Innovative research methods cut prototyping time by 96% while
producing more reliable results
Organization: A manufacturer of
fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)
Situation: The new product
development group learned that consumer testing of new concepts
required a flawless prototype of each new package, but such prototypes
took 9 weeks and considerable expense to produce. Even after such
effort, cost and delay, consumer behaviour in the market did not match
research results during concept testing.
Innovation Skills/Methods Applied:
Customer observation
Rapid, iterative prototyping
Cross-fertilization
Results: Customer observation
revealed that the use of flawless prototypes and traditional market
research were both based on incorrect assumptions about consumer behaviour. When consumer behaviour was better understood, our
consultant introduced an innovation best practice that reduced the
prototyping cycle from 9 weeks to 2 days and reflected marketplace
conditions more accurately than traditional market research.
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