"Structuring the Fuzz"
The Design of Ideation for
New Product Ideas
By Arthur VanGundy PhD
(Continued from page 2)
The "Sensing and Feeling" and "Thinking and Knowing" stages prepare you to confront the "Muddled Middle." Questions during the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) should provide you with the confidence to move on to idea generation. If you were thorough with the FFE, concept generation should be less muddled. As educator and philosopher John Dewey once said, "A well-defined problem is a half-solved one."
One secret to successful new product idea generation is "stimuli."
Stimuli are words and phrases that help trigger ideas. They can be problem-related words or they can be the ideas of yourself or others. When you free associate, for example, you use each previous thought as a stimulus. Stimuli come in two varieties: related and unrelated. Related stimuli have some direct connection to a product, platform, consumer, or similar topics. Unrelated stimuli are used to force the mind away from the problem and trigger free associations which then can be related back to the problem as concepts. The focus of this talk is on related stimuli, so I will restrict myself to that category.
A major source of related stimuli are the answers to the questions during the Thinking and Knowing phase. Idea generation techniques use these stimuli in different combinations to spark ideas. (I’ve written about these techniques since the late 1970s and first spoke on them at PDMA in the early 1980s.)
Here are some examples of how to use stimuli to "set up" idea generation techniques.
I’ll use the problem, "How might we make homes safer with our products?"
1. Random word combinations. A simple way to use stimuli is to select random, two-word combinations from a category and use the word combination to stimulate ideas. For instance, you might list safety-related descriptors such as: air bag, circulate, ice, helmet, water, knife, stairs, wind, freeze, glass, wax, electricity, slippery, razor. Next, select two of the words and use them as triggers:
Wind-Glass: Sensor detects high winds and drops a screen or shutters to protect window glass
Glass-Wax: Special wax cleans glass and leaves barely-detectable haze to prevent walking into
2. Semantic Intuition. This method was developed in the early 1970s at the Battelle Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. It involves generating two lists of words, one relating to the product and the other to the end user. Choose one word from each list and use the combination for idea stimulation.
For the home safety problem, list words describing home safety. For instance: glass, lock, slippery, shock, fall, break, lighting, dark, toxic fire. Next, generate safety-related words describing consumers at home: cautious, insecure, sick, children, elderly, careless, disabled, burglar, dog, alarm, fear. Finally, generate ideas using two-word combinations:
Shock-Burglar: Consumer-activated electrical shock in door handles.
Fire-Children: Alarm senses fire and emits audible instructions to help children evacuate
3. What’s in a name? I developed this technique which is based on creating product names or slogans and then using them as idea stimuli. Here are some sample home safety names followed by potential ideas:
A Matter of Prevention
Accidental Security
Look Before You Leap
In Arms Way
Monitor This!
Use All Your Senses
The Protector
Safety to Go
An Alarming Development
Feudal Families
Dependables
Private Dector
Backup or Die
Dangerous L’Raisens
Electronic Insurance
Watch Your Step
All the Trappings
Radon Smadon
Gas No More
Secure Clearance
Speed Demon
Sounds in the Night
Stranger Encounters
Traveler’s Advisory
There’s Trouble Brewin’
Warming Warning
Leak Speak
Invisible Visibility
Mobile Warnings
A Weak Link
Leak Speak: An electronic monitor for gas and water pipe leaks.
Accidental Security: A home monitor that senses the status of all home safety systems and makes needed adjustments for smoke detectors, CO detectors, security systems, etc.
Private Detector: Clothing with built-in sensors for extreme variations in temperature (which then are adjusted), plus a locator-transmitter that automatically activates on command, or after a prescribed time. Useful for children, elderly, and the terminally absent-minded.
Summary and Conclusions
We all think in boxes when solving problems. Boxes provide structure and clarity and guide us in developing solutions. Sometimes, however, we need to move out of a box to create new perspectives. This involves moving to another box, not just "thinking outside the box." "Out of the Box" thinking is passe.
