Blueprints to successful concept development

Part I: Laying the foundation

Editor’s note: Camille Nicita is vice president of qualitative research, and Christi Walters is vice president of business development, at Gongos and Associates, Inc., a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., research firm.

Would you ever build a house on a weak foundation - say, next to a legendary sinkhole or on a documented earthquake fault line? Most people would answer no. Yet considering that 80 percent of new product introductions and brand extensions fail each year, many companies are establishing residence for their brand and future new products on dubious foundations.

Successful product development, much like a successful construction project, requires a solid foundation. Establishing this foundation prior to concept development supplies the blueprints not only to successful concept development but ultimately the development of products that consumers love.

This article introduces the four cornerstone pieces to successful concept development - consumer wants and needs, emotional connections, brand equity, and competitive landscape. It will define the strategy and rationale for these foundation pieces and explain why these cornerstones lead to concept/product success. A second article (in next month’s Quirk’s) will provide tactical approaches and specific tools (both qualitative and quantitative) for enhancing the concept development process.

On an individual basis, none of the cornerstone pieces are revolutionary. However, the approach described in this article provides a perspective on the importance of fully understanding each cornerstone piece prior to the development of concepts - a feat rarely accomplished! The most relevant and actionable consumer insight is achieved through the synthesis of all four pieces, not from a mere glimpse into one or two of the cornerstones, as is typically the case. And, while the end result of our cornerstone philosophy is consumer-driven product development it also offers the clear intermediate benefit of better decision making along the way.

Note: The philosophies presented in this article are applicable to both positioning and product concept development. In essence, the product can be viewed as the more tangible piece and the positioning as what is done to the consumer’s mind and emotional state. However, positioning is integral to the product, since it is the promise behind product delivery.

Consumer wants/needs

The first of the four cornerstones of concept development is understanding consumer wants and needs. As simple as it sounds, this is much more than asking what the consumers want; it is a thorough understanding of the product category through consumers’ eyes.

The objective is to go beyond the typical conversation regarding the features and functions of today’s products and truly understand benefit-oriented “root” wants and needs of an ideal product. Dialog should focus on why consumers want what they do (not merely how they want it). Questioning approaches may include focusing on unfulfilled desires, problems/failures, modifications and desired benefits. Regardless of the approach, it is important to explore the whole realm of consumer wants and needs ranging from basic ’ performance ’ exciter quality (the Kano model of quality).

In today’s crowded marketplace, companies that are intimately aware of consumers’ wants and needs not only create desirable and satisfying products but also are better positioned to anticipate changes in consumer attitudes that may require tweaks to positioning and/or new product development efforts - for this a close relationship with the consumer is essential. As Scott Bedbury writes in his book, A Brand New World: “Almost every brand in existence today can be reduced to the status of a commodity if it fails to effectively evolve both its products and its marketing communications.”

Think of root wants and needs as “building permits” - providing consumer-driven checkpoints throughout product development.

Emotional connections

The second of the four cornerstones of concept development is understanding emotional connections. Emotional connections are the relevant link between a product, brand or category and the consumer’s life. Understanding emotional connections is often what makes the difference between a product that looks good on the drawing board (but fails on the store shelf) to a product that wins the heart and mind (and pocketbook) of the consumer.

Ultimately, uncovering emotional connections results in an understanding of a consumer’s core values related to a product, brand or category. This can be accomplished through the use of a homework assignment and qualitative laddering techniques used to explore specifically how a product, brand or category fits into the consumer’s life by investigating chains of relevant connections: images/pictures/words; product/brand/category attributes; associated benefits; personal values.

The study of emotional connections offers a unique perspective on consumers because it is an attempt to determine consumers’ value structure as it relates to the brand, product or category. While this may be viewed as too “touchy-feely” by some, it actually provides fodder for a strong and stable positioning strategy because while product features and attributes change frequently, consumer values remain virtually unchanged over time. Further, it takes more than a good product to win the attention of a consumer - the more a positioning or product touches a consumer in a meaningful way, the better its chance to be noticed in today’s cluttered marketplace and ultimately gain position in the consumer’s consideration set.

Associating emotional connections with our construction example is easy. Think of emotional connections as the consumer’s emotional hook that motivates them to sign the building contract for that perfect house they’ve fallen in love with.

