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Ideation Is Ideal

JWherever you are right now, take a look around you and focus on any item you see—large or small, new or old. Someone somewhere at some time came up with the idea for that item. The idea may have been for a totally new item, something that had never before been produced. Or, the idea may have been for making some-thing that already existed better in some way.

How many times have you seen some product for sale and thought to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, not any more. You, too, can be a creative thinker, if you put your mind to it. You can actively look for an opportunity that awaits your discovery, explore ways for thinking “outside the box,” and come up with one, or many, marketable ideas for products.

ust think of it! Every single item you, your family, and everyone else buys was once someone’s idea. Not only that—every service that someone provides was once either a new idea or an idea for a better way of doing something.

How did many of these ideas originate? Through the ide-ation process. Ideation, which sounds a lot like the words “idea” and “creation” combined, is the process of generat-ing and developing new ideas. The ideation process can be used in many different situations—from deciding what to do on Saturday night to choosing a name for a new pet. One of the primary purposes of ideation in business, though, is to generate ideas for new goods and services.

New product ideas are a key factor in determining the long-term survival, profitability, and success of a business. The market’s needs and wants change constantly, and busi-nesses must respond to—or better yet, anticipate—these changes by creating new and improved products that ap- peal to customers. If a market’s requirements change but a business serving that market does not, customers are likely to look elsewhere for products that will fit their needs.

Businesses also need to stay ahead of the competition. As the global economy grows, the number of competitors in the market grows as well. To gain or maintain an edge over competitors, businesses continually search for ways to improve their existing prod-ucts, develop new products, and identify the next “big thing.”

But, changing market needs and increased competition aren’t the only reasons why businesses devote their time and energy to ideation. Products’ life cycles are becoming shorter and shorter. As products near the ends of their lives, the market puts pressure on businesses to develop new uses for these existing products or replace them with something completely new. Allowing goods and services to die out without coming out with new or improved products to replace the old ones would be the equivalent of suicide for many of today’s businesses.

Only one in 60 product ideas will go on to become a marketable product.

Comstock Images/Comstock/Thinkstock

Objective

New product ideas are a key factor in determining the long-term survival, profitability, and success of a business. Do you know of any television manufacturers who still produce black-and-white TVs?

Objectives

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Where Did You Get That Idea?Most new product ideas don’t just materialize out of thin air. Businesses—both big and small—look for inspiration for new goods and services in many different places. Let’s take a look at a few of the most common sources of new product ideas.

Trends. A trend is the general direction in which people or events are moving. There are all kinds of trends—in fashion, in television shows, in music, etc. By studying trends, businesses get a sense of customer needs and, therefore, the types of new products that they should offer.

One growing trend is the emphasis on making health and fitness fun. Lots of goods and services have been developed in response to this trend: interactive fitness video games (a.k.a., exer-gaming), fitness apps for smart-phones, dance-based workout classes, even fitness shoes that tone muscles as you walk.

Another trend is the aging of a large segment of the population, the “Baby Boomers.” Many busi-nesses have recognized this trend and developed goods and services in response: anti-aging skin treat-ments, nutritional supplements, retirement communities, etc.

been very motivated to buy, many of them don’t know how to use their new equipment. They need someone to teach them how to use their computers. As a savvy business owner, you see this need as an opportunity to offer a new product: evening and weekend tutoring sessions to teach your older customers the in’s and out’s of computers, the Internet, and e-mailing.

To learn what customers need and want, successful marketing professionals are very observant. They watch people, and they no-tice when problems exist or when people seem to have an unfulfilled want. They talk with customers via formal as well as informal methods. (Think of surveys, focus groups, customer satisfaction cards, and one-on-one conversations.) They also talk with other professionals who interact with customers on a regular basis. Salespeople, customer service representatives, and channel partners are all good sources of information when devel-oping new product ideas.

Existing products. You can also find inspiration for new products by identifying the limitations of current goods and services. Consider any complaints that you’ve received about existing products. How could you make those products better?

For instance, let’s say that you own a pet boarding kennel. Although business is going fairly well, you’ve heard a few com-plaints about your services. Some customers have discovered fleas on their dogs and cats after a stay at your kennel, while others have mentioned that your boarding facility occasionally smells rather foul. By giving all leaving pets a flea bath, improv-ing your facility’s ventilation, and sanitizing it more frequently, you could potentially put an end to such complaints.

