Lately I’ve noticed several foods now touting the presence of “all-natural” ingredients. For example, one of our household faves is Quaker Instant Oatmeal. Our kids love the apples and cinnamon variety and as parents we appreciate the convenience of stirring up a hot, quick breakfast on those busy school-day mornings. Yet I always felt a bit uncomfortable serving it to the family after reading the mention of the “natural and artificial flavors” on the box.
Then one recent day I noticed the “and artificial” part was missing. That’s great and everything but now that the artificial ingredients have ostensibly disappeared, I’m wondering how come they seem to have been so easily replaceable. (Or, put another way, if their more “natural” counterparts were so simple to incorporate into existing recipes, why weren’t they added long ago?)
In the process of hunting down some sort of official Quaker statement on the change (not like I was really expecting to find one; it’s probably better for them to do these things on the QT) I realized what a blast it is to poke around on the Web sites of big CPG companies.
The FAQ sections give you some fascinating insights to some of the lesser-known uses for various products. I mean, where else can you find questions like these (and, perhaps more stunningly, impressively detailed answers)?
“My child has chicken pox and my doctor told me to give him an oatmeal bath. How do I do this?”
“How can I do an oatmeal facial? And how can I customize my facial?”
It got me to thinking: I wonder how many product managers have spent time poring over every pixel of their competitors’ Web sites, searching for examples of unusual/unexpected/non-standard product uses?
I’m sure few products can match WD-40, which has its own, official list of 2,000+ applications for the miracle spray. But reading the FAQs and other site-based vehicles for corporate responses to the public’s questions might be a cheap (and fun) way of uncovering some useful innovation ideas for your own company.