I love a gadget. I especially love taking things to pieces to see how they work, then trying to piece them back together afterwards. It’s one of the things that drew me to innovation like a moth to a flame.
It struck me this morning, while absent-mindedly contemplating my new Gillette Power razor, that there are now more gadgets in my life than ever before. It’s not just the obvious ones like the iPod, satnav, Kindle, Blackberry and so on, but a new breed of gadgets that has begun to spring up. They not only offer time-saving convenience, but also new, bigger, brighter benefits too: better performance, better quality, better effectiveness… everything is being motorised, electrified and powered up.
So, as of last week, my partner no longer uses a flannel and cleanser to remove her make up. She now has a bright pink Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleansing System (a large round, soft brush that oscillates on a shower-proof handle), which claims to use gentle sonic vibrations to “ensure you can enjoy smoother and more balanced skin, firmer skin with improved texture and less blemishes”.
If I want to whiten my teeth I no longer have to brush them with a whitening toothpaste; I can use a Rapid White Blue Light Tooth Whitening System, claiming to be “clinically proven to whiten teeth up to five shades in just two hours”. If I want to make coffee I no longer have to boil a kettle and dissolve some instant coffee; I can use any number of surface-top devices to replicate the in-home coffee shop experience. The list goes on, with hay fever relief products, cigarette alternatives, sexual pleasure enhancers, home decorating systems like the Dulux Paint Pod and Weathershield BackPack, room fragrance diffusers and even a new in-home hand soap dispenser… and we haven’t even touched on kids’ toys.
What does this mean for your innovation strategy? If you haven’t already gadgetised, now is the time to start exploring new ways in which the existing benefits of your products can be further enhanced with a gadget.
