Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

FINDING NEW CONCEPTS 169
What can an emergency - room doctor learn from working in a
fast - food restaurant? At Prophet, a brand and marketing consultancy,
the innovation practice teams sometimes encourage clients
to start by describing the worst idea possible. The worst concept
extension for a popular doll, a prostitute, led to a brand -
appropriate line of nighttime apparel. It can even help to start
over at the same point. In one study a group that worked on a
puzzle uninterrupted was outperformed by another that was
asked in the middle to do a brainteaser.
Don ’ t Look Only for Breakthrough Ideas. Innovation can
be a simple idea. It doesn ’ t need to involve transformational
technology. There is a misconception that innovation needs to
be dramatically new and different. That is not the case. Most
innovators just combine what is available in a new form or
apply an existing technology or component in a different way
or for a different application. The container that revolutionized
shipping was just a modifi cation of the familiar truck trailer. The
iPod was really a collection of developed components and technology.
So the trick is to know what is available and have the
insight to put different elements together in a new way.
Sourcing Concepts
There are several approaches or methods proven useful in generating
new offering concepts, as summarized in Figure 6.2 . Each
represents very different perspectives on the marketplace and its
dynamics and thus provides an impetus and enabler for creativity.
Most innovative organizations are very skilled at many of
these approaches. There is a learning curve, however, and building
competence in a few can be productive. However, they are
complementary, so the challenge is not to pick one but to work
with a set.
The fi rst portion of this group of approaches looks to customers
or potential customers for insights. The other approaches