World Changing Ideas – New Product Development at Its Finest (#M4BW)

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I always enjoy Fast Company‘s innovation issues. This year’s “World Changing Idea Awards honor the businesses and organizations driving change in the world.” There is always an emphasis on new products and services that make the world a better place — a natural connection to our Marketing for a Better World (#M4BW) theme in the most recent edition of Essentials of Marketing. Winners included:

  • Abbott Labs which made a tiny implant that keeps babies’ hearts healthy (see video below)
  • Carbon Lighthouse which uses AI which adjusts businesses energy consumption by up to 30%.
  • Invest Your Values (I love when the brand name tells you what the product is) is a digital tool that helps employees invest their retirement money in companies that share their values.

These examples can be used across a number of chapters — but may relate most closely to Chapter 8 (goods and services) and Chapter 9 (new product development). The video below (first 2:20) features a few of these companies and might be shown in class.

 

“Jugaad” frugal innovation for new product development (#M4BW)

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This short article, “Corporate America must learn to innovate frugally to get through the coronavirus crisis,” (Fast Company, March 27, 2020) provides some great tips on frugal new product development. While the title of the article implies a coronavirus connection, the advice is universal. The author also gave a great TED Talk, “Creative Problem-Solving in the face of extreme limits” see below. The TED Talk includes some great #M4BW examples.

 

This article and video fits well with a discussion of new product development (Chapter 9).

New Produce Development (again)

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I heard this great story, “The $100 Million Apple” on the NPR Planet Money podcast (November 25, 2019). The story walks you through new product development and commercialization (launched today, December 1) of a new branded apple — the Cosmic Crisp. The podcast story, while short (9 minute listen) walks you through the development of this new branded apple. The story provides a nice overview of new product development in an unusual context.

After listening, I thought this sounded familiar and that maybe I had written about the Honey Crisp apple on the blog before. Sure enough, almost 5 years ago to the day, I posted “New Produce Development” on the blog. Check that post out for some earlier background.

 

From green ketchup to Colgate lasagna: Companies’ biggest product failures

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It is always fun to show students product failures. Especially like those shown here. I think intuition alone would tell most of us that these were not such good ideas. But it is good for students to see that even big companies, with lots of money and smart people, can make mistakes.

You might want to add a few of these images to your coverage of product (Chapter 8) or new product development (Chapter 9). Colgate Lasagna (really?) could be used with the growth opportunity matrix in Chapter 2 as an example of why diversification is so risky. Or the Bic Her (pens designed for women) might be an example of segmentation and targeting gone too far.

Charmin Forever Roll

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For those that have a serious fear of running out of toilet paper, Charmin has some really big news.  The company launched a new roll of toilet paper that is 12 inches in diameter and weighs about 2 pounds. It’s so large it needs it’s own free-standing dispenser (though you can buy wall-mounted units or get them as part of a starter pack directly from Charmin).  Another interesting twist is that the company is selling the new roll via monthly subscription.  The largest “Multi-user” roll is $9.99 when purchased individually or $7.99 when purchased via subscription.  Customers can choose the frequency of delivery when they sign up for the subscription.  You can read more about the new product in this article.