11- distilling strategy from innovations
This exercise will enable you to learn to see the strategic objectives behind innovations.
see page 113 of BDI.
brand driven innovation where branding, innovation and design meet
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Team Synergize&Co
After reading the chapter, we came up with products that fit into different types of innovation strategies.
The first one that we would like to discuss is the co-branding between Fatboy and Marimekko. For those who don´t know Marimekko, it is a Finnish fabric brand well known for its graphic design patterns.
Fatboy introduced the original beanbag with the typical Marimekko fabrics. We don´t know the deal between Fatboy and Marimekko, but the price difference (70€) is huge and we did not expect this difference. Of course the product is more expensive because Marimekko also wants margin. Next to this, Fatboy´s products that differ from their standard model are kept at a higher selling price, because Fatboy likes to keep these products exclusive. As for innovation strategy, there is no innovation in product nor in technology, but in broadening their market.
Both Fatboy and Marimekko want to extend their target group and their product portfolio. Fatboy and Marimekko originally have a different target group and with this co-branding they try to attract each other’s target group to enlarge their own. Thus the innovation is a market development, and this would make a big difference for Fatboy entering the Finnish market, introduced by Marimekko, and the other way around. Marimekko’s graphics fit into the Fatboy brand values because they both take a lot of care in good design, bright colours, clean and modern style.
Fatboy needed to make a difference because of all the copies appearing after their success. They were the first ones introducing different kind of beanbags in the Dutch market, so co-branding with Marimekko is an easy and safe way to stand out from other brands.
Dyson introduced in the mid 90’s a vacuum cleaner called, G-Force. They patented the “Dual Cyclone” technology, it was the first one without a dust bag. It is quite a revolutionary product, without giving a new product innovation because it is still used for the same purpose, vacuum cleaning. The brand was build on this technology and all their products have it, we could say that the company is technology driven. It also makes a change in the aesthetics of the product, Dyson made the housing cleaning transparent to give the user more insights in the product technology.
Following these features, Dyson’s vacuum cleaners look very hi-tech and futuristic, this could attract a new market group. But would the previous target group also buy this device? This makes a big difference in the risks that are taken, people like to stick to the “know how to use” products. Dyson´s G-Force can be overwhelming for the usual target group of vacuum cleaners. But this risk also can open a new market, for men willing to clean up with this robust masculine product. Therefore we think of Dyson´s innovation as a market/ technological innovation.
Dyson´s latest introduced product, the hand dryer (Airblade), is based on their already known technology. Instead of using a wide jet of heated air, it uses a layer of unheated air traveling at around 400 miles per hour. The Dyson Airblade dries hands in 10 seconds and uses less electricity than conventional hand dryers. Next to that the hand dryer is more hygienic because of fewer contact with the device. This product is a very clear example of a market innovation. Dyson could use their knowledge of the technology to design a product that was completely new to them. With this product they entered a new market, a Business-to-Business market for public sanitary.
Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
Team EFCOM
During this exercise, we have discussed a number of success and failure stories and we decided to present here the most striking examples of them.
Our success story was about the SAAB turbo engine. A reason for this success was the fact that the company merged in this new product, a known technology that they used before in planes, with their technology in making cars. In this way they combined their expertise in two fields in one innovation. This way of innovation was really logical for their brand and by doing this they also introduces a new market of turbo cars, which targeted young people who liked speed in their driving. We think that this is a nice example of brand driven innovation. An example of external opportunities which triggered this innovation was the fact that more young people started to drive at this decade.
One of the failure stories that we discussed was the Google wave. Google wave was software for real time editing, where emails were combined with social networks and load of other applications. In the end Google Wave turned out to be a major failure for Google. The brand ‘Google’ is normally known for its ability to make information easy to reach in a fast and simple way. We therefore think that the main reason of failure of Google Wave is the loss of focus on their brand. By developing this software Google wanted to implement other fields like social networks in their portfolio, but this failure showed that the step into this new was not realistic for Google or people just weren’t waiting on another lot to provide these services.
Oct 20, 2011 @ 7:11 pm
6MINUS1
Reverse engineering the strategy behind an innovation is a tricky business, especially when discussing successful innovations. Analysts will always try to reverse engineer the strategy behind the success and will try to draw conclusions to help future strategy-decision-making. In some cases, the strategy that is distilled will be different from the initial strategy that led to the innovation. Business models change, consumer preferences change, internal and external influencing factors change; strategy is dynamic. When distilling strategies from innovation, we should bear in mind that our perception of the strategic foundation of some innovations may be wrong.
A good example from our chosen innovations is the Toyota Prius. When discussing the strategy behind the first big hybrid car, we discovered that our perceptions were very different. The Prius was the first hybrid car to hit the consumer market successfully, but did the innovation represent a change in strategy or was it just a pet-project of the CEO? Was the Prius the first manifestation of the new strategy or did its success make the company rethink its strategy?
Toyota was always known to be a fast-follower in the car market, offering middle-range cars to their customers. Currently, they are promoting innovation and sustainability as their main drivers and are leading innovators. We believe that Toyota was trying to change their strategy from fast-follower to innovator in order to get ahead of competition in a world with growing demand for sustainable products. Competition was rising; safety and overall quality were beginning to become commonalities and new value needed to be found. The Toyota Prius was a try-out project and became very successful, because it fitted the need to show your eco-sensitivity.
Therefore, we believe that the success of the Prius redefined the overall Toyota strategy, pushing Toyota towards an innovation- and sustainability-leader in the car industry. While our perception may be that the company was following a sustainable innovation-leader strategy, the initial strategy may have been: extending out portfolio with an eco-friendly car that will enhance the brand perception.
From this case we learned that we need more information on the company to distill its strategy, because our perception of the strategy is enormously influenced by the promotion of the current strategy. Reverse engineering the strategy is tricky, because strategy is dynamic.
Oct 24, 2011 @ 6:11 pm
G3
From what we haven discussed during the session, we ¬¬found KeyShot, which is a fast rendering software could be an interesting case to talk about here.
We triggered the discussion with these several questions:
1.What makes this product special?
2.Is it a logical innovation?
3.What is its purpose?
4.What strategy was implemented?
Keyshort is a new rendering approach, it offers fast rendering with little technology knowledge. Users only need six easy steps to finish rendering, a quick workflow. (http://www.keyshot.com/ tutorial video) This is the strongest advantage that users can get from the software. With the help of Keyshot, even junior design students can render out amazing pictures. In some extent, the software also helps designers who are not good at playing software build up their confidence. What’s more, the price of Keyshot is quite low, that means, Keyshot can be easily access to company and even amateur designers. The newest generation is about being released, in this version; designers not only render models in the software, but also make animation with it.
