Innovation + design
Bryan deBlois
t: 717.394.2500 x35
e: bdeblois@innovationfocus.com

Help…
Drive innovation to action
Innovation is about creating a foundation of new knowledge and
uncovering something of real value for a customer. Design is
about transforming insights, data and requirements in a way that
will delight a customer and drive sales: things like products,
packaging, services, new customer experiences, and new
business models.
It is only through the creation of a tangible reality that innovation
succeeds.

Be…
Drive innovation to action
Creative, collaborative and transparent
Imagination is fueled by knowledge creation
Deep mental involvement on the part of all members of the team is
necessary for breakthroughs to emerge
Initially, barriers between functions need to be lifted, there will be a
time to defer to functional expertise
The team that is involved in the act of creation is more likely to
implement it
The team that has been deeply involved in the program is more likely
to repeat it

Provide…
Drive innovation to action
Creative, collaborative and transparent
Balance the should, could & would
Creating a meaningful commitment.
Should we? Would we?
user & society organization & value chain
Creating a well-balanced
perspective throughout the
project will help drive the
program into development.
Could we?
technology & capability
Sources: Adapted from models created by Doblin & Eames

Be…
Drive innovation to action
Creative, collaborative and transparent
Balance the should, could & would
User-centric, design driven
Good decisions are made
from a foundation of Solution
Development
knowledge. Attributes, requirements
Opportunity Creation
Envisioning & feasibility Synthesis
Product development is
User & Society Insights
guided by shared and deeply needs, desires, motivations, beliefs
Research
felt insight.

Driving innovation to action
The path through the front-end of innovation generally shares
this basic approach with a mix of similar, over-lapping and
iterative activities throughout
2 4
1 3
DISCOVER
OPPORTUNITIES DRIVE
FRAME IMPLEMENTATION
STRATEGIES Ask, Listen, Look, Think CREATE
POSSIBILITIES Evaluate, Plan & Develop
Plan & Identify
Think, Act, Try & Test

Strive to ensure you are
working on the right
problem in the right way.
Should we? Would we?
user & society organization & value chain
Framing the engagement for success.
1
Could we?
technology & capability
FRAME
STRATEGIES
Sources: Adapted from models created by Doblin & Eames

Define the opportunity-
set the purpose and scope:
Are you looking for new
FUTURE
uses for your current
Consumer and Market Knowledge
products?
Opportunity exists at the
Are you looking for new intersection of evolving needs
EMERGING
customers for your and evolving capability. The
risk is that your competitors
products? are also seeing the same
thing.
1 Are you looking for new
products, services or
CURRENT
experiences?
FRAME
Are you looking for new CURRENT EMERGING FUTURE
STRATEGIES
product categories to
Business and Technical Capability
expand into?
Source: Adapted from Ansoff’s product/market matrix

Define the opportunity-
set the purpose and scope:
Are you looking for an
FUTURE
emerging new business
Consumer and Market Knowledge
opportunity?
High opportunity (and
risk) at the intersection
Are you looking for of new needs and new
EMERGING
capability.
products that meet the
evolving needs of your
customers?
1
CURRENT
Are you trying to
identify an enabling new
FRAME technology that could
STRATEGIES grow your business? CURRENT EMERGING FUTURE
Business and Technical Capability
Source: Adapted from Ansoff’s product/market matrix

Define the opportunity-
set the purpose and scope:
Do you need to
FUTURE
Consumer and Market Knowledge
establish a long-term
vision for growth?
Do you need to
EMERGING
understand the long-
term business
implications of a social
1 or technical trend?
CURRENT
FRAME
CURRENT EMERGING FUTURE
STRATEGIES
Business and Technical Capability
Source: Adapted from Ansoff’s product/market matrix

Creating knowledge and deep insights.
2
1
DISCOVER
FRAME OPPORTUNITIES
STRATEGIES

Expert Interviews
Field Observations
Work to ground your
project in deep insight
and understanding.
Video Diaries
2 Visual Stories
DISCOVER
OPPORTUNITIES
Analysis

2 Transforming knowledge.
1 3
DISCOVER
FRAME OPPORTUNITIES
STRATEGIES CREATE
POSSIBILITIES

Ideation, visualization, collaboration & iteration.
Solutions should be Quick prototypes
visualized, prototyped,
explored, evaluated
and crafted
3
Rapid Imaging
CREATE
POSSIBILITIES
Group Creative Problem Solving

