Presentation by Adam Richardson, creative director at frog design and author of Innovation X, given at the eMarketing Conference 2010 in San Francisco.
1. Adam Richardson
Innovation X: www.innovationxbook.com eMarketing Conference 2010
Twitter: @richardsona April 23, 2010
Blog: www.frogdesign.com/amphibious
April 23, 2010
2. We are a global innovation firm.
480 people / 32 nationalities / 40 years of experience
We help the world’s leading companies create and bring to market
meaningful products, services, and experiences that improve people’s lives.
Our multidisciplinary process reveals valuable consumer and market
insights and delivers lasting, humanizing solutions across multiple
technologies, platforms, and media.
Company overview April 23, 2010 2
12. “Our traditional research told us that there
was a total available world market of about
two million units for a $499 phone; we sold
over two million units in the UK alone.”
“If you want to be a leading company, you
have to create the products that create
your destiny.”
- Geoffrey Frost, former CMO, Motorola
Customers are getting less predictable
April 23, 2010 12
13. “A single story from one disgruntled
customer may be worth more than
reams of market research data simply
because, while the latter may identify a
problem, it is the former that can
suggest the solution.”
- Henry Mintzberg
April 23, 2010
14. Deep customer insight is required to
uncover the new opportunities
April 23, 2010 14
15. Customer Research
Trends Competitive Research
Logical But
Company Legacy Comparative Research
Unexpected Insights
Technology Brand
Retail
April 23, 2010 15
22. “For HD and Blue Ray DVD HDMI audio I do not
understand if any post-processing is done on the
5.1 Lossless PCM channels from these players.
Will DD PLIIx or THX 7.1 apply to these? What
are the limitations?
If I have a 1080P video stream going through the
unit with HDMI to my display device, how does
the OSD and Set up menu display?”
Customers seek help wherever they can
April 23, 2010 22
23. In a complex world, it is the job of the
marketer to listen to, educate and
support the customer at all points
April 23, 2010 23
Something we’ve tried to do with all aspects of mktg platform is to make it about open-ness, sharing, 2-way communication.As a company we have undergone a transformation – our marketing used to be shiny object focused, we have worked hard to change that in last 5-10 years. Creating a social marketing platform has both been an outgrowth of that change, as well as helped fuel the change in perceptions from the outside.That brings me to the main topic I want to talk about today, which is listening well, and being curious about the world around you.
Let me start with an odd question: “Why do you keep Barbies in your dishwasher?”Actually it’s a perfectly reasonable question when you meet someone who keeps Barbies in their dishwasher.People are really interesting, and do unexpected things for reasons that are not always obvious. The stories they tell you are not always accurate reflections of what they do and why they do it.
We used to talk about Walmart customers
And we used to talk about Porsche customers
But today those can easily be the same customer
As a result of the previous 2 trends, customers are getting less predictable
400 sticky notes, each containing one finding, from just 8 customer visits. Finding the opportunities takes time
Multi-vector research – connect the dots across vectors, don’t just rely on one path of research to uncover the big opportunities
Buying a tv used to be simple
Today they may all look the same, but there’s a lot more to consider. People are confused and feel under-equipped.
This is a framework from Innovation X – customer journey mapped to a touchpoints matrix. Align the touchpoints longitudinally across time…
But also align them within each stage, across touchpoint types.
It’s easier today to gather customer insight than ever.Still astonished how few companies are effectively bringing that intelligence in at the front end of the development process. It’s only being used to market stuff after it’s already been launched. This means your offerings will always be behind.
Understanding cannot truly happen without listening.Let me leave you with one parting thought…
Recent Supreme Court decision on corporations are people as far as free speech goes.But people are more and more treating companies and brands as people.So act like a person you’d like to spend time with. Don’t only talk about yourself, don’t exploit others, find out about what other people want and enjoy, help make them successful.
Sincerely seek out the outliers, not just the people you know about alreadyHave humility about what you don’t know, and don’t spend all the time talking about yourselfBe genuine and authentic – people’s bullshit meters are extremely sensitive these days.