Keyshot can be count as a logical innovation. The oldest Keyshot is named Hypershot, it creates previously unknown demand, that designer need a relief from complex techniques of expression. The real-time rendering process is more logical than standard rendering process. Designers need to know the effects they can get before rendering.
The purpose of this product is to break down the complexity barriers of creating photographic images from 3D models. The designers can easily try out their concepts and make design decisions.
LUXION stressed that they are the experts behind designers, they will help designers to deal with the technical problems about lighting simulations, they want the designers can put more energy on creating instead of wasting time on expression. They aim at providing a render tool that is easy, fast and amazing. LUXION is the expert in front of designers; it also has a brain trust behind its back. The company has a group of strategic partners to help them develop Keyshot. It is the guarantee to keep the innovative image of the company.
Oct 24, 2011 @ 9:12 pm
Group 13 - Paper Planes
First of all, we came back to the exercise where we arranged different kinds of innovations into a table. From that point we selected some from there, however we also came up with new ideas which could even fit more to the topic. The innovations selected to describe are shown below:
Twitter
If we look at Twitter, people sometimes wonder why it is such a success. Especially in the beginning when Twitter just started and was not really popular yet (early adapter stage), a lot of people didn’t expect Twitter to grow into such a popular website/service. If you look at the actual innovation, it is not very radical. Basically it is just posting status-updates like it was already possible in Facebook and other social networks. There is a major difference though, and that is that your twitter page is much more similar to a weblog (this concept existed already for a long time, and was/still is very popular) then to a personal profile on a social network. So you could describe twitter as a collection of micro-blogs (the messages are short, there is a limitation) and essential to its success is the ability to use mobile devices to post something on twitter. Also it makes it possible to not only follow your friends (like Facebook) but also famous or inspiring people that you don’t personally know. Now if you consider all this, it is actually pretty clear what the advantages of Twitter are over other services like Facebook and weblogs. It makes full use of the potential of mobile devices, it is less attached to a personal profile, and in practice it costs less time to post (or to actually read posts) than a weblog (which again makes it perfect for mobile devices).
Nespresso
Nespresso is our second choice. Nowadays is the European leader in the portioned coffee market. Its system was based on changing the coffee experience without losing on the essentials of coffee making. For that, they created coffee portions, objectified in capsules that fit on their own coffee machine. Thus, every user could have many different flavours without compromising the quality. Furthermore, one of the main characteristics of it was the user friendliness and the time efficiency. Just one movement was required to get a coffee and quality is always equal. From the user there was a huge transition from making coffee with real beans to making it with only a capsule.
Surprisingly, when looking for more information from their success, we discovered that the experience change was not the only key point. As far as Nespresso has always been innovative, they also had a notably rapid adoption and presence on the Internet. Approximately a decade ago, a club was created with an online shop was established aiming the orders for coffee machines and capsules. Hence, to reach their objectives, Nespresso became active in the traffic management aspect for its websites and launched a strategic qualitative and quantitative monitoring agenda in order to closely follow demand in key markets. With the growth of its e-business budget, Nespresso places great importance on the strategic optimization of organic search listing. The brands official sites are ranked at the top of the search result listings, yielding maximum visibility. It is clear
To conclude, what we have realized how the strategy can really be more innovative that the product in itself. However, for several reasons we usually can not detect this fact, mainly because we need much more information to dissect it . This is well explained with the internet search engines Nespresso factor.
Oct 25, 2011 @ 10:59 am
Group 14
Nike + iPod
The Nike + iPod is an innovation that allows runners to get summarized data from their runs. The received data can be used to get an overview of the complete run or to compare different runs to each other as well as to compete against friends and other runners across the world. The Nike + iPod works with a sensor that is placed in a pocket under the insole of a specially made Nike running shoe. The sensor sends signals to your iPod, iPhone or other Apple products.
This innovation is not very radical in a technology point of view so what makes it special is the collaboration between these two famous and iconic brands. Both brands are very strong in themselves and that arises the question: what do they win from this collaboration?
We believe that one of the reasons for both parts is that it is simply a PR-trick because a collaboration like this gets a lot of attention. The union also works out well because the two brands already have similar target groups. From Apple’s side it can be a way to catch the attention of people who love sports as well as to point out an additional way to use the apple products. The collaboration also strengthens Apple’s vigour image. From Nikes side it is a way to show their innovation skills since they are incorporating a technology in their shoes that have not been used for this purpose before. Further, it is an opportunity for Nike to ride along on Apples recent success wave.
The companies themselves say that the purpose with the innovation is to change the way people run and to create a better running experience (Mark Parker, Nike CEO) and to take music and sports to a new level. “The result is like having a personal coach or training partner motivating you every step of your workout” (Steve Jobs, former Apple CEO).
Oct 25, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
G3
From what we haven discussed during the session, we ¬¬found KeyShot, which is a fast rendering software could be an interesting case to talk about here.
We triggered the discussion with these several questions:
1.What makes this product special?
2.Is it a logical innovation?
3.What is its purpose?
4.What strategy was implemented?
Keyshot is a new rendering approach, it offers fast rendering with little technology knowledge. Users only need six easy steps to finish rendering, a quick workflow. (http://www.keyshot.com/ tutorial video) This is the strongest advantage that users can get from the software. With the help of Keyshot, even junior design students can render out amazing pictures. In some extent, the software also helps designers who are not good at playing software build up their confidence. What’s more, the price of Keyshot is quite low, that means Keyshot can be easily accessed by a company and even amateur designers. The newest generation is about being released, in this version; designers not only render models in the software, but also make an animation with it.
Keyshot can be seen as a logical innovation. The oldest Keyshot is named Hypershot, it creates previously unknown demand, that designers need a relief from complex techniques of expression. The real-time rendering process is more logic than a standard rendering process. Designers need to know the effects they can get before rendering.
The purpose of this product is to break down the complexity barriers of creating photographic images from 3D models. The designers can easily try out their concepts and make design decisions.
LUXION stressed that they are the experts behind designers, they will help designers to deal with the technical problems about lighting simulations, they want that designers can put more energy in creating instead of wasting time on expression. They aim at providing a render tool that is easy, fast and amazing. LUXION is the expert in front of designers; it also has a brain trust behind its back. The company has a group of strategic partners to help them develop Keyshot. It is the guarantee to keep the innovative image of the company.
Oct 25, 2011 @ 6:01 pm
leCON7
For an optimal contribution during the discussion, we divided three innovations among the group members. In teams of two they had to dive into the innovation and come up with a brief analysis on the innovation strategy used.
CITROEN 2CV
The Deux-chevaux, a car developed by Citroen to target the lower-end of the market. They started development before the second world war. The goal was to create a car for rural use; it had to be able to carry two people and a 50kg cargo comfortably. During the war the development ground to a halt, but as soon as the war had ended Citroen continued development. When sales started the car was successful and had a waiting list for buyers.
