The competitive environment, especially in consumer products is getting tougher and tougher every year. Deflated pricing pressures exist in almost every category. Where price deflation is not occurring, more performance for the money is the norm. Knockoffs come with astounding speed, eclipsing the innovator’s edge far too often.
As if these challenges are not enough, the boundaries between formerly well-defined markets have virtually disintegrated. It used to be simple to define markets by type of product or service, size, segment and so forth. Not any more! Where is the boundary between laptop computers, netbooks, and smart phones; or the segmentation between Twitter, email, texting, Facebook, and on and on? There isn’t one. It’s a continuum. There are literally millions of computing and communications product variations alone—and that doesn’t even include many next-door products. The implications of this accelerating convergence are value inflation, price deflation and super-heated global competition.
I want to focus on one particular aspect of creating competitive advantage in such an environment—“innovative design.” By "innovative design" I mean the conversion, representation, and specification of a creative idea into a three dimensional, producible and commercializable product (or service), both visual and functional.
Not all designs are “innovative;” in fact, many are derivative, ordinary and uninspired. But what separates the truly good ones from the also-rans? The best ones work well—but they appeal to many of the senses: taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch/feeling.
Many successes in business begin with the robustness and aesthetic quality of the design. Quality must be designed into a product or it cannot be produced with consistently high quality. Rapid, flexible customer service is dependent on the use of modular product or service platforms, nimble supply chains, and easily variable configurations, customized as close as possible to the end-user demand. Cost is highly dependent on the complexity of the design and how effectively the original idea is converted to a commercially viable form.
However, truly great designs have two essential ingredients: they meet perceived or unrealized needs/wants of customers, and they appeal to both the senses and intellect of the consumer.
Visually appealing products have an advantage against less attractive competition. To put it a simpler way, “pretty beats ugly every time.” The evidence is all around us. Consider the following examples:
• Sight - Apple’s iPods®, MacBooks®, et. al. offer little in fundamentally new technologically but the ease of use, plug and play integration and aesthetic appeal of the "total package" is compelling. That is innovative design that appeals to the senses and the intellect both.
• Sound - QuietComfort® noise canceling headphones appeal to the sense of hearing (by blocking annoying noise) and the sense of “comfort” in two ways—comfort on the head, and comfort by blocking out noise.
•Touch - Tactile is in & has been. Elastomeric inserts on Oral B® toothbrushes and Gillette® shavers, Leather wrapped steering wheels and supply upholstery have reached new heights in Lexus’ autos, even inexpensive ballpoint pens with rubberized grips--all enjoy part of their life cycle at premium price-value positions.
• Smell - Walk into Bath & Body Work®s approach your nearest Cinnabon® and you understand this one immediately (The aroma of fresh baked bread actually has been proven helps realtors sell homes).
• Taste - A virtual explosion of restaurants are drawing on the spicy flavors of Asian and Hispanic cuisine: P. F. Chang/Pei Wei, BD Mongolian, Chipotle, and dozens more. Wrigley chewing gums are now available in flavors that defy naming in traditional “fruity/minty” terms.
Translating these sensory appeals into successful products with strong functional/use appeal is at the heart of innovative design.
This is not a new concept, just one made more valuable by global competitive pressures. Consider the modern automobile and its offshoots.
• The retro styling of the old VW Beetle was translated into the new one that looks somehow, old and new at once.
•The sumptuous interior wood trim of a Mercedes-Benz, and soft leather of a Lexus’ heated and cooled seats please the many senses buyers, and these appeals are now are migrating into more and more cars.
• Auto/CD sound systems by big name audio companies (Bose, Infinity, Harman-Kardon, et. al.) make cars the ultimate listening rooms, employing a dozen or more speakers, to satisfy the most demanding audiophile’s wishes.
• Starbucks® has built a franchise around thousands of stores purveying new tastes in coffee-based beverages most equipped with drive-through lanes for mobile consumers’ autos.
• Even the number and placement of ubiquitous car/truck cup holders signal the importance of satisfying the driver's sense of taste--in this case, for beverages of all sizes and shapes—and convenience.
It is little wonder that people the world over have a love affair with the automobile. What a sensory smorgasbord it offers.
The appeal to a sixth sense is the “BEST VALUE” occurs when all of these elements AND functionality are combined into an entire product (or service) that is delivered at high quality, with speed and flexibility, at low cost and with sensory excellence—an innovative design indeed.
A wise man once said, “I can’t describe beauty, but I know it when I see it.” When it comes to truly “innovative design,” you WILL know it when you see it—or perhaps, taste, smell, feel or hear it!
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THE ENTERPRISE is published weekly. His Web site is The Enterprise Group.
