is there one right way to get to a successful new product launch?
I have the luxury right now of working with several different types of clients - among them are a traditional large CPG company that is rather conservative in their approach to innovation, a different semi-traditional large CPG company that is trying to change they way they approach innovation to be faster and more agile, and a start-up. It is fascinating to be on my side of the bench working concurrently with these clients and seeing how they each are taking very different approaches to their innovation efforts. Some of the differences fall as you’d expect: the large companies have multi-step research processes, lots of stakeholders to get through for approvals, established Stage-Gate processes… My entrepreneurs are fast - like crazy fast. They’re nimble - new info comes in and they pivot on a dime. They have a sense of urgency to get to revenue production as quickly as possible. They don’t have big budgets for lots of research. And their only stakeholders are the buyers they’re trying to sell into - otherwise, there are only a couple people making all the decisions. Not too surprising, there, right?
That start-up is basically a case study on how Mission Field thinks about innovation and they reflect a lot of the advice we give our larger clients:
Have a unique, good idea? Move quickly because someone else somewhere else probably has a very similar idea and you want to beat them to market.
You don’t need a bunch of rounds of research and 18 different quant studies on every minute aspect of your proposition. Leverage your network for feedback (your friends, your family, your kids’ friends’ parents…) and only do the formal research when you need to.
And hey, use those retailers for input & feedback, too!
Give on the little things while keeping the integrity of your (unique, good) idea intact. Can’t use an ingredient you really wanted to? Fine - what can you use? Can’t make that claim you really loved? Okay, what can you say about that product?
Don’t dilute your idea with a lot of other people’s “optimizations” which really result in a different, less unique, more mediocre idea.
But don’t despair, those larger clients also have some great stuff going on and opportunities for others to learn from:
We’re in the early stages of a retail lab and my client’s product is already killing it. Like, I’ve never see product fly off the shelf so fast like I did this past weekend. It was so important that my client was there, in person, at the research event to see if with their own eyes. To hear and see live the reactions and effusive praise from shoppers who were trying it in the store. No research report could do the job as effectively as being there live did. (And if I were them, I’d be starting to plan my national launch while we finish this test.)
I did a small sample CLT for another client a few weeks ago where the results were a little inconclusive and we were on a tight timeline to get to final formulas to stay on track for an upcoming test. That client agreed with us to conduct a quick turnaround, 1-day, informal on-site couple rounds of “friends & family” qualitative research with slightly updated formulas with a round of optimizing in between them. I highly recommended that the client team have one person there live, and they agreed. It turned out to be critically important that the client was able to hear the feedback live, even ask a couple of their own questions, and we had formulations locked within 18 hours of the later group, staying on track for the overall project. Their ability to know what they needed to better understand, and then take the fastest route to getting those answers was definitely a different approach than they would have traditionally taken.
So, no… of course there is no single one-size-fits-all right way to innovate and get to a new product launch. But there are ways to be more creative, to get the job done faster, to make the right compromises without diluting the idea. And wherever possible - hear the feedback yourself, whether it’s from consumers, retailers, or your kid’s soccer teammate’s best friend’s mom who just so happens to be your target audience…