Concept Generation

Idea and Concept

• Product Idea:
– idea for a possible product that the company can
see itself offering.
• Product Concept:
– detailed version of the idea stated in meaningful
consumer terms.
 Product Concept
• A concept includes:
• a specific product form (the attributes)
• a specific technology (the source of the form)
• a specific benefit for a particular usage
situation
Required Creation Process Inputs
• Form
– the physical thing created, or the set of
steps by which the service will be created
• Technology
– the source by which the form is to be
attained
• Benefit/Need
– benefit to the customer for which the
customer sees a need or desire
Technology permits us to develop a form
that provides the benefit.
New Product Concepts and the
New Product

Need C Form

C
C

“C”= Technology New

Concepts Product
 The Designer Decaf Example
• Benefit: “Consumers want decaffeinated
espresso that tastes identical to regular.”
• Form: “We should make a darker, thicker,
Turkish-coffee-like espresso.”
• Technology: “There’s a new chemical extraction
process that isolates and separates chemicals
from foods; maybe we can use that for
decaffeinating espresso coffee.”

Why would each of these taken individually not

be a product concept?
 What a Concept Is and Is Not

“Learning needs of computer users can be met by

using online systems to let them see training videos
on the leading software packages.”

“A new way to solve the in-home

training/educational needs of PC users.”

“Let’s develop a new line of instructional videos.”

 What a Concept Is and Is Not
“Learning needs of computer users can be met by using
online systems to let them see training videos on the leading
software packages.” (good concept; need and technology
clear)
“A new way to solve the in-home training/educational needs
of PC users.” (need only; actually more like a wish)
“Let’s develop a new line of instructional videos.”
(technology only, lacking market need and form)
 Methods for Generating Product
Concepts
 Two Broad Categories of Methods:
– Gathering Ready-Made Product Concepts
– Using a Managed Process Run by the New
Products Team
 Best Sources of Ready-Made
New Product Concepts
• New Products Employees
– Technical: R&D, engineering, design
– Marketing and manufacturing
• Customer/ End Users
– Lead Users
• Resellers, Suppliers, Vendors
• Competitors
• The Invention Industry (investors, etc.)
• Idea exploration firms and consulting engineers
 Best Sources of Ready-Made New
Product Concepts (continued)
• Miscellaneous Categories
– Consultants
– Advertising agencies
– Marketing research firms
– Retired product specialists
– Industrial designers
– Other manufacturers
– Universities
– Research laboratories
– Governments
– Printed sources
– International
– Internet
1. Customer Needs Analysis

Voice of Customer
 Identifying Customer Needs
• Goals
– Ensure product is focused on customer needs
– Identify both explicit and latent/hidden needs
– Provide fact base for justifying product
specifications
– Create archival record of the needs activity
– Ensure no critical customer need overlooked
– Team understands customer needs
 Identifying Customer Needs
The 5 step process:
1. Gather raw data from customers
2. Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
3. Organize needs into a hierarchy (primary,
secondary, etc.)
4. Establish relative importance of each need
5. Reflect on the results and the process
 Identifying Customer Needs
I. Gather raw data from customers
1. Verbatim
a. Interviews
b. Focus groups
2. Empathic (observation)
3. Lead Users
Depth Interviews
 What is an In-depth Interview?
A conversation on a given topic between a
respondent and an interviewer
• Used to obtain detailed insights and personal thoughts
• Flexible and unstructured, but usually with an interview guide
• Purpose: to probe informants’ motivations, feelings, beliefs
• Lasts about an hour
• Interviewer creates relaxed, open environment
• Wording of questions and order are determined by flow of
conversation
• Interview transcripts are analyzed for themes and connections
between themes
 1. Depth Interview
Example: Wide Seats in an Airplane
I: “Why do you like wide seats in an airplane?”
R: “It makes me comfortable.”
I: “Why is it important to be comfortable?”
R: “I can accomplish more.”
I: “Why is important that you can accomplish
more?”
R: “I feel good about myself.”

Implication: Wide seats may relate to self-esteem!

