Eleven for ’11: People Power
Posted by The Value Engineers on July 13, 2011
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Introducing the ninth in our blog series of eleven innovation and branding precepts for 2011.
PEOPLE POWER
Getting your consumers involved in new product design or development instantly engages them with the brand and creates word-of-mouth buzz. It also gives you direct insight into what they really want from your products, their associations with your brand and of course their innovative ideas.
FIREFLY TONICS BRITANNIA
British drinks firm Firefly Tonics had already established themselves as an innovative player in the UK drinks market even before asking their consumers to design their newest flavour. Launched as ‘Britannia’ in 2010, complete with an on-pack photo taken by one of their consumers, and a design voted for by their consumer network, the flavour has been a huge success and is now part of the regular Firefly line-up.
THREADLESS
Threadless has consumer product design at the heart of its business model – as an online community where consumers/designers can post designs for t-shirts (and recently hoodies and totes), which are then voted for by other users. The most popular designs are manufactured by Threadless and sold through the site, as well as through Threadless’s bricks-and-mortar stores, with winning designers receiving a one off fee for the rights to their designs.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT…
How could you get your consumers involved in your innovation process? Is it about developing a single new product to create buzz, or some more permanent changes to your innovation and consumer engagement model?
If you can’t wait for the next blog in the series, or you missed the earlier ones, all eleven precepts can be viewed here.
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