Citroen had differentiated and targeted a market which was not covered by competitors yet, the rural market (farmers and small villages) and designed the car to fit to the requirements for the users. Because they were keen in developing a new car for an unmet market, they succeeded in market innovation. Because of the very successful introduction the car grew to become an icon and Citroen could continue production until 1990.
DYSON AIR MULTIPLIER
Dyson is famous for its technological inventions for existing house appliances. They started with bag- and filter- free vacuum cleaners and recently introduced the Dyson Air Multiplier. This device projects a stream of hot and cold air into the room without using fast-spinning blades or visible heating elements. It fits perfectly in their product portfolio. However, this new technology comes with a price tag of at least $299,99. Although this looks like a lot of money and only affordable by the ‘rich and famous’, this might turn out to be a real cash cow, like Dyson’s vacuum cleaner.
The type of innovation strategy Dyson follows is mainly focused on new technology. Like we mentioned before, they use existing products and try to come up with technological solutions to make them work better. A logical consequence of this strategy is the entrance of a new market, but this is not where Dyson is looking for. They try to make their high end and technological advanced devices accessible for everyone. By mainly focusing on technological driven innovation the risk of a possible failure is very low, because the target group is familiar with the product and knows what it can do.
EYE TOY
The eye toy was introduces in 2003 by PlayStation, it was the first real innovation that the user is the controller, instead of the user controlling the controller. At that time it was a real innovative idea but due to the limitations of the product is was not very successful. You could not play that many (exciting) games and it did not function optimally.
At that time is was a logic innovation, but introduced to early because of the fact that the technology was not that far evolved at that time that the eye toy could function optimally. It could have been a strategic innovation to keep up with the competition, unfortunately Xbox introduced a similar product in 2010 and until now this product is far more successful than the eye toy ever was.
CONCLUSION
‘In brand-driven innovation, the innovation strategy is the plan that establishes how to use the development of new products, services, processes or business models to fulfil the brand’s promise.’ We agreed that the Citroen was successful because they kept to the brand promise with the introduction of the 2cv; the Dyson was a technological innovation entrenched in the brand promise which made the product acceptable in the market while the toy eye was a ‘failure’ because of the timing of its introduction to the market. We also agree that innovation must not be too radical to minimise the risk. It will be tempting to enter a new market with the new product or to add the newest technology to it, so don’t try to be a fool! A company also needs early adapters being familiar with the brand. The urge and necessity to constantly innovate depends on the level an organisation finds itself as described in the Maslow’s pyramid of needs. Companies that provide products, services or experience that fit into the physiological frame of the triangle will probably need less innovation when compared to an organisation that fits into the self actualization frame.
Oct 27, 2011 @ 11:28 am
Paradox 20
We decided to pick two brands to evaluate on their innovation strategy choices: Polaroid PoGo and Logitec’s space navigator 3D mouse.
Polaroid PoGo is a mobile pocket format photo-printer to which you can send your picture and print it immediately. The most innovative part about the product is the thermic paper that can change the color of the paper by using warmth, and is dry already when it comes out.
Everyone of course knows the old Polaroid camera from instant photographing. The disadvantage was that it prints already if you push the button. With the Polaroid PoGo you can decide yourself which pictures to print and which not.
In this example it is easy to address why Polaroid brought this product on the market; to open up a new market. This is because they lost market share, and even got bankrupt. Only it is set on the market very late, because digital cameras and printers are there for a long time already. This fact, together with the fact that instant printing of pictures could only be useful for artists and on weddings, makes that the innovation is not that successful.
The Logitec Space Navigator 3D mouse is an ergonomically shaped combination between a mouse and joystick that is mainly designed for 3D (CAD) designers started design tablets. It is a can be used very intuitively, and several different actions can be done simultaneously.
The innovation is a logical one for Logitec, because this company already made mice, but these mice could not compete to the tablets anymore. That is why Logitec started to make their own device, which is very convenient to use in 3D-environments. It is a technological innovation on an existing market and is meant to shield off competition. The Space Navigator 3D mouse became a success because it was a new kind of 3D mouse in the market that is very intuitive and comfortable in use and is compatible with a lot of 3D applications.
Oct 28, 2011 @ 1:47 pm
Team Nine
Distilling strategy from innovations
Wii
The Wii from Nintendo was a very unexpected product. Nintendo is a famous gaming console brand which sells video game consoles and video games aimed at children (Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda). The entire video game market was innovating in technical specifications; e.g. supporting more formats, better graphics, faster processor, supporting Wi-Fi. Nintendo had also followed this trend with first introducing the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube. However, they shifted from this trend by introducing the Wii; a console which did not provide much better graphics compared to its predecessor, the GameCube. However, if we look at the target group of Nintendo, they are overall younger than the target audience of PlayStation and Xbox. Though, Nintendo’s games are ideal for families and/or parties. The brand brings out the playfulness of youth. Nintendo elaborated on this principle and came with a product that does not provide superb graphics. Instead Nintendo provides the ability to play playful games controlled by body movement, which makes it particularly nice to play for kids, but also nice to play for families and parties. They leveraged on a new technology, but kept their core objectives and target group close. Nintendo clearly won this war by introducing the Nintendo Wii. Their sales skyrocketed and clearly left the other two major competitors behind to compete for better graphics.
Betamax
During the 1970s, Sony developed a machine designed to deliver home video-taping equipment. The machine used Betamax technology, and hit the stores in 1975. It was meant to captivate people from all ages who were interested in movies, videos and TV recording. It was a very surprising innovation because it was the very first analog magnetic tape videocassette recording format. From the beginning Sony had been known for creating its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies. In its first year, 30 000 Betamax video recorders were sold in the United States alone. Though, a year later Sony’s rival JVC came out with the VHS (Video Home System). By January 1977, there were four more Japanese electronics companies manufacturing and marketing VHS-based machines. The Betamax had better picture quality than the VHS, but the VHS machines were much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which would obviously attract companies to support that format. On the other hand, Sony made a mistake by revealing key aspects of the Betamax technology which could be incorporated into the VHS. For most users, the main reason to choose VHS was the longer time to record that the Betamax lacked. Standard Betamax tapes lasted only 60 minutes while the VHS offered 3 hours. Later they extended the recording time of the Betamax tapes, but it was too late; VHS had won the video format war.
As the two formats were different, the consumers were forced to decide between the two. Sony was pressured as its competitor lowered their prices. Between legal actions against Sony, due to copyrights problems, and the hard competition, the costumers showed preference for the VHS. If they involved the users (external influences) more during the innovation project, maybe they could have prevented these mistakes.
