The document discusses using online communities and collaborative tools to foster innovation through conversation. It advocates understanding customer problems and viewing ideas through their perspective. Key points made include: 1. Promoting teamwork and collaboration while allowing individuals space for independent thought. 2. Online collaborative tools like idea posting and discussion forums can generate insights and ideas in a less confrontational way than traditional brainstorming. 3. To deeply understand customers, one must immerse themselves in their world to identify real problems rather than trying to solve the wrong problems. 4. Ideas are more likely to succeed when they solve relevant problems in a unique way. Commodity ideas solving irrelevant problems are less likely to succeed.

1. &

3. feasibility Development Validation launch

7. To change the innovation conversations
both inside the business and outside, with
customers..
.. and create a sustainable innovation
culture
Combined with online “live”
spirit & collaborative tools
powered by

11. Genrick Altshuler (1926 – 1998)
“While innovation appears to be comprised of a set
of haphazard steps, in the long run it follows
repeatable patterns. When you understand what
drives these patterns you will be able to anticipate
the conditions and actions needed to create the
next evolution”

12. The rate of innovation is directly related to
level and relevance of the deficiency or
problem present in the system
The success of innovation – adoption and
life cycle - is dependent on the degree of
uniqueness in which that deficiency is
solved.

13. Ideas with above average
uniqueness AND
above average relevance
Scored consistently in the top
quartile of purchase intent
Ideas with above average
relevance BUT
below average uniqueness
About half scored in the top
quartile of purchase intent.
Ideas with above average
uniqueness BUT
below average relevance
Consistently fall outside the
top quartile of purchase
intent
So What Uniqueness/Niche
Commodity
Relevant Uniqueness

14. Ideas fail when the problems they are trying to
solve are wrong in the first place. To deeply
understand what makes them tick you have to
get into your customers’ head, immerse yourself
in their world.

16. Unique Solution
Relevant Problem

17. Multi-functional
Camera, Pedometer
Recordable Radio
More storage
More practical
Recordable
More compact / self
contained
Increasingly compact /
more portable
More portable
Motorised Stereo
More
portable
Improved
quality
VideoBuilt in storage and
convenience
Repeatable Pattern?

19. A psychological inertia that inadvertently
prevents us from being able to easily see ideas
and solutions beyond our experiences,
knowledge and beliefs

20. George de
Mestrel
Inventor of Velcro
Cocklebur
Arctium lappa

21. But what did
George do for
fun?

22. If you are
focused on
the problem
not just another irritating
cocklebur
you will see solutions

23. In the late 90’s Sony’s cocklebur was MPMan
developed by Sae Han Industries in South Korea.
Sony had a fixed view
on the way the
electronics business
worked
Apple saw the cocklebur
Sony could only see the same old
solution
MediaMachine

24. Quantity not quality, wild ideas, suspend
judgement: yes, it’s fun...
But the biggest issue is the idea that we can
simply come up with ideas without spending
time understanding the real problems or
looking at them through the eyes of those
affected

25. open your mind to
see the cockleburs
1. Focuses on relevant problems
2. Un-fixes thinking
3. Promotes teamwork and collaboration, while still
allowing individuals to work theough their own
thought processes

26. 1. Promotes teamwork and collaboration, while providing
individuals with the space to think
2. Easy to use, less confronting than brainstorming and less
subject to he-who-shouts-the-loudest influences
3. Uses team judgement rather than group thinking

27. John Gerrie, the founder of KN3W IDEAS® is not your
typical innovation guru. He has lived with the real
challenges of managing major global brands and
businesses, with board or management committee
responsibilities across 4 continents. He understands
how innovation can drive a company’s success, and
he also understands how often businesses can get
bogged down and waste valuable resources picking the
wrong ideas to work on.
Most recently John was the head ‘ideas-guy’ at Reckitt
Benckiser plc, a global consumer goods company with
dominant market positions in over 60 countries with
global brands like Dettol®, Nurofen®, Mortein®, Lysol®,
Harpic®, Vanish®, Airwick®, Woolite® Finish®,
Gaviscon®, Lemsip® and many more. Reckitt have
been the star performer in their sector, with double digit
earning growth for the last 10 years driven by an
innovation program that delivers close to 40% of its net
revenue from products launched in the past 3 years.
John was the architect of the Reckitt Benckiser front-end
of innovation process, and led an ideas team that
delivered over £750m in new product ideas annually.
Contact:
john.gerrie@kn3w-ideas.com
Picture courtesy of Reckitt Benckiser
plc,
www.reckittbenckiser.com