Objective

Patrick Ryan/Lifesize/Thinkstock

Many businesses study trends to determine what products customers want and need. Nintendo developed the Wii Fit in response to customers’ desire to make exercise fun.

Customers. Customers are also a great source of new product ideas. After all, customers personally use the goods and services that businesses produce. Why not find out what customers’ needs and wants are? Smart businesses learn what customers want, and then they work to make needed products available to those customers.

Imagine for a minute that you own a specialty shop that sells new and used laptop computers, printers, and other computer equipment. Recently, you’ve experienced an increase in sales to senior citizens interested in communicating with their children and grandchildren via e-mail. Although these customers have

To develop new product ideas, successful marketing profes-sionals talk with salespeople, customer service representa-tives, and channel members who interact with customers on a regular basis.What other trends can you identify?

Can you think of any goods and services that might take advantage of that trend?

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But, don’t limit yourself to simply changing problem products. Follow the lead of the Apple Corporation, for example, and find ways to improve your best goods and services. Even though practically all of Apple’s recent products have been extremely popular, the company works tirelessly to improve even their best-selling items. By doing so, Apple adds more value to its products. The result? More satisfied customers.

A service that restaurants such as McDonald’s, Bob Evans, and Panera Bread now offer customers is free Wi-Fi Internet access.

Imagine for a minute that you own a delicatessen specializing in soups and sandwiches. Business is good, but you’re interested in offering a greater variety of products. When determining what foods to add to your menu, you should consider your and your employees’ professional backgrounds. If one or more of you have past experience in baking, perhaps cookies, cakes, and other baked goods are the way to go.

Substitute goods and services are also a good source of new product ideas. A substitute is a product that takes the place of another product. One example is Blu-ray Discs, which can be substituted for DVDs. Another example is digital books—a substitute for real paper books—which can be viewed on electronic-book readers (e-readers, for short). What substitutes could you create to take the place of existing products?

Another way to develop new product ideas is to look for goods or services that could be added to products that already exist. Comple-mentary products are those that go with something else—think scarves and mittens, hands-free kits and cell phones, coin laundry machine and tanning booths, car washes and oil changes. Can you think of other goods or services that could be added to your current products?

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men [and women] who find it easier to live in a world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. ”

– Muhammad Ali, boxer

Objective

1. What role do new product ideas play in a business’s long-term success?

2. Describe three sources of new product ideas.

3. Why is it important to keep your strengths in mind when generating new product ideas?

4. Why are business professionals some-times reluctant to generate new product ideas?

What Do You Know?When generating new product ideas, keep your business’s strengths in mind. Think about what your business—and, if your business is small, you—do best. What are your areas of exper-tise? How could you channel your strengths into successful new products?

Watch Your Step—Pitfalls AheadPitfalls abound in idea generation. Many business professionals are reluctant to generate new product ideas—for a number of different reasons. For instance, some are not good at thinking “outside the box.” Others are worried about the unknowns and risks that come with new products. Still more are afraid to voice new product ideas due to criticism and ridicule that their ideas may attract from close-minded coworkers and supervisors. Regardless of the reason why, every idea not spoken or shared is a potential product not realized.

SummaryNew product ideas are a key factor impacting a business’s long-term sur- vival, profitability, and success. These new product ideas come from a number of different sources, including trends, customers, and existing goods and services. When developing new product ideas, a business should consider its strengths and areas of expertise. Business profession-als should also be careful to avoid pitfalls in idea generation, including a reluctance to generate new product ideas due to a lack of creativity, concern over the unknown, and fear of ridicule.

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Carter Bryant, creator of the popular Bratz doll line, has quite a reputation. MGA Entertainment, which has grossed more than a billion dollars on the Bratz franchise, views Bryant as a hero. But, Mattel sees him as a traitor—and a criminal.

Why? Because Bryant developed his concept for the Bratz dolls while employed by Mattel as a Barbie fashion, hairstyle, and makeup designer. Based on the terms of a contract that Bryant had signed for the company, Mattel claims that it owns the rights to all ideas and inventions that Bryant developed while working for the company, including Bratz.

However, Bryant worked on his idea in his spare time, not during work hours. While still on Mattel’s payroll—but not on the clock—he developed drawings and models of Bratz dolls and showed them to several toy companies (although not Mattel). MGA jumped at the chance to manufacture Bryant’s creations, lured him away from Mattel, and became Mattel’s fiercest competitor in the fashion doll market.

