The Case for Innovation

June 3, 2008

We are an industry driven by invention so it was with interest that I read an excellent New York Times interview with A.G. Lafley, CEO of Proctor & Gamble. P&G has been extremely successful under Mr. Lafley and his mantra of innovation so I was interested in seeing what he had to say on the subject. Particularly on how he differentiated innovation from invention.

It was with this in mind that I found this question by interviewer Claudia Deutsch and its answer by Lafley so interesting:

Q. Innovation has become one of those words, like sustainability, that is so overused these days as to be almost meaningless. Why not just say invention?

A. Invention is just a new product or service. Innovation ties that idea to a better customer experience, and results in increased sales and profits. It lets you make unlikely connections that enable you to solve wickedly hard problems. It is a team sport that uses the expertise of people from a lot of different fields. It also means identifying your consumers and involving them early on.

I wonder if we need, certainly not less invention, but more innovation in the toy industry. We are a fashion industry and as such are driven by the next new thing. Perhaps, if we also concentrated on continuous innovation, and thereby made our existing products more fun to play with, we would have more products with longer life spans and less of a need to gamble on this year’s hot product or fad. Just something to think about.

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on June 3, 2008 | Comments (1)

June 9, 2008

In response to: The Case for Innovation
Kim Vandenbroucke commented:

I agree with both you and Mr. Lafley of P&G. While invention is a necessity to the toy industry it can also benefit from a little well-planned innovation. Improving brands, products and services so from store to home they are an absolute delight should be, and most likely is, the goal of every toy manufacturer. Before diving into an innovation project it’s best to evaluate the current situation. If your product is a classic – or has that old “classic” look -- before you can improve upon it you may need to revisit the existing product or brand and do a little renovation. A great example is the timeless game Twister. They took a look at the packaging and revamped it to have a fun, edgy, trendy look before they started moving forward with intelligent brand extensions like Twister Moves. Adding dance to twister, it makes sense. It followed the core brand equities, like foot to color directions and the 4-color palate. And because of this consumers found the new product a believable extension of the Twister line. Believability is key; a brand cannot jump from point A to point D without B and C in the middle. While it’s not too memorable of a product line, the Crayola license was on some electronics a couple years back and while I was browsing my local Target toy aisle a woman said “why would I want a Crayola CD player?” And she was right; it’s not a beloved character, it’s not a company that is known for its electronic savvy, so why then would a consumer want to purchase the Crayola CD player? It’s not about crafts or a large variety of colors and so the consumers just didn’t get it. If it was a goal of the Crayola brand to be in the electronics arena, they needed to slowly move that direction and gain the consumer’s “approval” before moving forward. Beyond renovation, successful innovation is all about listening. To be a great innovator you must gather information from key constituents like the end user, parents (or purchaser) and retailer and translate these unmet needs to create strategic, viable concepts. With the use of ethnography, social anthropology, trend research and strategic thinking, innovation isn’t brain surgery. But like Mr. Lafley said, it’s a team sport and I believe that fresh thinking and perspective are imperatives. With all of this said, I do believe that the toy industry is unique in its reliance on the inventor community and because of this some of the most imaginative, exciting, magical toys have been created. And while other industries are all about brand building and capturing brand loyalty, our target audience, kids, are always looking for the next cool new thing while still playing with their Barbies and PlayDoh. So keep up the intelligent brand building, but don’t forget to look under the stones unturned for great next thing. As a disclaimer, I am an independent inventor and an “innovator” for Cloverleaf Innovation just outside of Chicago. With one foot in each world, I have a great respect for both innovation and invention. They are different and great in their own ways but complete reliance on one or the other isn’t the key to success.