New Product Ideas

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From the course by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Customer Insights: New Product Development Orientation

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Customer Insights: New Product Development Orientation

10 ratings

This course is the first in the Customer Insights and New Product Development (CIPD) specialization. It will introduce learners to the tools and process of gathering customer insights for identifying and developing new product opportunities. Through an integrated set of five modules and hands-on project experiences, learners will acquire the knowledge and skills to turn their ideas gained from understanding customer needs into innovative new products.

From the lesson

MODULE 1: What Makes a Great New Product

The high risk and cost of new product failure highlights the importance of understanding the reasons for new product successes and failures. In this module, we will identify and discuss the major reasons for new product development successes and failures. You will experience first-hand the value of creativity in developing a new product and examine the best practices of successful firms and entrepreneurs.

Why New Products Fail9:47

Why New Products Succeed12:47

New Product Ideas12:50

Meet the Instructors

William Qualls
Professor Emeritus of Marketing
Business Administration, Gies College of Business

In the previous module,

we talked about why new products fail and why new products succeed.

One of the purposes of this particular specialization,

is to give you an opportunity to test out your new ideas,

your new product, or service ideas.

And so, the purpose of this module is to explore possible new ideas

that you may look at when using the new product development process.

Now, you can either use your own ideas that you have at this particular point,

or you can use one of the products that we talk about.

We're really trying to give you the tools necessary to

evaluate your ideas for a new product or a new service,

to increase your chances that it will succeed.

We know, and one of the things you may be familiar with is a TV show called Shark Tank.

Shark Tank provides opportunities for entrepreneurs to present

their ideas and get funding from some of the major entrepreneurs in the US.

One of the things that has happened through the number of years this program has been on,

has been the fact that

certain products are successful based upon deals that were received.

But even when the particular vendor or entrepreneur did not receive a deal,

there are as many successes with those products as well.

So for example, those that received the deal would be things like

the Squatty Potty after receiving the deal that's made $12.3 million,

or the Scrub Daddy Smiley Sponge made over $50 million.

And so, there's a wide range of success if we use

profits and income as a measure of success for these particular deals.

Equally important is the fact that certain deals they did not receive a deal,

but they've been just as successful.

One in particular is the security system called Ring.

Since it was introduced into the marketplace without receiving a deal from Shark Tank,

it's achieved over $7 million in sale.

Similar in terms of Copa Di Vino which is a glass with wine things such as,

services as gourmet food or shelf big shaped gourmet food.

There are a number of deals that have been successful even

without the approval of the Shark Tank entrepreneurs.

So, let's look at some possible ideas that you may consider.

Now, you should look at this as an opportunity to evaluate the ideas that you

have or use one of the products that we're about to discuss,

to evaluate the process before applying it to your particular idea or service.

One of the opportunities that you might want to explore would be a food truck service.

This would give you a chance to evaluate a service run business,

whether it's a stand along restaurant,

or whether it's a food truck,

or whether it's some type of kiosk where

you're providing a good or service to the public,

and in return they're providing you with an opportunity to

evaluate whether or not your product is

acceptable in the marketplace that you're serving.

Now, the food truck service idea is a good way of evaluating

the tools that we'll be using to evaluate new product ideas.

Because all of the decisions you have to make regarding developing a food truck service,

will be similar to you starting your own service-oriented business.

Another product you might consider that's a little bit more consumer durable,

is something more technical but just as simple,

is the solar oven.

Now, the solar oven does not require a lot of

technology and knowledge to build a solar oven.

But evaluating the markets and the consumer tastes for

the benefits of a solar oven will be

similar to other consumer products that you might have.

So, if you do not have an idea in mind but you have something

similar that you want to evaluate from a consumer durable standpoint,

then you might want to consider the solar oven as the product

that you use to evaluate the new product development process.

And then alternatively, you might think in terms of some type of software type product.

Now, software products and software services are a little

bit different in terms of the development process,

because you do not have the actual physical product

until you actually completed the development of the software.

So, we still may follow

a systematic approach to evaluating consumers marketability for the product,

or the technical requirements for the product,

or even the economic feasibility of the product.

But you are evaluating the application by getting

consumer insights for the purposes of

determining whether or not your software will be

viable in the context of competitive products in the marketplace.

So, this particular design process is not the only process you could follow,

it's just an example.

So, if you have an idea for a new type of

application that you want to sell to Apple or to Google,

this would be the process that you would follow in developing that product.

But then we would talk about what consumer insight research technologies you need to

evaluate whether or not it's the appropriate application for the market that you desire.

So, these are just three different types of products that you might consider.

