builds
a concept statement that communicates the important insight/context
and key benefits in a highly motivating way. This technique has been
shown to improve quantitative scores of concept statements.
Developing and improving communication
Using a similar approach to building concept statements, communication
(no matter the media) can be successfully built. This approach requires
an open-minded Creative team that relishes simple consumer insights.
This does not replace the traditional Creative team’s role, but
serves as inspirational stimulus for the Creative team to directly connect
to and motivate the consumer.
Testing and improving all aspects of the
product and service development process
All that we do is focused on doing things better, faster, cleverer,
and/or more insightfully – depending on the project needs. It
is not at all unusual to design new tools for commmissioned projects.
We usually blend a mix of tools from our ‘toolbox’, and
modify them as needed. Our clients appreciate that we are not so focused
on our own methods that we lose sight of the real issues for the specific
project. Flexibility and creativity, combined with real consumer knowledge
enable us to successfully improve the development process.
Additionally, our team has a great deal of ‘real world’
experience and often provide technical support to FMCG companies in
getting their products to market better and faster.
Iterative ideation
Nothing is stagnant nor does the world stand still and wait for a new
product or service to be launched. Our processes are designed to capture
great ideas, and then build them and improve them to be ready and up-to-date
Real world creativity sessions
Providing real world context and real consumers builds a real world
link to our creativity tools.
Evolutionary sensory
workshops
Using traditional and modified sensory techniques, we work with consumers
to understand sensory profiles for a category in which our clients are
working. By understanding consumer sensory perceptions of an existing
market, it is possible to build winning sensory profiles for a new product
(or existing product to be improved). This approach is particularly
useful when the sensory attributes of a product are critical to its
success.
Story telling groups
Kids (particularly the younger kids) are highly connected to stories
and characters. We are better able to oberve emotional links and connections
with children even as young as 3 years old for many projects that require
feedback from very young consumers. We use story telling groups to learn
from consumers for advertising and character testing, as well as for
kids’ products and services.
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