I’m very proud of my strategic product design students from TU Delft who presented the results of three months of work to a very senior jury from Philips Global Marketing last friday. The assignment Tijs Timmerman of Philips and I gave the students was extremely challenging and proved to be a great case in point for Brand Driven Innovation. For reasons of confidentiality I can’t go to deep into the assignment but the reaction from Geert van Kuyck, head of Global Marketing Management, Chief Marketing Officer and chair of the jury says it all. I quote: ‘ I’m very pleasantly surprised by the way these product design students have treated a very strategic branding challenge. The result is both inspiring and highly actionable. I’m allocating budget to the implementation of the winning group’s innovation tool, and the prototyping of the design concept that evolved from their tool. 5 other groups I’m sending to our incubators in the Lifestyle, Healthcare and Lighting divisions to make sure their ideas are carried further within our organisation.’
That’s what brand driven innovation is al about: to approach strategic branding issues with a design attitude, using the brand as springboard for meaningful innovation. Kudos to all my students!

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