Harley Davidson
Harley Davidson is a brand that is well known for its manufacturing of motorcycles. The company sells heavyweight motorcycles designed for cruising on the highway, popularly known as “Harleys”. The company has been doing this for over 100 years. They have a distinctive design and exhaust sound and are especially noted for their tradition of heavy customization that gave rise to the chopper style of motorcycle.
Harley-Davidson sustains a loyal brand community which they keep active through clubs, events; and they even have a museum! Licensing of the Harley-Davidson brand and logo accounted for $40 million (0.8%) of the company’s net revenues in 2010.
Harley Davidson tried to expand their portfolio by introducing a perfume. This is not related to the brand promise and eventually failed. Everybody knows that ‘real’ biker men do not wear perfume. They want to smell like the road they ride. So this was not a target group that they could reach and the loyal brand community did not welcome this new product in the portfolio.
Nov 02, 2011 @ 5:34 pm
peer2peer
Brands: Lego, Skype, Post-it, Cirque du Soleil, Tata Nano
[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/In Practice-Chapter 4.jpg[/img]
Nov 02, 2011 @ 9:09 pm
- shiqi -
We found some examples and picked the most striking one to present. The brand is called “Home plus”, a supermarket chain/retail store which is jointly owned by Tesco and Samsung. In South Korea, Home plus ranked No.2 and wanted to exceed the No.1 supermarket, E-mart. Home plus had a fewer number of stores compared to E-mart, if they wanted to overtake the number it cost a large amount of money.
They discovered that most Koreans tend to shop in stores near their homes because it is more convenient. Some of them even hardly have time to go shopping. Thus, instead of opening new stores Home plus designed an innovative shopping service for consumers, focusing especially on the commuters as their target group.
They “bring the stores to consumers” by posting product images at the subway station. Dull grey walls suddenly become supermarket shelves, displaying all products a real supermarket also has. Consumers scan QR codes linked to the products which will automatically land in the consumers’ online cart. When the online purchase is done, the products will be delivered to your door right after you get home.
We think this move is a little risky because this virtual store still misses the physical part, so quality of products cannot be checked by consumers themselves. This leads to another problem: consumers do not have the power to choose because they receive the products in a passive position. Thus, we think this new service can be an addition to traditional supermarkets, but still cannot replace it. And that’s exactly what Home plus provides. Consumer can still go to Home plus’ physical store, but they also can choose to shop at the subway.
For the consumers, the shopping experience is convenient and quick like online shopping, and still can see the 1:1 size pictures of products when shopping. In addition to that, Home plus manages to transform boring waiting time to enjoyment of shopping and save time for people who are too busy to go to an actual supermarket. As for the company, instead of spending money on opening a real store, they rent the space to create a virtual store in the subway where can easily show their products to target group, and at the same time have the effect of advertising.
As a result, Home plus overcame the obstacle – having fewer stores, and the rank is almost the same as the NO.1 E-mart. From this case, we can learn that making the right decision to guide the brand is really important. It is a good example of leverage by applying new technology (QR code) to reach the goal: exceed the competitor. They meet the consumers’ needs and solve a paradox: boring waiting time becomes saving time and a convenient way of shopping. Both their online and offline stores are beneficial, and they improve the brand image by only one innovative service.
Nov 02, 2011 @ 11:02 pm
Group 12
S.M.A.R.T.
1. The idea of the SMART car was that it would be a:
- Tiny car (which could be easily parked in big European cities)
- An energy efficient car (mainly because its low weight)
- A incredible cute car (tiny and the coloured panels were replaceable)
- A different presentation for consumers (you could just pick one from a huge pillar)
In that sense the car was very innovative, it was one of the first cars to care for the environment and think about the parking aspect of driving. Also the way a SMART was bought was unique in the car branch.
Qua attention the car was a big success, everyone knew or heard from it. Commercially wise the success was not as great as expected. It lost more money every year and nowadays the brand isn’t a big player at all on the car market. The brand, which originated from Swatch watches, even became a silly car, a car which was laughed at for its looks and image. The fact that SMART stems from Swatch seems illogical. The leap is just too big.
2. The purpose of the innovation was to change the car industry, a friendly car which was not based on status, a useful car in which you could easily do groceries or visit your nearby family. Therefore it was definitely open to new markets, or better, open to define new markets.
Senseo
1. From collaboration between Philips en Douwe Egberts (a Dutch coffee brand) the Senseo derived, a quick and easy coffee making machine (introduced in 2001). An innovation which made the fully saturated and mature coffee market shakes on his knees. It was a big success in the Netherland. In the first four years over 15 million copies were sold worldwide and by 2007 one-third of the coffee in the Netherlands came from pads. The innovation was very logical for Douwe Egberts and Philips, looking at their core of business and the trends in that time (individualization, personalization, ease of use and appearance of espresso).
2. Douwe Egberts was the main player in this cooperation Philips was very clever to participate in this project. The product is often used to show that they fulfil their brand promise (Sense & Simplicity is their slogan, red). So the purpose was on the one hand fulfilling the brand promise of Philips and on the other hand gaining sales from the pads for Douwe Egberts. This, however, did not work out as planned. They were unable to patent the pads because according to the judge they were too little innovative.
Team Coffee-Break (group 12)
Nov 03, 2011 @ 12:27 am
group 23
During this exercise we discussed several different innovations, some more successful than others.
Today the Hummer brand is represented in several other markets like; perfumes, clothing, computers, toys etc. These products vary in their successfulness. However they are all based on the hummer cars, which is the base that the whole brand builds on.
[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/douwe egberts aromettes.jpg[/img] Another of the discussed innovations was the Douwe Egberts, Aromettes. These are coffee bean-shaped products, which are made out of compressed coffee powder. So they grind coffee beans and then compress them into coffee bean shaped products again, this is done for more easy dosage of coffee, as one “Aromette” is made for one cup of coffee.
This is an example of a failed innovation as they were only sold in the Netherlands for about 2 months, and then removed. However in France, the same product received prize as product of the year. This asks the question of why it was unsuccessful in the Netherlands. We believe that this depends on that many customers want to control the dosage of the powder by themselves and that 1 or 2 “beans” gives either to weak or to strong brew.
After analyzing and discussing this case we concluded that maybe Douwe Egberts wanted to tag along the Senseo-train and make a product for people who didn’t want to buy a new coffee machine but still enjoyed the benefits in the new “coffee-pods”. We consider this to be a market innovation, since no new techniques are used, but both the product and the market are new.
Other discussed products and services was the highspeed-train FYRA, the website and community of Battle.net, the Ipad and also a throwable 360 degree ball camera which could reshape the way how we take and experience photos. Check out the video on the link! (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/throwable-panoramic-ball-camera-shoots-360-degree-panoramas/)
Nov 03, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Group 15
In this exercise, we studied six innovations that we found interesting, some of them were also used in the previous exercise on p. 25 in the book.
