B2B Case Study: New Product Development Ideation
Business Issue
A leading supplier of flavors used in major food manufacturing wished to stay ahead of the competition by discovering likely next generation flavors.
If they were successful in identifying likely emerging flavor trends before competitors, they would have a competitive advantage in supplying customers with requested new flavors.
Solutions
SRP recommended intensive ideation session (all day) using a very exclusive screening process to identify “super-food-involved” consumers. In addition to screening for articulate, uninhibited idea generators, the screening also identified “food enthusiasts” (i.e., keep abreast of food trends, frequent experimenters of new food concepts, patrons of domestic/international retail outlets that featured up and coming fresh and packaged food items.
The session was held in a leading Chicago-area specialty food market where the participants would at selected times explore the products for added stimulation. One of the most productive exercises was identifying trends in materials and fashion and translating the trends into food flavors.
Results
The session identified what proved to be “spot-on” flavor concepts that the client developed and successfully marketed.
Output was further validated a year later by a Wall Street Journal article about the next generation of flavors, many of which the research already had identified and developed.