We actually think outside of "a" box whenever we shift our frame of reference from one box to another. Thus, thinking outside "the" box is not important since we always are in a box. Rather, it is important to decide in what box we can best resolve a particular problem.
Finding this box involves asking a series of questions. Such questions expand our thinking realms and force us to consider new viewpoints. As General George S. Patton used to say, "If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking." Thinking differently requires using questions to identify and then test all assumptions blocking fresh viewpoints. The more questions we ask, the better we understand a problem.
Thinking Between the Boxes in the "Real World"
"Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in
which the problems were created."
—Albert Einstein
Swiss Watches. One of the most famous "real world" examples of BtB thinking was when Swiss watch makers were challenged by Timex and the Japanese. Although the Swiss had a "lock" on luxury distribution channels, Timex exploited a mass market via drug stores.
Then, Japanese manufacturers started making electronic quartz watches in the late 1960s. They made a conscious decision to move from the box of mechanical watches, with their gears and springs, to an entirely new technology. How did Swiss watchmakers of these mechanical boxes respond? They didn't. They had been making the world's finest watches for over 600 years. Why should they change?
The answer became evident in 1981, however, when they lost 40% of market share and had to eliminate 50,000 of 62,000 jobs!! The Japanese chose not to be limited by the Swiss makers' mechanical and perceptual boxes. Instead, they made a transition to a new box.
McDonald’s. A more recent example is McDonalds branding strategy. With a somewhat insulated environment, "Mickey Ds" is not the ideal candidate for BtB thinking. They have strong brand equity as the world's largest franchise operation.
However, according to Adrian J. Slywotzky, a partner at Corporate Decisions, Inc., they need to change their strategic question. That is, they need to shift the focus from "How can we sell more hamburgers?" to "What does our brand allow us to consider selling to our customers? (Business Week, March 9, 1998). In other words, change the emphasis from products (Box #1) to customers (Box #2).
Binney & Smith. The maker of Crayolas is an almost 100-year old company undergoing some significant changes. It is creating new recipes (BiB thinking) in response to competitive pressures, and disclosures regarding trace amounts of asbestos.
They are not staying within that box, however. Instead, they have decided to "color outside the lines." According to company president, Mark Schwab, Binney & Smith is shifting its focus as a manufacturer of crayons (Box #1) and related products to a clearinghouse of ideas for teachers and parents (Box #2). The ideas, of course, would involve using their products for children’s arts and crafts products, especially in schools.
The need to move from BiB to BtB thinking is relative to each corporation's strategic branding philosophy. Moreover, the direction of the shift will vary by organization. One organization will benefit from a completely different box than another. For instance, one company might create a stronger branding presence by emphasizing products and another image. Two prominent examples of this phenomenon are Microsoft and Levi's.
Microsoft. Microsoft appears to be shifting to a new branding box. Their traditional box focuses on selling products. Many of these are typical of any corporation. For instance, "How might we sell more products" "How might we become more efficient and effective in producing our products?" Most notable has been their slogan, "Where do you want to go today?" which focuses on specific products. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft now has shifted its focus to selling itself and building brand equity based on image (Box #2). In this "image box," Microsoft now asks such questions as: "How might we present ourselves as more approachable, credible, and caring about our customers?"
Levi’s. In contrast to Microsoft, Levi's decided to make a similar BtB move, but is making a transition from image to products. Business Week (March 13, 2000) reported that Levi's CEO, Phillip A. Marineau, is trying to shift the focus from selling more clothes (Box #1)) to increasing the perceived relevance of their product lines (i.e., their new branding strategy involving image which, in this case, is Box #2).
All great brands break new ground by redefining a business category. Apple Computer and Nike, for instance, both carved out unique identifiers in the computer and athletic shoe categories. They redefined their areas for the individual—Apple made computers more accessible and easier to use and Nike challenged individuals to do their best. Thus, they accomplished their goals with BtB thinking.
Continued on page 4.
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Copyright 2000, Arthur B. VanGundy. All rights reserved
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