28. Conversational Marketing & Innovation Projects

29. “ Right now, your customers
are writing about your
products on blogs and
recutting your commercials on
YouTube. They’re defining you
on Wikipedia and ganging up
on you in social networking
sites like Facebook. These are
all elements of a social
phenomenon — the
groundswell — that has
created a permanent, long-
lasting shift in the way the
world works. Most companies
see it as a threat.
You can see it as an
opportunity.”
Social Media: a lasting Revolution

30. If market are
conversations,
It’s time to
speak out.
Our belief

31. What is the Talking Village?
It is a spontaneous community online (bloggers and other
active people in the Web), that want to generate, promote
and implement Conversational Projects, based on
real interactions and collaboration between brands and
people.
Aiming at:
• Reducing the distance between (people in the) companies
and (people in the) web
• Promoting Consumer Empowerment

32. The Talking Village Manifesto
1. We believe that the Web is the ideal ground to generate a valuable
conversation between brands and consumers.
2. The players of the conversation should be honest, transparent,
respectful, self-aware, competent.
3. Only when players understand each other’s needs, is the dialogue
truly authentic.
4. Contents create value in the Web. Brands and users can collaborate to
produce high-value contents.
5. Through communication, brands propose cultural models. We would
like to contribute as much as possible to the creation of sustainable
models.
6. The web user identity is best expressed by the contents they generate
and share – not by their socio-demographic profile.
7. Empathy is key for productive conversations, ie the ability to be in
each other’s shoes. Users should think of themselvers as brands,
brands should think of themselves as consumers.

33. The Talking Village Values
Ethics
Openness/transparency
Dialogue
Respect
Self awareness
Empathy
Knowledge
Free choice
Coherence

34. 34
One mission: from different
languages to common
visions
Our role is about:
• Facilitating conversations
• Decoding true feelings and insights
• Interpreting company languages and
consumer languages, fostering mutual
collaboration
Understanding people and their
problems
 Increasing the emotional intelligence of
the brands

35. 35
Concept/product test, focus groups…
What’s new here?
Everything!
We don’t work on pre-cooked solutions...
...We team up from early stages of a process (be it a
new product, a name, a new/improved process, a
communication or promotion idea)
... We can transform a basic concept in a true,
authentic story telling
... We achieve high quality of both inputs
and outputs of the conversations:
Villagers in our network are high-end
innovators, creative minds, bloggers &
storytellers, highly self-aware regarding
consumption choices 35

36. 36
1. Listening
2. Conversation
3. Support
Depending on objectives, our
social/interactive tools can produce
different outputs according to a
growing level of mutual engagement :
from insights gathering to emotional
storytelling, from product
placement to co-innovation
pipelines
4. Co- creativity
Gathering insights, needs, feelings,
stories, reviews information gaps
Brand stimulating and
participating into
community life
Collaborative
problem solving
and idea generation

37. Some of the things we can do together:
Insights gathering, through monitoring
of existing conversations online,
Participation to workshops
Conversations about products in
dedicated web areas, through product
placement, diaries/reviews and other
interactive tools
Collective storytelling around your key
selected themes/issues
Private interactive platforms for idea
generation and incubation, matching
expert consumers with company
brains
….

38. 38
Better mutual understanding
Get the true feelings - unlock the key
consumers insights and bring them to life
Unprecedented level of depth of such
conversations
On the other hand, consumers understand
the brand strategy
Better relationship
Brands who are open to conversation can
create a unique and lasting relationship
which drives awareness and reputation
with a qualified pool of trend setters and
influencers
Better communication
Develop Personal, relevant, authentic,
engaging stories that consumers will
spread for you
Conversational marketing leads to:

39. Success cases: Mulino Bianco
- Bloggers and consumers used the product and held a 5 weeks
diary on MB website, stimulated by a weekly “task”:
- Before starting, they met with MB marketing team and interacted with
them
- Their creativity was seeked and appreciated by a big brand
- Participants felt like a real Project Team