Creativity should be
supported with TANGIBLES?
structure and analysis.
 Experiences
 Services
 New access
 Software
 Consumables
 Durables
3 The need for
convenience
Purchase
decision
The need for Identity Usage
& Belonging Disposal
NEED STATES SYSTEMS
CREATE
POSSIBILITIES
An example of an exploratory space that intersects motivations with a
consumption system to create a range of possible tangibles

Developing solutions.
2 4
1 3
DISCOVER
OPPORTUNITIES DRIVE
FRAME IMPLEMENTATION
STRATEGIES CREATE
POSSIBILITIES

Make it tangible.
Research should inform design and development .
……transforming a shower into a spa-like experience.
4
DRIVE
IMPLEMENTATION
Industrial design support provided by

Driving development with insight.
Good research should also provide
an understanding what users want
to do, and why they can’t do it.
Research and analysis should
identify “what they will embrace” to
Would we?
inform design and development. Should we? organization & value chain
user & society
Properly expressing design intent
will inspire and guide development.
4
Could we?
technology & capability
DRIVE
IMPLEMENTATION
Sources: Adapted from models created by Doblin & Eames

Driving development with capability.
Apply capabilities of your
organization such as distribution,
brand, IP, the value chain.
We can augment your capability
with our network of specialists. We Would we?
Should we?
help you plan what you can do user & society
organization & value chain
with what you must prepare to do.
4
Could we?
technology & capability
DRIVE
IMPLEMENTATION

Drive development with solid NPD practice.
Build the business case and
rationale for the product, platform,
or business opportunity.
Support the integration of the
innovation initiative with training Would we?
Should we? organization & value chain
user & society
and coaching in sound product
development.
4
Could we?
technology & capability
DRIVE
IMPLEMENTATION
Sources: Adapted from models created by Doblin & Eames

We are an innovation firm.
In service to inspire deep understanding and deliver meaningful innovation.
Bryan deBlois,
Director, Discovery & Development
111 EAST CHESTNUT STREET
LANCASTER, PA USA 17602
t: 717.394.2500 x35
f: 717.394.3500
e: bdeblois@innovationfocus.com

In service to inspire deep understanding and deliver meaningful innovation.
Innovation Focus is a Pennsylvania-based, innovation consulting firm with more than
20 years of client experience with a diverse range of projects and industries. Our
approach to innovation and design will help you uncover and develop solutions that
link a market need with a business need. We work with you to ensure a program fits
your culture, your business objectives and your capability.
Our experience leads us to believe that close client collaboration around a shared and
deeply felt insight are the most powerful tools you can use to bring an idea to market.
20+ years expertise in the front end of innovation
3000 client projects, Fortune 500 organizations
B2B, B2C across a broad range of industries
20+ years expertise in design and development

We engage experts from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and thinking styles.
Psychology
Observational Research
Future Studies We can augment your capability
Trends & Demographics with a broad range of skills,
Market Research
New Business Development experiences and thinking styles.
NPD Process Design
Product Marketing
Industrial Design
Graphic Design
Engineering
Adult Education
Organizational Development
Business Administration
Creative Problem Solving

Partial client list.
Durables Consumer Packaged Goods Healthcare
Black & Decker General Mills Bristol-Meyers Squibb
Armstrong World Industries Kraft McNeil Consumer Healthcare
Hasbro Mead Johnson Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Leapfrog Knouse Foods
Kimberly Clarke The Hershey Company
Kodak Chemical and Energy
SC Johnson Retail Mobil Solar Energy
Sunbeam Target W.R. Grace
WD-40 TD Williamson
Johnson Controls Services
Hewlett Packard
Bank of Boston
Castrol Affiliations
Liberty Mutual
Coleman PDMA
Arthur D. Little
Sprint IDSA
British Airways
New Pig Corporation Second City Communications
AARP
Combe Incorporated ISBM Penn State
Electrolux Home Products Prepared Foods
Heavy Equipment
Case New Holland Global N.V.
High Concrete

t: 717.394.2500 x35
e: bdeblois@innovationfocus.com
Bryan P. deBlois
Director- Discovery and Development
Bryan brings to Innovation Focus 21 years of experience managing advanced
design and development functions for Black & Decker and Schick/Wilkinson
Sword. Educated as an industrial designer, Bryan’s passion for innovation has
led him into many assignments within design management, product marketing,
market research, and engineering.
The products Bryan has helped create have earned their brand owners over $1
Billion dollars in top-line revenue. He has shared professional recognition for his
role in creating the Snakelight flexible flashlight, the Scumbuster Immersible
Scrubber, as well as the Dustbuster Wet/dry cordless handvac. The Snakelight
is part of the permanent collection for the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of American
Design. He has authored 26 patents filed in 80 countries world-wide.
.

