Identifying the Creative Frontiers in Consumer Products and Branding

It was an insert from Target in this weekend's newspaper. However, instead of the usual litany of glossy images and sale prices, this red-branded flyer touted design, as well as Target's innovative approach to labeling, tagging, and packaging prescription drugs. The labels were uncluttered and easy

In the global marketplace, where consumer demand and economic vitality go hand-in-hand, innovation is an important way to lift the profile of a corporation and ensure the long-term success of a business. Moreover, as companies move into these creative frontiers-and as the example above demonstrates-design stands out as the critical medium for connecting customers, brands, and products. In this context, then, I am delighted that we devote this quarter's Review to a discussion of innovation, design, and consumer goods.

Contributors to the issue respond to three questions:

* What principles and strategies are essential to innovation in consumer goods and branding?

* What information, organizational structures, and methodologies support this type of innovation?

* What are examples of innovative design in the arena of consumer products and branding?

Principles and strategies

Jerry Kathman, president and CEO of the international brand design agency Libby Perszyk Kathman (LPK) based in Cincinnati, Ohio, writes our spring keynote. He draws on a 30-year career partnering with clients such as Procter & Gamble, Hershey, Valvoline, and IBM to offer timeless principles for achieving leadership consumer brands. The first principle-articulate and inculcate a brand strategy-requires companies to specify and share detailed insights about their brands, which distinguish them from competitors, and to understand the concept of brand "elasticity" as a guide in expanding the brand portfolio. The second principle-leverage design-is a recommendation to exploit the full spectrum of design and media as compelling dimensions of the brand experience. The third principle-innovate-is a call to take advantage of new technologies, changes in consumer needs and lifestyles, and the global nature of today's marketplace to refine the meaning and experience of brands, as well as to improve old and develop new products. The fourth principle-connect emotionally-is a reminder that brands are about relationships, not objects. Even high-tech organizations need to engage the spirits and hearts of customers if enduring loyalty and trust is what they seek. Kathman amplifies the discussion of his principles with a broad cross-section of examples, and his holistic view provides a valuable context for the points made by other authors.

In his article, "The Making of Design Champions," Mark Barngrover, who works out of Geneva, as director of design for Procter & Gamble's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, examines the significant place and role of design in consumer product and brand innovation. Interestingly, Procter & Gamble had, for many generations, stressed technology, efficiency, and marketing as the cornerstones of its multi-brand business model. It is only recently that innovation has emerged as a design-driven process. For instance, Kandoo, an extension of the Pampers product line for toddlers, reaches beyond Pampers' traditional brand message, which was focused on the connection between moms and kids. With designers in the lead in the areas of product function and aesthetics, Kandoo has expanded this relationship to emphasize the growing independence of three-to-five-year-olds as they proudly attend to their own personal-care needs. Sales are strong, and so, Barngrover adds, is the position of designers. A.G. Lafley, P&G's CEO, has become a vocal design champion. The company now has a vice president for design and strategic innovation, and within its 15 business units, Barngrover and his colleagues are nurturing an increasingly influential design culture that includes both in-house and consultant expertise. A good deal of this transformation is due to the fact that designers are being held accountable. They must be collaborative, participate actively, and document the link between design, sales, and market share. It is an innovation strategy that is working at P&G, and one that holds lessons for other corporations.

"I don't mind if technology has greater influence than design: We understand each other and can work things out. But when marketing gets power, it's bad." The quote is from Dieter Rams, the revered former head of design at Braun. A cynic might interpret the remark as just another designer complaining, but Eisbeth Svengren Holm, professor at the Stockholm University School of Business in Sweden, and colleague UlIa Johansson, professor at that country's Vaxjo University's School of Management, determined to dig a little deeper. What they discovered was that design and marketing professionals perceive their worlds quite differently. Designers accentuate the way in which products convey brand and conceive of innovation as a means of creating new objects. Marketing managers, on the one hand, see brand as a more diverse set of realities. On the other hand, they are more concerned about consistency than innovation. Designers are esteemed for their individuality and creativity; marketing managers, for research skills and the ability to collect relevant data. Designers gather information with observational and ethnographic techniques; marketing managers interview consumers. Designers are on the cost side of corporate accounting, marketing managers on the income side. Distinctions such as these make it difficult to integrate these talents. Holm's and Johansson's conclusion is that, to the degree that innovation depends on collaboration between design and marketing, the effort must include an investment in bridging these two disparate cultures.

Information, organizational structures, and methodologies

The quest for innovation takes many forms. Philips Design, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is known for cutting-edge concepts: Nebula, an interactive projector that personalizes the user's bedroom environment; Levi's jackets that incorporate a telephone and an MP3 player; Cappellini's Paesaggi Fluidi line, which includes multimedia sofas, sideboards, and shelving units with built-in home cinema and other technologies. In his article, the firm's CEO and chief creative director Stefano Marzano explains the tactics his organization depends on in exploring these frontiers. The High Design Strategic Futures approach uses rigorous multidisciplinary research involving the analysis of social, cultural, and visual trends that distills hypotheses about what consumers value. These are mapped against technological trends, after which realistic scenarios are devised as guides for the development of specific products. Ideas are then validated with elaborate visualizations-often life-size models accompanied by videos of people actually using them. If they pass muster, innovations can be tested with presentations to consumers and exhibited publicly to garner additional feedback. The final stage is to collaborate with partners to move projects into production. Marzano is convinced that this process avoids innovation for innovation's sake at the same time that it delivers advanced products that are valued because they satisfy genuine needs.