In general, these innovations are interesting because they are all introducing something new or outstanding to the market. But it should be noted that not all of them were commercially successful and some of them are only in the starting phase of their potential success. The possible purpose, strategy and the possible scenarios behind the innovations seems to be, not surprisingly, connected to each other and also quite close to the described stories of the innovations found on the internet. However, it was not always easy to find the “true story” about the innovations and even though we found some related stories to the innovations, we can not be sure that the organisation actually reveals the true or complete story.
To keep this entry relatively short, we’ll only use one example of the discussed innovations to illustrate our result from the exercise. See the attached chart for the other examples.[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/p.113 table.jpg[/img]
We discussed about the Superbus project innovated at TU Delft. (For more information check: http://www.superbusproject.com) This innovation is interesting because it tries to replace cars with a combination of public and private transportation. We do not regard this as a success for the Netherlands, but it seems that there is a potential of implementing the concept in Dubai, so it might be in its starting phase of success. Whether the innovation seems to be logical from its brand or not is quite difficult to conclude, since the Superbus project does not really stem from an existing brand. However, the university and the innovator himself could be regarded as a brand.
Our suggestion about the possible purpose for the Superbus is to create a new service that supports sustainability. In order to make it commercially successful and creating a new market, the Superbus project’s strategy might be to try it out in different places in the world, e.g. in Dubai. The possible scenario we thought of was that the project was not about presenting a new means of transportation but rather about promoting sustainability and maybe the innovators (and TU Delft) as well.
The “story” we found on the homepage of the Superbus project is that the research team wanted to create a carefree, comfortable and customised transportation. The strategy that could be interpreted from the homepage is that the Superbus team tries to compare the Superbus with present day’s public transport, in terms of money and time, to convince potential consumers that it’s a potential alternative to today’s public transportations. “Superbus is a new concept for sustainable mobility” is written on the homepage and this supports our speculation that the innovator is trying to promote sustainability. But other than that, we did not find the objectives behind this project explicitly explained.
Nov 03, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
Group 02
CD-i
The CD-I Multimedia platform for a CD-ROM-like disk from 1991 . You can watch movies on it and play games. They key innovative feature of this device is that it combines video quality graphics with intractable content, which was new at that time. Additionally, it also served as a digital multimedia storage and player for in the living room of families. It was regarded as the successor of VHS.
Philips NV. and Sony Corporation developed an interactive multime¬dia CD-player with a multifunctional character end eighties, the CD-i. The CD-i was a member of the compact disk family that consisted out of the CD-audio, CD-rom and the CD-video. This first multime¬dia system aimed for a mass audience by having a wide variety of functions and options. They wanted to create a new standard for multimedia, which was clearly technology driven, since Philips and Sony also co-invented to CD. It was a visionary leap into the digital multimedia world.
While the CD-I was promoted by Philips, the CD-I players where presen¬ted in different ways over time. At it’s launch in 1991 – for example – is was presented as a teaching aid in America. In Europe it was initially promoted as a multimedia system for young families. Unfortunately – in Europe – there where only a few unpopular games on the market, and in America the product didn’t catch mainly because the CD-I sold poorly since the CD-I player cost too much in relation to the competition. Against advise this wasn’t changed. Furthermore the device was so complex it cost too much time to explain by the salesmen, causing the tendency of both them and the customer not to bother to try to understand, or not understanding altogether. Those who acquired the system where often disappointed by the functionality that was supported, but was not yet available for use.
Aston Martin Cygnet
It’s a car from 2010, that is sold by Aston Martin as an additive to one of their regular cars. It’s basically a rebadged Toyota IQ, that Aston owners could use as a premium city car (instead of their larger supercar). It seems to be a weird step for a manufacturer like Aston Martin to produce such a small car (and it’s even rebadged), but its existence is actually rather clever. Aston Martin use this car to compensate for the production of their other cars. Since all Aston Martins are environment unfriendly supercars they need a solution to conform with EU pollution legislation.
Auto-mobile manufacturers are required to have an average carbon emission value per model across the whole range of cars they offer. This legislation has a great impact on the smaller manufacturers in the world; especially the small sports cars manufacturers. In order to get the average carbon emission of their brand down, Aston martin decided to sell very little and low-emission cars along with their sports cars. These small cars can only be bought if you already are an Aston Martin customer. Therefore, this innovation – an extremely luxurious small city car – is purely driven to circumvent legislation. We think this is a market driven innovation, because Aston Martin group thinks that their customer pool is prepared to buy this extra car.
Quechua 2″ pop-out tent
The now-a-days well known pop-out tent was one of the first self-deploying tents. It was a huge success among casual outdoor lovers, for children and festival visitors. This is because it requires very little time and effort to erect.
Because the pop-out tents are quite cheap, and very convenient for the non-rational outdoors lover they seem to specifically target people that want a cheap and easy outdoor shelter solution. This generally does not include die hard out door fanatics. The combination of convenience and low price was unique within this segment. We believe this is a very successful market driven innovation, although it could be that the technology needed to make such strong and flexible baleens only now allowed for such a product, meaning it could also be a technology driven innovation
Nov 03, 2011 @ 9:40 pm
[PENTAGON]
DISTILLING STRATEGY FROM INNOVATIONS
In this exercise we discuss about the strategic objectives behind some of the innovations developed by the following companies: Mini Cooper, Crocs, Mtv and Coca Cola.
// MINI COUNTRYMAN //
The nature of innovation for the Mini Countryman is based on the offer of a 4 door, 4 passenger new model. Analyzing mini’s strength as a brand, we can notice that minis greatest asset is the brand itself. Costumers are loyal to the brand in many different ways; not only by the purchase of cars, but by the purchase of other merchandise such as t-shirts, key chains etc. Mini costumer’s features enabled the brand to explore new business opportunities.
Consider mini consumers as young, modern; an active one can conclude outdoor sports as a common practice amongst these. Based on this important trend; mini decided to introduce the Mini Countryman. This model has four doors and a wide-opening rear lid which provide more space for versatile use; it also offers an ALL4 all-wheel-drive for motoring enthusiasts. The MINI Countryman maintains the main characteristic of Mini driving experience, the go-kart feeling besides the key features of the brand such as design, premium quality, handling, efficiency and customization.
Mini decided to innovate through the development of the Mini Countryman as an opportunity to offer alternatives to its market based on the discovery of a new trend. In order to do so, the company used its current resources such as know – how and expertise, and the support of the BMW platform to develop this innovation.