Advantages
– Tendency to have a freer exchange
– Can probe potentially complex motivations and behavior
– Easier to attach a particular response to a respondent

Disadvantages
– Qualified interviewers are expensive
– Length and expense of interview often leads to small
sample
– Subjectivity and “fuzziness”
Focus Group
 Focus Group
A group of people who discuss a subject under the
direction of a moderator. Focus groups are used to:

• Spot source of marketing problem

• Spark new product ideas
• Develop questionnaires for quantitative research
• Identify new advertising themes
• Diagnose competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
 Focus Group Research -
Overview
 The goal of focus group research is to
learn and understand what people have
to say and why
 The emphasis is on getting people to talk
at length and in detail about the subject
at hand
 The intent is to find out how they feel
about a product, concept, idea, or
organization, how it fits into their lives,
and their emotional involvement with it
 Benefits of Focus Group
Research
• Synergy - together, the group can provide more
insights than insights obtained individually.
• Snowballing - chain reaction to comment by one
individual.
• Stimulation - group interaction excites people.
• Spontaneity/serendipity - participants may get
ideas on the spot and discuss them.
 Focus Group Research - Steps
1. Define objectives of study
2. Develop questions for discussion - Moderator
Guide
3. Recruit participants
4. Conduct Session with a moderator
5. Analyze and report results to decision makers

Results can be misleading if the focus group is not

conducted properly.
 Focus Group Issues
(1 of 2)
• How many people in a focus group?
• What type of people should be recruited?

• Should participants be …
– Knowledgeable?
– Diverse?
– Representative?
 Focus Group Issues
(2 of 2)
• How should participants be recruited?
• Should they be given monetary incentives?
• Where should the focus group be held?
• How much interaction among participants?
• What is the role and qualification of the moderator?
• How to write the moderator guide?
• Should management observe the focus group?
• How should the report be written?
Trends in Focus Group Research
• Telephone Focus Groups
– Focus groups that are conducted via conference calling.

• Videoconference Focus Groups

– Staffers can watch focus groups via videoconferencing
and avoid the costs of travel.

• On-line focus groups

– Focus groups that are conducted through internet (Chat
rooms) - http://www.greenfieldonline.com
 Empathic Design (observation)
• Because users may be unable to articulate their needs,
this technique focuses on observations of customer
behavior and workarounds to develop a deep
understanding the user’s environment.
• Types of insights (unexpected success and failure)
– Triggers of Use (what? why? )
– Coping strategies with unarticulated user needs (how?)
– New usage situations (what’s new?)
– Customization (when, where, who?)
– Intangible Attributes
 5 Steps in Empathic Design
1. Observation
– Who should be observed?
– Who should do the observing?
– What behavior should be observed?
2. Capture the Data
– Less focus on words/text; more on visual, auditory, and
other sensory cues
– Via photos, etc.
 5 Steps in Empathic Design
(Cont.)
3. Reflection and Analysis
– Identify all customers’ possible problems and solutions
4. Brainstorm for Solutions
– Transform observations into ideas
5. Develop prototypes of solutions
– Tangible representation or role play/simulation of
ideas
 EMPATHIC (OBSERVATION) VS. USER
ARTICULATION (INQUIRY)

Strengths Weaknesses

- Innovation possible beyond - Technique relies upon well-

what users are able to tell you. trained observers who can
Empathic convert observations to
(Observation) - Technique relies upon real innovative solutions.
actions.
- Inability to measure attitudes.

- Users may be unable to

- Information can be acquired
articulate needs (e.g unnoticed
User on attitudes and reasoning
workarounds).
Articulation from users.
(Inquiry) - Interview/interaction process
- Easy to acquire information.
may bias response.
 Lead Users
• Lead User innovations form the basis for new
products and service of value to manufacturers.

• Lead Users
1. Have new product or service needs that will be general to
the marketplace, but they face them months or years
before the bulk of the market
2. Expect to benefit significantly by finding a solution to
those needs
 Lead Users
• Some customers face needs before a majority of the
market place;
• Their needs may be more extreme than typical
customers
– Ex: auto racers and military’s combat fighters need for better
brakes
• They stand to benefit substantially by obtaining
solutions to their needs sooner rather than later
• They struggle with the inadequacies of existing products
tend to innovate their own solutions to their needs
 Steps in Lead User Research

1. Identify important trend

– Via standard environmental scanning
– 3M identified trend of detecting small features via
medical imaging, which required higher-quality,
and high-resolution images
 Steps in Lead User Research
2. Identify and question lead users
– Personal contacts with customers, surveys, networking with
experts, empathic design
– Respect possible sensitivity of information
– Ex:
• 3M identified radiologists working on most challenging medical
problems, who had developed imaging innovations to meet their needs
• Networking to other fields in pattern recognition (the military) and
semiconductors
 Steps in Lead User Research
3. Develop the breakthrough product(s)
– Host a workshop for experts and lead users to
brainstorm
– Ex: medical imaging, experts in high-resolution
imaging, and pattern recognition developed ideas
4. Assess how well lead user data and experiences
apply to more typical users
– Gather market research from typical users
The possibility of
extrapolation
 Benefits of the Lead User Process