Did Bryant behave ethically? Should he have given his idea to Mattel, since Mattel was his employer at the time? Or, since he worked on Bratz in his spare time, was it okay for him to sell the idea to MGA? What would you have done?

SVenture Outside the Box

o far, you’ve looked at trends, at existing products, and at wants that aren’t being met in search of inspiration for new products. Now, how do you develop specific ideas for these new or improved goods and services? There are many ways to come up with fresh product ideas, and they all involve creative thinking.

What is creative thinking? Creative thinking is often referred to as thinking “outside the box,” as thinking in different ways (also known as divergent think-ing), or as a way of focusing your mind on unrelated things to generate new and innovative ideas.

But, exactly how can you think creatively? There are a multitude of methods you can use, either alone or with others, to practice creative thinking and build on your own creativity. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular creative-thinking techniques.

Objective

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Objective

Get Moving: To the SideMany common creative-thinking techniques involve indirect, lateral thinking. Rather than logically studying and working through an issue or problem, lateral thinking involves approaching the issue from new illogical directions and using illogical methods to develop new ideas. Lateral thinking methods include:

There are some guidelines you need to follow when you brainstorm. You should always have a focus—in this case, a specific product opportunity you have recognized—for your brainstorming session. Then, use brainstorming to come up with as many ideas as you can for a good or service for that specific opportunity.

During the process, don’t judge the quality of ideas that are shared. Remember, your goal is as many ideas as you can generate. Regardless of

Brainstorming. Brainstorming involves identifying as many different ideas as possible during a certain time frame. It usually works better in a group setting, but it is possible to use brainstorming individually, too.

“The chief enemy of creativity

is ‘good’ sense.”

– Pablo Picasso,

painter and sculptor

evaluated. If you have asked a group to help you brainstorm ideas, you might want to involve them in the analysis and evaluation phase. It’s during this phase that you can explore the ideas in more

During a brainstorming session, the goal is to generate as many different ideas as possible.

whether you are giving or receiving, criticism has a tendency to kill creativity. Evaluating and critiquing others’ ideas may cause them to shut down and no longer share their ideas. Instead, ac- knowledge and record even the craziest ideas. You never know when a wacky idea will prompt someone to think of a unique, more doable solution.

During the actual brainstorming session, ideas should not be analyzed or eliminated. However, after the brain-storming session, the ideas should be

ing in a certain order with no assistance from teammates. Round-robin brainstorming doesn’t involve teams, but it does require participants to respond quickly and only when it’s their turn.

A third type of brainstorming is starburst- ing. To conduct a starbursting session, draw a six-pointed star and write your product op-portunity in the middle. Then, write one of the following words at each tip of the star: Who?, What?, Why?, Where?, When?, and How? Finally, ask and answer questions that start with these words to develop ideas based on the recognized product opportunity.

depth and possibly refine them.

Brainstorming never looks the same way twice. In fact, brainstorming sessions can differ in a number of ways: the number of people involved, the amount of time used, the noise level, the way to share ideas (i.e., written or verbal), and even the amount of pres-sure put on individual mem- bers to generate ideas.

There are also several different types of brainstorm- ing techniques. Relay brain-storming, like a relay race, involves multiple individuals from competing teams respond-

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Objective

Mind mapping is also a visual creative-thinking tech-nique often linked to brainstorming. Mind mapping helps you to generate ideas by making associations. To create a mind map, you need a large piece of paper. In the center of the page, write the main idea, which is the product opportu-nity that you identified. From that starting point, draw lines to other words or phrases that are related to the main idea. From each of these words, draw other lines that relate to that particular word, and so on. In essence, mind mapping helps you to expand your thinking and get lots of different ideas down on paper in a short period of time.

Yet another way to visually brainstorm for product ideas is braindrawing. When braindrawing, individuals take turns randomly sketching and doodling on a piece of paper. Each person builds on the others’ drawings until the page is covered with sketches. Then, members of the group study the doodles, try to identify the shapes that they see, and then determine how the shapes can be related to their product opportunity.

Free association. To use the free association technique to generate product ideas, you must allow your mind to wan-der. When presented with a random word or picture, name the first thing that comes to mind. Record your flow of ideas, allowing each idea to trigger others. Repeat the process, using new random words or pictures if necessary, until you begin making connections between your thoughts and the product opportunity in question. By doing so, you may find it easier to generate new product ideas.