A second approach is documented by Wen-chih Chang, chair of the industrial and commercial design department at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and Yen Hsu, chair of the department of industrial design at Taiwan's MingChi University of Technology. Theirs is the story of Nova Design, which over the past several years has transformed itself from a company that supports design and production with sophisticated computer graphics to a fullfledged international design consultancy. Its client list includes AT&T, Ford, Lucent, Motorola, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki. Nova attracts clients with a one-stop integrated digital design system that moves projects from consumer research through project planning, design analysis, and idea valuation to layout, prototyping, and tooling. To facilitate communications and decision making, clients are encouraged to establish teams that parallel Nova's organization. It is a framework that, once in place and running smoothly, yields outcomes-exemplified in three cases-that are noteworthy for lower costs, faster development, higher quality, and innovative design. From a designer's perspective, Nova's strategy can seem impersonal, but the results are impressive.

At Arizona State University in Tempe, InnovationSpace stands out as yet another tack to investigating future directions in design. Paul Rothstein, professor of product design at the university (sadly, a bright and energetic professional who died not long after writing this article for the Review), and Peter Wolf, a fellow faculty member and research associate, summarize the principles that guide the InnovationSpace initiative. Product scenarios are a collaborative endeavor involving students in business, engineering, graphic design, and industrial design. Business experts, engineers, lawyers, corporate sponsors, and designers also contribute to the development process that includes preparing a business plan and marketing strategy, as well as reviewing intellectual property rights and creating product prototypes. A major objective is to commercialize concepts, so students present their proposals at trade shows, and entrepreneurs and venture capital groups are partners in the lab's activities. A final goal is to make sure projects benefit society. One prototype, for example, called the iReader, translates written documents into synthesized voices, making reading easier for the visually impaired. Another product, the Atlas garage storage unit, is designed to minimize accidents but maximize usable space. Atlas lowers boxes to a level at which homeowners can get to them without bending or standing on ladders. Outsiders have praised InnovationSpace as "exceeding expectations," and this hybrid academic-real world incubator appears to be generating a spectrum of forward-thinking and potentially profitable ideas.

Cases

A critique of trends in private-label branding, a look at opportunities in package design, and a half-dozen Executive Perspective mini cases round out our look at innovation in consumer goods with hands-on commentaries. Charlie Conn, director of branding at Proteus, a design firm in Boston, provides the overview of privatelabel branding. Originally a strategy for increasing margins with me-too and value-priced offerings, private labels are staking out unique identities as products that meet or exceed the quality of national brands. Trader Joe's, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market exemplify the formula. Conn asserts their success is due to several factors. They create true brand experiences rather than commodities. They work to build relationships and trust rather than simply sell products. Within what can be a broad range of offerings, they maintain a consistency with their position in the marketplace and their core competencies. And by doing such things as aligning with designers and personalities, they strive for exclusivity, protecting both their brands and their products. Intriguingly, Conn highlights opportunities in convenience retailing to suggest that there are still ample possibilities for innovation in private-label branding and indicates we will certainly see more of it in the years to come.

In consumer products, the right package can make a big difference-reinforcing the brand, defining a presence on crowded shelves, enhancing utility and convenience. In their article, "Big Box Thinking," Peter Clarke, president of Product Ventures, in Fairfield, Connecticut, and Jeff George, director of packaging innovation for Quaker Foods, in Barrington, Illinois, outline a process that helps designers attain those innovative aspirations. A first step is to conduct ethnographic research-observing consumers in the context of their daily lives and understanding how products are actually used. Additional priorities are having an adequate budget and schedule. Innovative packaging can be expensive. On the other hand, it can amplify the brand and lift sales. Executives must balance these conflicting realities early in the design process. They also need time to evaluate alternatives. Every job has to be completed yesterday, but too much pressure to wrap things up can compromise quality and limit the bottom line payoff. Finally, there is the matter of manufacturing constraints. Clarke and George believe it is critical that managers design the best package and find ways to fabricate it rather than let production capabilities control the options. Implementing these guidelines leverages the value of the packaging with innovations that make new or even existing products more desirable and competitive.

We round out this quarter's Review with a chorus of Executive Perspectives-six design leaders who reveal a diversity of innovative consumer goods and design processes.

1. Kenji Ekuan, chairman of GK Design Group, in Tokyo, Japan, ponders innovation in relation to spiritual, cultural, and human concerns.

2. Peter Haythomthwaite, principal at the Creativelab consultancy in Auckland, New Zealand, moves from a case study about a simple but effective healthcare product to a discussion on the nature of innovation and the talents and input that generate success.

3. Philippe Picaud, design director for Decathlon, the sporting retailer headquartered in Villeneuve d'Ascq, France, uses the design of a new diving fin as an introduction to a summary of his company's innovation process.

4. Raymond Turner, an independent design consultant from Winchester, England, identifies innovative product heroes and notes how they challenged the status quo and emerged from circumstances in which there was a blend of leadership and collaboration.

5. Yvonne Weisbarth, a designer for the Bosch Siemens household appliance group in Munich, Germany, comments with an example from her division, indicating that in today's marketplace, if there is no innovation, there is no success-a premise that leads her to emphasize the requirements to anticipate trends and respond with interdisciplinary expertise.

6. Gianfranco Zaccai, president of Design Continuum, in West Newton, Massachusetts, contends that innovation is the combination of multiple perspectives-the rational and the emotional-as they meet at the intersection of technology and design, a point he illustrates with a unique child healthcare device his company is developing.

As I hope is the norm, this Spring issue is rich with insights and strategies that can inspire and illuminate your work.

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