Once more service-oriented the food truck,

once more of a consumer durable,

and once more of a technical software type of a product.

But any or either of these three could be used as a basis for

testing the process that we will be discussing throughout the specialization.

An example of this is someone who has developed everyday products on a regular basis.

They felt the need based upon how they use products in their house,

this is Joy Mangano.

Now, Joy Mangano is well known here in the US for developing

products that she found were not satisfying her needs in the household.

Just as simple as the scrub mop,

or something in terms of the pillow,

or the steamer for steaming out clothes.

These are just three examples of what ideas she

has come up with to solve everyday problems in the household.

So, as you begin to think about your product and your service,

think in terms of it solving a problem or think in terms of it providing a benefit that

you have not had previously

satisfied with any other products or services on the marketplace.

So, that's the beginning point of a new product development process.

Trying to identify an idea that solves a problem

either that you as a consumer or a targeted group of consumers that you've identified,

can solve with your particular product or service.

So, to test out your ability to be creative in this light,

we're going to have you do an exercise.

And the exercise is called Chindogu.

Chindogu is the Japanese art of inventing everyday things that in the face of it,

seems like the ideal solution to a particular problem.

But these inventions have a distinctive feature.

Anyone actually attempting to use one of these things would

find that in many cases creates more problems,

and such is not beneficial

in terms of solving the ultimate consumer problem that you have.

And ultimately, it ends up being something that's funny and embarrassing,

and effectively has no real utility at all.

So, it's a product that you could think of to solve a problem but in

a way that it's a joke rather than

an actual product that you would sell in the marketplace.

Here's would be examples of it.

Many times I'm faced with the problem of how to butter my bread or butter my corn,

so one person came up with the idea of a butter stick very similar to a glue stick.

Or how do you learn to use chopsticks?

Well, this invention was based upon putting

a clothespin in between the chopsticks and you could learn how to use a chopstick.

Now, the one I really liked was the one where your floors are constantly dirty,

and you want to dust them,

and your baby is always on the floor trying to crawl,

so we make the baby into a duster in terms of the play cloth.

Now, these things in light that it solves a problem,

but may not be market feasible,

may not be technically feasible,

and may not be actually optimum accepted in the marketplace from an economic standpoint.

There are problems with if you actually introduce these products in the marketplace.

But this exercise would give you an opportunity

to test your creative abilities in solving

a particular customer problem with identifying

that problem and then coming up with an invention to solve that problem.

So, in this exercise,

this is an individual based exercise.

And the purpose is to stimulate

your creativity in thinking about how to solve customers problems.

And you want to consider what determines when the product is new.

So, is it new to the world?

Is it new in terms of the particular problem

that you're solving because other products can't solve it,

or is it new just because of the fact you've never seen it before?

Your ideas for new products can come from a variety of sources.

So, think about your everyday activities in terms of

problems that you may be facing and what would be a nice solution to that.

So, this is examining your current product needs

or your current lack of satisfaction of your product needs,

to come up with some imaginary products that may solve that particular problem.

Now, we've provided in your packet a written explanation of

the exercise and what you have to actually

complete and deliver at the end of the exercise.

But in order to help stimulate those ideas,

there are certain tenets that you must follow when developing your idea.

One, the Chindogu cannot be of real use.

So, it cannot be something that you ultimately can introduce as a marketable product.

It must exist.

So, you must think about the product and developing

the product even if it's just drawing a picture of the product.

And you're trying to break away from

the normal ways of thinking about solving the problems.

So it must have a spirit of anarchy.

You want to look at everyday problems that you

have and the solution to those everyday problems.

So, Chinogu are tools for everyday life.

Ultimately, it's not for sale.

It's ultimately used to create and stimulate your creativity.

Your primary purpose in developing the ultimate product a prototype is humor.

You want to solve the problem but you want to do it in a facetious type of way.

It's not propaganda.

You shouldn't create negative products,

never taboo type products.

Ultimately, it should not be patentable.

And it shouldn't be a product that is prejudice against one segment or the other.

So, following these 10 tenets,

you should think about a problem that you're having in everyday life,

and the solution to that problem,

and create that product.

It could be a product,

it could be a service,

but somehow you have to demonstrate

the benefits of that product through a picture, or a diagram,

or a 3D model,

whatever you can do to illustrate how you're solving

the problem in a humorous way with the invention that you develop.

Now, once we've developed these products each of you will have

a chance to evaluate your classmates products.

Each one will peer review at least three other students,

and the vote on the top Chindogu products will illustrate in a lecture in class.

If you have any questions,

be sure to email me.

But good luck in terms of this particular exercise.

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