Bryan deBlois BACKGROUND
The following three case studies are some selected
examples of successful products resulting from my prior
corporate advanced development and design roles.
1 2 3

1
The Black & Decker Snakelight™
Re-invented the lighting
category
Transformed B&D from
marginal player to the
innovating with lead users category leader
There are many wonderful product development stories behind the wildly
successful Black & Decker Snakelight; the mission, the leadership, the teamwork, Highest profitability return in
the quality, the launch, and even a senior management profile in courage. Before history of the B&D
there was product development there was a moment of inspiration in which the houseware’s business
user played an important role to the early creative team.
This product was fathered when a designer who was trying trying to use both his
Garnered a dozen industry
hands in a repair task while the power was out remembered a small trick an honors. Permanent collection
electrician had showed him. The electrician had learned that he could have both of the Cooper-Hewitt
hands free for working by holding the flashlight under his collar. The designer, who
was deeply involved in looking for solutions to re-invigorate a Black & Decker
lighting buisness, recognized this as a “compensatory behavior” which is often a
good source for powerful unmet needs. This insight ignited the creation of
concepts for hands-free lighting, where the idea of “a flexible flashlight” was born.

2
The Black & Decker Scumbuster™
Created access to a new B&D
customer; the cleaning fanatic
innovating with consumers Unique product
design/manufacturing process
Training a product development team to go into the users world and uncover unmet needs is
created high barriers to entry
a powerful way to start the innovation process. Identifying meaningful problems to be
solved is only part of the potential you can harvest when connecting with the user, you can
also identify the criteria for a successful solution. Such was the case of the Black & Decker Scumbuster was the first B&D
Scumbuster cordless wet scrubber. product on QVC resulting in
$1MM of sales in one day
Users were observed struggling to clean grout and fixtures in their bathrooms with many
improvised tools. They were offered an alternative; a retired B&D rechargeable product that
had been designed for general wet cleaning tasks. Our in-home respondents were eager to $60MM business- single
try it but hesitated to use it near water. When probed, consumers were afraid that water largest $ SKU in Black &
would get inside the product. The team responded to this insight by creating a functional Decker’s 100 year history
specification for total water submersion. The design strategy expressed that the product had
to look completely waterproof. A full rubber over-mold was chosen to accomplish this. This
rubber skin also enhanced the grip of the product in a wet environment.

3
The Schick Intuition™
Established Schick early
as a preferred women’s
brand
Unique product
Helping women “win the battle” and move to design/manufacturing
higher goals and aspirations process creating high
“If you understand the experience, then you can own it”. This became the innovation teams
barriers to entry
credo as they embarked on a mission to re-invent the women’s shaving category.
Gillette re-positioned and
The shaving industry has a thousand year history of incremental technological advances for re-designed their Venus
men’s hair removal products. This same industry has traditionally offered women only a (women’s Mach 3) in
softer, shapelier, more colorful version of a men’s razor for hair removal. Schick took the bold
step of challenging that business model and organized a deep dive into the world of female
response
hair removal. A cross-functional team was formed to design and conduct a large-scale
contextual ethnography. Key insights were uncovered that led Schick to an understanding Intuition™ established a
that women had different hair removal goals and needs than men, and those needs were platform for growth into
linked to several differentiated attitudes, motivations, standards and activities. Some of these higher order end benefits
women had a poor understanding of the shaving process and were failing to manage the
removal of unwanted hair. The Schick INTUITION™ helps those women manage hair
removal by providing large amounts of lubrication with every shave stroke. This tool also
allows women to shave while showering which is very difficult with current solutions. The skin
enhancing additives in the lubrication soap help these women reach for higher end-benefits.

Thank you.