Brand equity

“Be true to who you are” is the mantra of the third cornerstone piece of concept development - understanding brand equity. Before a company can develop concepts that reinforce this notion, it must first understand what is both believable and ownable from a brand perspective by exploring the current brand value and associations. By understanding current brand equity (both strengths and weaknesses), companies can create concepts, and hence positioning/products, that coincide with the brand promise.

“Positioning is simply concentrating on an idea - or even a word - that defines the company in the minds of consumers. Having a strong brand identification gives a company an immense edge.” (Jack Trout, The New Positioning)

Collecting brand equity information means exploring consumers’ perceptions of what a brand stands for - its current image, its strengths/weaknesses, what’s ownable (and what’s not) and what’s differentiating. Successful concepts should leverage ownable and differentiating brand strengths, as well as counter the brand’s weaknesses.

Successful positioning/product strategy will help maintain and strengthen a brand. The old adage “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none” is applicable to the way consumers think about a company’s expertise. Consumers expect brands to have authority in fairly narrow fields and understanding brand equity prior to developing concepts will help drive positioning/products that are consistent with consumers’ expectations. If a disconnect occurs, the risk is consumer confusion and a message that potentially goes unheard.

Location. Location. Location. Brand equity is like the address where you decide to establish residence - being in the “right” part of town and feeling completely comfortable “living” there.

Competitive landscape

For successful positioning/product strategy, companies should know their competitors as well as they know themselves. This enables the development of concepts that take advantage of competitive vulnerabilities and capitalize on market opportunities. Thus, the final cornerstone piece of concept development is understanding the competitive landscape.

Due diligence within the competitive landscape arena includes properly defining the competitive set (including logical competitors as well as near-term entrants, substitute products, etc.) and discovering each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Competitive intelligence can be accomplished through both primary and secondary research and will provide a current snapshot of the playing field within a category before concepts are developed.

“In today’s hostile market, it is increasingly important not only to be up-to-date with one’s own company, but also to be intimately knowledgeable about one’s competition.” (Jack Trout, The New Positioning)

Understanding the competitive landscape will uncover whitespace in the marketplace, logical positioning/product opportunities and (perhaps most importantly) barriers to entry into a category. Since the marketplace is in constant flux, consumer insights relative to the competitive landscape will help to create concepts, and hence positionings/products, that are truly differentiated in the marketplace.

Understanding the competitive landscape is like analyzing the property survey that verifies the market value of your house relative to the market value of other homes in your area. This information allows you to evaluate if you are “living” in the right place.

Buy-in

How many times have you seen a great idea squelched because a key stakeholder did not believe the consumer research information? Have you ever witnessed two stakeholders debating over a concept that you know is not personally relevant to the consumer? Critical roadblocks in the product development process often pop up as a result of disagreement among the key stakeholders. While healthy debate is welcomed in the decision-making process, productivity can be increased if all stakeholders (brand managers, R&D, advertising, marketing research, upper management, etc.) enter concept development with the same level of consumer understanding. Getting the stakeholders intimately involved in setting the foundation (discovering the four cornerstones) increases buy-in earlier in the product development process and reduces time spent avoiding obstacles further down the road.

Because the researcher is rarely the concept developer, this document may be used by the researcher as a springboard for internal communication or even a translation tool - providing the stakeholders with compelling rationale relative to the importance of the four cornerstone pieces.

Building the foundation

Seem overwhelming? Much of the four cornerstone insights can be accomplished in two to three primary research efforts (category-dependent). Additionally, secondary research can be used as support (and confirmation) to enhance and evolve the learnings.

However, gathering the four cornerstone pieces is only the first step. Synthesizing the information to glean consumer insights and translating the insights into consumer-ready concepts is often the more daunting task. But, at a minimum, knowledge of the four cornerstones instills confidence that consumer-driven concepts are developed.

So, before you begin the concept development process, ask yourself, “Do I have a strong foundation?” If your answer is no, you may be risking the development of a product that is as insubstantial as a house of cards.

Framing it in

Now that the foundation is set, an article in the March issue of Quirk’s will provide tactical research methods for use in “framing in” in the concepts. Specific qualitative and quantitative concept evaluation tools will be discussed.

While an entire article could be written on each of the four cornerstone pieces, this article was intended to provide a strategic overview. For additional information on any of the four cornerstone pieces, please feel free to contact the authors.