• New insights from gathering and using

information in new ways
• Cross-functional in nature
• Identifying and capturing the innovation
sources earlier than competitors (appropriability)
• Collaboration with innovative customers
• Requires corporate support, skilled teams,
time.
 Adopter Categorization on the
Basis of Innovativeness
• Lead users are not the same as “early adopters”
 Identifying Customer Needs
2. Interpret raw data in terms of customer
needs
– Express need as “what”, not “how”
• Identify the benefit and not the function
– Express the need as specifically as the raw
data
– Use positive, not negative, phrasing
– Express the need as an attribute to the product
or User
– Avoid the words must and should
Designing a Kitchen Tool

Customer Comment Interpreted Needs

“It hurts my hand.” “The tool is comfortable.”

“It only does one “The tool can peel,

thing.” gouge, cut, etc.”

“It is not very “The tool looks stylish.”

attractive.”
 Designing a Coffee-
Making Machine
Verbatim Needs Interpreted Needs
“I would like it to remind me of an The product is elegant and
English butler.” unassuming, with clean lines.
”I hate it when it drips if I pull out The product keeps itself and the
the pot or the filter.” area around it clean.
“I don’t like having the cord The product has good cord
stretched all over the counter.” management.
“I just want a good tasting cup of The product makes good coffee.
Joe.”
The product heats and keeps
water at the appropriate
temperature.
 Five Guidelines for Writing Needs Statements
Guideline Customer Statement Need Statement: Wrong Need Statement: Right
“Why don’t you put The screwdriver battery The screwdriver battery
What Not
protective shields around contacts are covered by is protected from
How the battery contacts?” a plastic sliding door. accidental shorting.

Specificity “I drop my screwdriver all The screwdriver is The screwdriver

the time.” rugged. operates normally after
repeated dropping.

Positive “It doesn’t matter if it’s The screwdriver is not The screwdriver
Not raining, I still need to disabled by the rain. operates normally in
Negative work outside on the rain.
Saturdays.”

Attribute “I’d like to charge my An automobile cigarette The screwdriver battery

of the battery from my cigarette lighter adapter can can be charged from
Product lighter.” charge the screwdriver an automobile cigarette
battery. lighter.

Avoid “I hate it when I don’t The screwdriver should The screwdriver

“Must” know how much juice is provide an indication of provides an indication
and left in the batteries of my the energy level of the of the energy level of
cordless tools.” battery. the battery.
“Should
 Translating Observations
into Interpreted Needs (Empathic Design)

• Observation
• Capture “data” - use video or still pictures, don’t
write
• Show “data” to people who didn’t observe first-
hand and discuss observations
• Brainstorm for solutions
 Identifying Customer Needs
3. Organize needs into a hierarchy
(one method)
• Print each need on separate card/post-it
• Eliminate redundant statements
• Group cards according to similar needs met
• Choose a label for each group
• Create supergroups (2 to 5 groups) where
possible
• Review / edit the organized need statements
 Identifying Customer Needs
4. Establish relative importance of each
need
• Develop a weighting system for customer
needs:
– Rely on consensus of the team based on their
experience with customers
Or
– Use further customer surveys
 Prioritizing Interpreted Needs
• Kano Classification (one approach)
– L = Linear Satisfiers
(“The more the merrier.”)
– N = Neutral/Indifferent
(“No big deal.”)
– M = Must Haves
(“I won’t buy without!”)
– D = Delighters
(“What an unexpected treat!”)
 Kano Diagram for Customer
Satisfaction
Performance Wants
Delighted (revealed)
Customer Satisfaction

Exciters – “wow”
(unspoken)
Fully Implemented

Absent
Basic Expectations
(unspoken)

Disgusted
Product Function
 Identifying Customer Needs
5. Reflect on the results and the process
– Are results consistent with results of team’s
interaction with the customers?
– Have all important types of customers in
target market been interacted with?
– What do we know that we didn’t know when
we started? Any surprises?
– How can we improve the process?