40. Another success
story: Boppy
- Boppy is a breastfeeding pillow: 15 italian bloggers (all of them actually
breastfeeding) were invited to join a conversation area on VereMamme.it
(the website temporarily hosting The Talking Village) + posted
spontaneous insights about their product experience on their own blogs
- They used constructive criticism, proposed alternative uses, personalized the product,
posted ironic stories...
- These are not BUZZ marketing operations, but authentic storytelling by people, true &

41. Flavia Rubino (Rome) – founder
Flavia started her career in Marketing in 1994, working with P&G, Reckitt
Benckiser and Johnson & Johnson. She spent nine years in Reckitt
Benckiser, a great innovation schoool, where she was responsible for local
business portfolios as Marketing Director, as well as global brand strategies
as Global Category Director. While very practical and business oriented, she
has a true passion about innovation, creative thinking techniques and
authentic consumer insights. In 2008 she launched an innovative Web site
promoting coaching for Moms, and discovered the beauty , the functionality
and the great opportunities of Web 2.0 As a result of her Marketing
conversations with readers, she founded The Talking Village to educate both
consumers and corporations to a new culture of co-creation. Her motto is
“you cannot solve a problem with the same level of thought that is creating
the problem”.
flavia.rubino@gmail.com
+39 347 8309746
Giuliana Laurita (Milan) – co-founder
Giuliana has more than 10 years experience in Internet, as a web strategist
in FullSix – one of the first digital agecies in Italy - and
researcher/semiologist. She recently developed a comprehensive study
about social media and digital styles. She’s a blogger since 2006 and has a
deep understanding of the conversation dynamics and potential. She shares
the passion about collaborative marketing and believes this can ultimately
bring together the “commercial” Web and the user-generated web.
giulianalaurita@gmail.com
+39 347 2775028

43. Appendice
….
…E In azione

44. 44
Durata: 2 settimane
Simile a Focus groups o interviste in-depth
Su un argomento specifico
Eg, executional evaluation
Oppure su un’area più ampia
Eg, new concept exploration
Moduli con feedbacks
real-time
Eg, discussion forum, chat,
idea posting, Q&A
modules a-sincroni con
feedbacks + profondi
Eg, video-diario,
multtmedia blog
oppure
Ipotesi di conversazione su TASK e
raccolta di feedbacks/insights
Durata: 4-5 settimane
Simile a ricerca etnografica

45. 45
The Talking Village può ospitare un
dialogo continuativo con una
community, alimentando una
“pipeline di insights”:
eg concept & copy development
ma anche community interne, per
coinvolgere i dipendenti in una
comunità aziendale che fornisca
stimoli e proposte
Oppure community miste, che
includono cliente, consumatori,
esperti e professionisti
Durata: 3, 6, 12 mesi per
progetti/argomenti specifici
Ipotesi di conversazioni on-going

46. 46
Moduli di
feedback in
tempo reale
Eg, chat,
quickfire Q&A,
an idea
posting space,
stimulus
debate
Moduli asincroni
Eg, video diary,
multi-media blogs
based on specific
tasks, stimulus
response
1-2 assignments / settimana
foundational insight Ideation
Moduli che
supportano compiti
di ideazione
Eg, chat, quickfire Q&A,
an idea posting space,
multi-media blogs
Incubation
Moduli che
combinano real
time ed altre
interazioni
Eg, concept
discussion forum,
quickfire Q&A,
questionnaires
Un ciclo di ideazione completo, flessibile ed
integrato con i workshops
Client team Customers

47. 47
Validazione e finetuning qualitativo
Process Repeats
Nuovi concetti
in evoluzione
su input /
random
Screening dei
concetti
preferiti
Input iniziali
su diversi
concetti
Top Concepts
Valutazione
Monadica

48. 48
Utilizza una community numerosa di stakeholders, esperti,
consumatori “opinion leaders”, per un periodo esteso. Mantenere
l’accesso a questa community potrebbe costituire una fantastica
fonte di challenge e stimoli per il tuo team, una vera e propria
pipeline di insights. Puoi aprire un dialogo continuativo con loro per
3, 6, 12 mesi o oltre…
Non una metodologia di ricerca, ma una nuova cultura per co-generare
idee breakthrough, ed instaurare un dialogo continuativo sul miglioramento
di prodotti e servizi.
Nuovi territori per un brand esistente…
EPD’s, NPD’s
White Space innovation…
Brand stretch, White space, nuovi brands
Il livello avanzato: High-end innovation partnering
Co-creativity
Thomas1

49. 49