// CROCS //
Crocs products design is well-known by its unique style. The company has developed a consistent product portfolio based on the brand characteristics such as the use of plastic as main material and a non-ordinary shape in its design. The first Crocs shoe was a controversy design; people tend to either love or hate it. Once the company understood this extremely perspective from customers, they decided to develop more stylish designs to have a better acceptance in the market. Through the offering of these new models, customers that use to dislike the brand started to turn around and look at it and even buy its products. To develop this innovation, Crocs used the expertise they already have but increase the importance of aesthetics. The introduction of more stylish models was an incremental innovation that fit the essence of the Crocs brand.
// MTV MOBILE //
MTV mobile is a clear example of brand stretching. Once again MTV’s most valuable asset is the brand itself which has a value of US $6.08 billion. Over the years it has become an icon for their core audience: Young generations. It has achieved to embed in people minds, that even when you don’t watch any television you would be able to recognize the brand and easily associate it with its target group.
The fast evolution in communications in the last few years has lead MTV to reframe its business and broaden its brand from being a TV channel to a telecommunications company. In hand with the increasing use of smart phones amongst young users, MTV used its brand as a platform for the launch of its mobile communication service provider. The mobiles services that they offered include music news, premium ringtones, and special numbers to contact Mtv’s Vj’s and featured artists. The branded mobile service “Hello Mtv” uses Telia Mobile’s GSM network and has subcontracted the mobile virtual network enabler Spinbok to provide network management, billing and customer care.
Mobile operators have key assets such as a large customer contract base, access to personal data and location information about mobile users. Media companies have cognitive and emotional relationships with their audiences that they establish with the support of their brand identity and their brand promise. Through a strategy called Mobile Network Operator (MNOs) these two actors are cooperating to create value. In this way young users easily become familiar with the brand and MTV treasures important expertise and assets in the field of telecommunications.
// COCA COLA ZERO //
A few years ago Coca Cola Company decided to expand their portfolio by adding a new product targeted to young men. This is the result of a market trend, which mainly consists in men care. In the last ten years the market for men care has increased enormously resulting in new products, which would have been previously considered female targeted.
The Coca Cola Company came up with a new idea, which mainly consists in the same formula as Coca Cola light. The main difference relies in the can, which suggested by the predominance of black is targeted to male. This is complemented by a strong advertising campaign employing famous athletes. This enhances the message in two ways fitness and masculinity.
Coke achieved to enter the male light soda market successfully, without having to invest in the development of a new formula.
Nov 04, 2011 @ 7:00 pm
Group 11
During this session we discussed several innovations that were either successful, a failure, unexpected or surprisingly clever. We picked two of these innovations, and took a closer look at them.
iPod
In 2001 apple announced their MP3 player, the iPod. With this product, Apple wanted open up a new market for the company. The concept of the MP3 player already existed. The innovation was in the technology they used in the device; using a relatively strong processor to make sure the interaction is very fast, scrolling trough the menu’s is done with a wheel instead of buttons, which made the interaction a lot easier. The other innovation was the aesthetics of the device. Apple gave the iPod a minimalistic look. The MP3 player was white/metallic and the earplugs where white as well, while existing MP players mainly use black. Where people used to hide the cable of the earplugs under their clothes, they now wore it in sight as a fashion attribute. This is one of the key aspects why the iPod turned into such a big success. Looking at the design of the device and its interface, it makes the product a design-driven innovation.
Wii
Nintendo has been making game consoles for more than 20 years. As the technology improved the game consoles improved. At some point two major players joined the market, Sony (Playstation) and Microsoft (Xbox). These companies focused on the graphics of the games. Nintendo knew they couldn’t compete and decided to go in a new direction. Instead of making a expensive console with high-quality graphics, they came with a affordable console that is fun for the whole family (compared to hard-core gamers). Nintendo brought the Wii to the market. The big innovation of this product is that it encourages people to do physical exercise while gaming. This is a response to the criticism game-consoles got because it de-motivated kids from playing outside and so made them fat. They sold the consoles for a very low price so a lot of people would buy them. In order to play certain games the consumer had to buy different joysticks. Which made the consumer still pay a considerable amount of money in the end. The product is technology-driven and a response to the market.
Nov 08, 2011 @ 4:38 pm
Four
Pick six innovations:
1. iStore
2. Penicillin
3. Concorde
4. Easy Jet
5. Prius
6. Nokia touchscreen
iStore
The iStore brought a revolutionary way of buying music and other media. Apple was the first company to majorly adapt to the fact that more and more music was being downloaded, since the emergence of P2P programs such as Napster.
By introducting the iStore Apple bridged the gap between legally receiving music from record companies, and mp3 players such as their own iPod. Creating an opportunity out of a threat (Napster). Another innovation within the iStore was the fact that Apple was also going to sell single songs for $0,99 instead of mere whole albums.
Prius
The Toyota Prius was the first hybrid-electric automobile that was available to the bigger audience. Toyota released this car in 1997 in Japan, followed by worldwide in 2001. The interesting bit is that they launched this car years before the main public began to take notice of global environmental issues. This is where the car gets it’s name, ‘Prius’ meaning ‘before’. So it seems Toyota had foreseen these trend.
This global awareness was caused for the bigger part by the release of the movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by Al Gore in 2006. From then on Prius sales started rising, in 2008 they reached the milestone of 1 million cars sold (nine years after the market entrance), while only two years later they managed to double this amount.
Nokia smartphone
In 2000 Nokia was the first mobile telephone company to introduce a smartphone to the market; the communicator 9210. Nokia has long time been the market leader in the mobile telephony.
However, since the rise of smartphone competitors such as Blackberry, HTC and the iPhone, Nokia failed to anticipate. Nokia was great competing in the market of communication. Yet mobile phones became no longer mere communication devices but interface objects through which users would experience multimedia. Nokia’s products didn’t meet up to these demands. Furthermore, Nokia kept their own operating system, Symbian OS, which wasn’t open to third party software writers, meaning that it wasn’t possible to download apps on the device.
One of the reasons that might have led to this loss in market share is according to some the fact that engineers, not designers, made most of the choices.
Concorde:
Started as a prestige project between the French and British government to fly important people within a day to far location (e.g. London and New York in one day). Although the technical conditions were accomplished, the economics of the airplane weren’t sufficient enough to make profit.
The innovation (which was launched in 1969) was to fly a passenger plane twice the speed of sound. Regular flight flew from 1976 and ended in 2003 due to the unprofitable business and a flight accident two years before.
Although this innovation isn’t equaled till today, the flights were too expensive to make the flight profitable. One flight costs approximately 11.000 dollars for a return flight on the same day (London – New York). A lot of businessmen found it too expensive while they could do business in New York within one day. The accident in 2000 and increasing energy prices was the end of the Concorde.