Forced questioning. The forced questioning lateral thinking method is similar in some ways to starbursting. Like starbursting, forced questioning uses basic question starters to develop original questions to ask (and answer) about the product opportunity. However, the list of question starters includes more than just who, what, why, where, when, and how. When using forced questioning, you can also start questions with words like did, will, might, would, could, should, etc. For example, you might ask questions such as “Could we satisfy this economic want?” or “What services could we offer to take advantage of this opportunity?”

Synectics. Creative thinking involves making con-nections, and synectics is a technique for doing just that. Synectics comes from a Greek word meaning “bringing forth together.” Also sometimes referred to as “making the strange familiar,” the synectics creative-thinking process involves making connections through the use of forced relations. It is typically more demanding and time-consuming than brain-storming, but also more rewarding. Therefore, it’s a good tool to use when other creativity methods have failed.

Mind Mapping

Forced relations synectics techniques involve connecting two items or ideas that seem completely unrelated to find new practical combinations and products. Forced associations are one type of these forced relations. Forced associations require you to essentially “bang things together.” This usually involves forcing random words into associations with your issue at hand. Although similar to free association, forced associations entail making a direct connection between the random word and the product opportunity, not allowing your mind to drift from one unrelated concept to the next in hopes of generating product ideas.

Another type of forced relations, called forced analogies, uses metaphors and similes to create connections where none currently exist. For example, let’s say you have identified a potential product opportunity that involves a problem—waiting for the bus on cold days—and you’re trying to come up with a solution to that prob-lem. Using forced analogies, you might compare this problem with what seems like a totally different situation. In this case you might consider other times when people have to wait: at doctors’ offices, amusement parks, restaurants, etc. You may be able to compare waiting for the bus on cold days to one or more of these other situa-tions and come up with ideas for a solution to the problem.

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New product ideas are essential for long-term business success. But, no two businesses use exactly the same process to develop new ideas. Think about your place

of employment and/or school-based enterprise (SBE). How do these businesses generate new product ideas? Do they use any particular creative-thinking techniques? Where do they seem to get inspiration for new products—

from trends, customers, or existing products? What recommendations would you make to these

businesses to improve ideation processes?

Objective

Get With the ProgramUnlike lateral thinking, programmed thinking techniques are logical and analytical. They involve structured, organized ways to develop new ideas and products. Two of the most common forms of programmed thinking are attribute listing and morphological analysis.

Attribute listing. Attribute listing involves listing a prod- uct’s characteristics or attributes that make the item unique and different from other goods and services. After listing the prod-uct’s characteristics, individuals using this technique focus on finding ways to improve the product’s existing attributes. For instance, suppose that you work as a candle-maker. To generate ideas for new products, you could list the attributes of an existing candle: scent, color, size, shape, etc. Then, you could study the candle’s characteristics individually to determine how to improve the overall product. You might decide to make the candle’s scent stronger, the color darker, and so on.

Morphological analysis. Another logical approach to developing new product ideas is morphological analysis. As in attribute listing, this technique focuses on a situation’s or product’s details. And, as in attribute listing, it involves listing the attributes of a product. However, rather than looking for ways to improve individual attributes, morphological analysis involves combining some or all of a product’s attributes in different ways to create new products. Professionals in many fields, including architecture, the culinary arts, and graphic design, use morphological analysis to develop new products. By listing and then combining different materials, production processes, and features in different ways, they can generate many new product ideas.

SummaryTo develop specific new product ideas, business professionals use many different creative-thinking techniques. Lateral thinking methods involve approaching situations and product opportunities from new directions and using illogical means to develop product ideas. Brainstorming, free association, forced questioning, and synectics are examples of lateral thinking. Programmed thinking, on the other hand, is logical and organized. Attribute listing and morphological analysis are two forms of programmed thinking.

1. Describe the brainstorming creative- thinking technique.

2. What impact does criticism have on creative thinking?

3. Explain how starbursting can help you to develop new product ideas.

4. Describe two types of forced relations techniques.

5. How do lateral thinking and programmed thinking techniques differ?

6. Explain the attribute listing creative- thinking technique.

Interested in learning about more lateral thinking techniques? Check out the bug-list, wishing, role-play, six-thinking-hats, and incubation methods for generating product ideas.

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