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Research Methodology

Hitting the Product Innovation Homerun

Posted by Dave Lundahl on June 30, 2011

I am a big fan of baseball.  This is the season (spring / summer) where baseball is top of mind for many.  It has led me to consider how winning at baseball is analogous to how to improve new product innovation.   Success comes from thinking behaviorally in how you approach innovation.  Traditional innovation thinking uses a push-to-market strategy where products are developed and then marketed on the basis of filling identified feature “white space” within target product categories. 

Sensory Scientists and Marketing Researchers, Their Role in the Product Innovation Process

Posted by InsightsNow Marketing Team on March 11, 2011

A Modified Excerpt from Dave Lundahl’s Upcoming Book, “Breakthrough Food Product Innovation through Emotions Research”

“When all think alike, then no one is thinking." — Walter Lippman

The above quote by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Walter Lippman emphasizes the power of critical thinking through collaboration. Differing perspectives cultivate the opportunity for breakthrough ideas to emerge.  This concept applies well to innovation teams; they function best when they are comprised of a melting pot of different perspectives. The diversity of perspectives comes from the mix of professionals trained in and having experience with different disciplines that contribute to thought diversity.

In this article, we will reveal the key players on the innovation team, highlight their respective roles and contributions to the product innovation process, and expose the barriers some of the team players are facing.

Beyond the Inflection Point - Product Line Optimization Tools that Tap Choice, Competition and Consumer Usage

Posted by InsightsNow Marketing Team on January 13, 2011

by Alec Maki, Product Marketing Manager

The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry has reached a fork in the road.  As discussed in the October 2010 article, Paradox of Progress – Product Line Optimization, the Status Quo is Broken, the joy ride of the last 40 years has ended. 

Dr. Andrew Grove, Co-Founder and Former CEO of Intel once said, “Sooner or later, something fundamental in your business world will change.”  In his book Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove discusses his greatest concern in the business world: inflection points.  An inflection point occurs when the old strategic picture dissolves and gives way to another.  For a business, that change can mean an opportunity for even greater success.  But it may just as likely signal a descent into corporate purgatory.

The Elusive Search for the Silver Bullet - Emotion Measurement

Posted by Dave Lundahl on September 8, 2010

Everyone in our industry is looking for a silver bullet – a way to measure emotions.  Why?  There is a belief that if the capability to measure emotions existed, then researchers could incorporate this new source of information to better guide product innovation and development decisions.  However, it’s not that simple.  In fact, I think this is an elusive search.

As Marketing Researchers and Consumer Product and/or Sensory Researchers, we need to focus on “emotion insight,” not “emotion measurement”. The two are extremely different and not necessarily dependent.  Let me explain.

Holism: The Whole as More Than the Sum of its Parts

Posted by Dave Lundahl on June 30, 2010

The word holism is from the Greek meaning all, entire, total of all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.).  Rarely can any system be understood by understanding all of its component parts. However, this is exactly what we do in consumer product research.

Getting Strategic: Focusing the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation

Posted by Dave Lundahl on March 17, 2010

Marketing researchers and their counterparts in product development, sensory researchers, have often been criticized by corporate executives for not being strategic enough. I have always found this interesting since strategists are the first to agree that they need better insights to develop strategy. Many strategy plans are often poorly implemented, resulting in unmet goals. Is it the fault of strategists for not inviting researchers to the table, or the fault of researchers for not delivering insights of strategic value?

Meeting the Challenges of a Changing Marketplace: The Emotionally Driven Consumer

Posted by Dave Lundahl on January 14, 2010

Consumers today are becoming much more emotionally driven in their behaviors. Consumers are finding themselves “depleted” in a number of ways, they have a lack of time, energy, or the financial resources to cope with this ever changing world. According to psychologists, the more depleted the consumer, the more irrational (emotional) they become. This depletion affects how consumers purchase and use products, relying more and more on habitual behaviors – driven more by emotions than rational thought.