Easy Jet:
The problem of Concorde was the high pricing. The innovation that Easy Jet introduces was substantial low prices. Although the technology was the same as other flight companies (maybe less, in order to make the flights cheap) Easy Jet could offer very cheap flights to all sorts of countries in Europe and surroundings.
At that time flying was pretty expensive and thus Easy Jet reduced a lot of costs. For example, customers had to buy their own food, a very tight schedule and low return times.
The innovation took place by an entrepreneur who believed in free flights for everyone. Although it is not free, the prices are so low that the business is still growing.
Penicillin:
Accidently the British bacteriologist Alexander Flemming invented penicillin in 1928 when he saw that there were no bacteria’s around the most. At that moment one of the biggest inventions in human history used to create antibiotics. Since 1938 the active antibiotics was commercially produced.
The invention prevented hundreds of thousands of people dying from infections, diseases and other bacterial complications. During World War II the antibiotics was an expedient for infected soldiers.
The invention was rewarded with the Nobel price for medicine. Today, a lot of people are concerning the use antibiotics since some countries use it too often. Some bacteria have become resistant against the medicine. The consequences are incalculable when bacteria’s become resistant to antibiotics.
Nov 08, 2011 @ 7:10 pm
Powers of ten
In practice: distilling strategy from innovations
For this exercise we elaborated on six cards used earlier during the ‘In practice: distinguishing between types of innovation’. Below, four of the six innovations are treated. The answers are ordered like asked in the book. The innovation that will be treated are: Havaiana, Smart, Segway and Dyson.
Havaiana
1. Havaiana (picture) is a traditional slipper-brand from Brazil. Usually, the aim was at the low class people, since the slippers were rather cheap. After rebranding through innovation, the slippers became a fashion icon with e.g. the many striking colours. After an observation study it became clear that people customized their Havaianas by changing the straps on their slippers.
2. Havaiana’s purpose with rebranding was entering a new market and repositioning the brand. The innovation that is used looks obvious, but it definitely is not (observations, research, design). They even managed to have art books and exhibition about the brand all over the world, since it became internationally popular. Nowadays, the brand is still going strong. They even broadened their target group (which was already quite wide) by bringing bags and towels on the market as well.
3. Nowadays, their market expanded even more: they now make shoes as well. Another interesting thing is the collaboration with Missoni, from which a collection of styles inspired by the Italian fashion house’s signature zigzag motif was established.
Smart
1. Smart (picture) is chosen because of their innovating technology process. The ‘father of innovation’, CEO of Swatch, designed the Smart in a way that one could change colour of his car by removing the plastics that were clicked on, which was an innovation in the automotive branch.
2. The purpose of this innovation has been, besides a small and cheap car, a customizable car. The customizing of the Smart could be done by the user itself in a shop. However, it was no success because of the extremely high prices due to the collaboration with Mercedes. Trey tried to enter a new market of ‘small cars’, but eventually did not succeed.
3. Nowadays, the electric smart car is available through a lease program. This car is characterized by ‘environmentally friendly driving fun at a custom friendly price’. This car should be the breakthrough of smart.
Segway
1. Dean Kamen, inventor of Segway (picture), invited Steve Jobs and Bill gates for a private show where he showed them the Segway, under the condition they would not share it with the outside world, yet. Gates and Jobs said it would change the world. However, the Segway turned out to be too expensive ( > €4000) because of the used (new) technology. Kamen managed to open a new market, but unfortunately the Segway wasn’t a success.
2. The main thing about why the Segway might have failed is the technology-driven innovation approach instead of the user-centred innovation approach. Their strategy was to leverage from a new technology and not that much about opening a new market.
3. Their approach should be more user-centred and user-friendly (price) in order to be successful. Today the Segway is mostly used in business context and as a rental device. Movies on the internet, like a monkey riding a Segway, should illustrate the ease of use of the Segway (purpose is clear).
Dyson
1. James Dyson, the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner (picture), which works on the principle of cyclonic separation, is founder of the Dyson company. The new technique definitely can be called an innovation and is used in many other products such as dryers, vans, blowing machines etc. The target group for these innovations is big and diverse, which contributes to the success of the Dyson company.
2. With his innovations, he entered a new market. He leveraged technology to new products and he really made products better. He actually redesigned existing products by applying his new technology in a different way.
3. A possible new market could be entered by designing a hair dryer, since it was found out on the internet that many people ask for such a product. The success of Dyson will go on, because of the products’ quality and the broadening of the target group.
This exercise enabled us to think about the purpose and strategic objective behind innovation in a certain context. They all differ in a way that they entered the market with different innovations, but they also show similarities when looking at expanding their audience and making risky decisions. Some succeeded in innovating and communicating this to the outside (Havaiana & Dyson), while others should reconsider their strategic approach in order to reach the public (Smart, Segway).
[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/Distilling strategy from innovation.png[/img]
Nov 08, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
Group 18
Distilling strategy from innovations
Among all our findings, we would like to share one successful and one unsuccessful innovation to help distilling strategy;
Amazon
The world’s largest online retailer started the business with only selling books but soon enhanced their product category from software to electronic, furniture and even to food. Lower costs and offerings made the brand reachable for the users and provided a delightful environment to shop. Their goal was to provide one online store instead of a lot of stores. By this purpose, a new market was created. They solved a gap in the market, leveled up the market expectations therefore shield off competition. The strategy behind it was quite unusual. They did not expect profit for couple years and when it came it was it was not high either. Amazon’s strategy was growth instead of profit. For this reason they dedicated themselves to create innovative technologies. It resulted with an innovative, user-centered and successful brand.
Concorde
[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/concorde_last_flight_red_arrows_escort[1].jpg[/img]
Concorde was supposed to be one of ‘the products’ which changed the world. But it did not. Instead, it was surprisingly unsuccessful and resulted with cancellation of production. The innovation value was on the new way of transporting and its technology. The supersonic transport system was something that nobody ever heard of, therefore a technology-driven innovation. It was a co-creation of two brands; The British Bristol Aeroplane Co. and the French Sud Aviation which were both working on similar designs separately and they were hugely founded from their governments. The co-operation was according to financial reasons and it became something bigger than the brands themselves but a treaty between countries. The purpose of the innovation, of course was to hold a great advantage which leveraged from a new technology. It failed because of ultra expensive costs and low passenger capacity. The innovation was not accessible to the users. The innovation strategy was neither user-centered nor the target group was clear. Therefore the technology centered strategy did not reach the design objectives.
Nov 08, 2011 @ 10:14 pm
3plus3
The Pacific parasol/umbrella
Platinum BV, a company that focuses on garden furniture, has created this innovation. The uniqueness of this innovation lies in the ability of changing angles, shifting horizontally to shield off the sun, rain or wind better. This product is quite a success, when you look at the numerous similar products it is competing with. Nowadays, the parasols have almost the same appearance, characteristics, only differ in materials and colours and compete against each other through pricing.
Platinum BV is a very small company and does not believe in Brand Driven Innovation, more specifically brands. They think that the brand is just something for your ego. Therefore, we cannot determine how this innovation relates to the brand, but we can say that, by comparing this product with the company’s portfolio, this innovation is very logical for the company.
The purpose of this innovation is to shield of competition, which was already expected because of the amount of players in the gardening furniture industry.
Nintendo Wii
Compared to its competitors at that time, the Nintendo Wii was a radical innovation, technology as well as meaning based. The special features of the Wii are a new chip in the processor and the new way of controlling using motive technology, it turned the passive gaming into active gaming. The Nintendo Wii is a big success, even until now, and is designed for young and old.
We had different speculations and opinions about how logical this innovation is for Nintendo and what the purpose is of this innovation.
The innovation is not very logical for the brand because, first of all, during the time when it is developed, every company in the gaming industry, like Microsoft and Sony, was focussing on improving the quality of the graphics and technology. Nintendo was apparently not so much focussing on improving the graphics but more on the user experience, which resulted in the Wii. Furthermore, the innovation is not logical because of what the brand was radiating at that time. The brand heritage and by producing the Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Game Cube, Nintendo had obtained a very childish and ‘hard-core’ gaming image, in which the Wii does not fit because of its different value and meaning: designed for the user experience. Besides, the design of the Wii console was also very different of that of the predecessors. The predecessors had colourful colours and a rather childish design, while the Wii was white, later also available in black and other colours, and sleek that fits, we presume, with the interior of the living rooms better.
The innovation is logical, but it was a very big step that Nintendo has taken. By producing the Wii, the company had not only placed a very radical innovation on the market, but also changed their brand image and promise at the same time. It turned from childish, hard-core gaming into family, interactive and casual gaming. This step is not only logical, but also very and surprisingly clever of Nintendo. With this step, Nintendo is able to reach a totally new target, the casual gamers (families, young and old), and able to continue further targeting this market with their Nintendo DS lines.
As a result, Nintendo used the Wii (new technology) to reach a bigger target group and the purpose of the innovation is thus meant to extend the market of the brand. We have verified this through the following websites:
http://www.innosight.com/innovation_resources/article.html?id=540
http://samidob.blogspot.com/2010/06/casetudy-blue-ocean-strategy-nintendo.html
Aside from this point, we also had another speculation about the purpose: to shield off competition. With the Wii, Nintendo was the first to introduce motion technology in the console and to reach a different target group than the competing companies. These aspects had enhanced the differentiation of Nintendo and made the brand more unique.
NOTE: it was very interesting that in the book of Jan Buijs, the Nintendo Wii was also mentioned and supported our view, since we had formed these thoughts before reading Jan Buijs’ book.
The first All-Business class airplane (a none-stop service for the longest flight on earth)
This innovation is created by Singapore Airlines and is the first all-business class flight in the world. It is a non-stop service between America (NY & LA) and Singapore, the longest flight on earth. The airplane has the most spacious business class seats, meant for business people.
At first glance, the innovation was not so logical. The airline has only been using planes with both the economy and the business classes. It is true that the airline had created many innovations that made the flights more pleasant, but the innovations were for both the classes. Therefore, it is not very logical for Singapore Airlines to use an All-Business airplane. However, if you dive deeper into the core meaning or promise of the brand, you will find out that Singapore Airlines promises its customers a luxurious and pleasant flight through their innovations. This promise makes the innovation more logical.
For this innovation, we also had different speculations about the purpose of the innovation. First of all, we think the innovation is user driven. It is based on the consumer’s needs; status, pride, business connections, network and work. In continuance of user driven, the innovation might also be experience driven. This service provides the users an exclusive premium experience, and might even be the main tool to gain profit. According to the following source: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2008/08/singapore_airlines_winning_str.html, Singapore Airlines is indeed focussing on the customer’s experience. Customers are willing to pay more for a better flight experience, because of the stressfulness they would otherwise experience with other air lines.
The MINI Countryman
The Countryman is an incremental innovation by MINI, released in 2011. This is the first C-segment car created by MINI, who is always been developing small cars. The Countryman has almost the same signature looks and feeling as the normal MINIs, but is only a little bit bigger. The car adds to the success of MINI and is highly accepted and appreciated by the MINI fans.
The Countryman is a not very logical innovation when you look at the brand MINI. The brand MINI promises its customers an adventurous and fun ride with their MINIs. Therefore, according to some, the Countryman is not a logical innovation, because of the size of the car. However, by giving the Countryman the signature looks and feeling of MINI, the car is more or less still adventurous and fun, which is why that according to some the Countryman is indeed a logical innovation of MINI. It is also possible that the Countryman is created with some influences of MINI’s parent company BMW, which would make the innovation even more not logical. BMW has already introduced its X1 that covers this gap in the market for some time already. So, when you compare both brands and think that one group owns them both, the innovation really appears as not logical.
The (verified) purpose of this innovation is to reach a bigger market, namely to penetrate the family market. The traditional MINIs are all on the small side and not big enough for families. By enhancing the size of the traditional MINI and make it resemble a family car more, MINI is able to reach the families that like to be outdoor and still have adventures. (http://www.gizmag.com/the-fourmidable-mini-countryman–four-doors-and-4wd/13936/)
[img]http://www.branddriveninnovation.com/wp-content/Singapore airlines.jpg[/img]
Nov 09, 2011 @ 12:19 pm
The TwentyONEs
Distilling Strategy from Innovations
In Practice / Chapter 4 / Page 113
Nature of Innovation
Portable Spot Cleaner consist a transformative innovation in cleaning services.
What makes it special
The Portable Spot Cleaner is built on a very solid consumer insight and it is highly relevant.It is an instant laundry device that has a positive impact on the environment by reducing consumption. Its usage and interaction are very intuitive. We all want one. The Portable Spot Cleaner is built on a very solid consumer insight and it is highly relevant.
What has been the purpose of the innovation
The theme in the competition’s ninth year was ‘Intelligent Mobility’ . The purpose of innovation has been the ease of use on instant cleaning, creating a portable device that can be used anywhere in the world. The brief particularly requested ideas that offer personalization and inspire users while utilizing existing technology to offer support and guidance.
Internet stories
Instant laundry device wins Electrolux Design Lab 2011 award
(source: http://www.pdesigni.com/innovations/consumer)
Portable Spot Cleaner wins Electrolux Design Lab 2011
(source: http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2011/09/portable-spot-cleaner-wins-electrolux-design-lab-2011/)
Nov 10, 2011 @ 10:54 pm