Generate new product ideas

Innovation is often the key in most sectors, but in food and drink it’s much more critical as consumers constantly seek new experiences and if you don’t provide them, it’s highly likely your competitors will.

New products can breathe new life into a tired portfolio. “New” is one of the most powerful words in the marketer’s tool box and every business needs to see a proportion of its products using this powerful adjective. This is something we all know from our own experiences. What is more difficult to determine is where ideas for new products come from.

New ideas can happen randomly or they can be crafted in a more strategic and systematic way.

Random ideas may appear as such, but it is more likely that they are drawn magnetically to the crucible of design. A company’s existing range will draw comments and conceptions from within the company and from customers. The skill is being able to harness these somtimes random suggestions and see if they can be turned into a profitable opportunity.

Most of us don’t have the time to hang around waiting for random ideas which may not pop up just arise when we need them. simply sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and ‘coming up’ with ideas is unlikely to get you very far.

For most of us a blank sheet of paper can be quite daunting and when confronted with it we freeze and secondly, if you already have an established brand you’re generally too close to it and end up putting all sorts of false barriers in your own way. Here are some of the methods I’ve used in the past to kick start the idea generation process and get the teams creative juices flowing.

use external thought-provokers such as leading chefs  food Bloggers Product specialist        

Surf the web

Obvious really when you consider that everything that’s ever been launched and a lot of what hasn’t is available at the click of a mouse. Type in some key words around your area of interest and see where it takes you. The trick with this approach however is to give yourself a set amount of time to do it.

Ninety minutes generally works well as it gives you long enough to dive in and explore without finding you’ve lost your entire day watching funny cat videos on YouTube!

You can also scan several innovation and trend websites for product ideas and inspiration. Try www.trendhunter.com for global trend spotting. Mintel, Keynote Kantor while primarily offering paid for services,they also have blogs and monthly newsletters which are free to sign-up to and give you a regular feed of insight and ideas.

Try going on a food safari

If you really want to get your creative juices flowing, pack a rucksack and head to your nearest large town/city for a day spent exploring the food markets, delicatessens, niche retailers and food trucks. A bit like fashion that gradually filters down from the catwalk to the high street; food markets and food trucks and pop up cafes tend to lead the way in seeding new ideas, recipes, ingredients, flavour combinations and packaging long before they become retail mainstream. This type of safari can really help you see opportunities that you can borrow from one category and apply to your own. Building on it by packaging it differently, changing the recipe, targeting it towards kid’s vs adults etc. or just eat out more making sure you keep looking for new places to eat.

Check out the competition. 

Visit exhibitions, look on the Internet, walk around the high street. Despite what people say, there can be money to be made out of being second into the market. The downside is that everyone else will be out seeking the same ‘next big thing’ as you, but for spotting ideas and talking to other brand owners about their products and experiences it can’t be beaten.

Go back to Aroma schools  Tasting masterclasses Pairing workshops  

Often when we read tasting notes on wine, do we know really the difference between fresh fruit and dried fruit? Who knows what Jasmin or kiwi fruit smells like? I know I didn’t, until I went on a food tour in Paris and went into the nosing/aroma area of a chef’s supply shop. There was about a dozen hanging glass jars with “stuff” in them. You could put your nose into the jar and smell the aroma on the label and it wasn’t until that moment that I started to understand what various scents were like when you saw them in tasting notes. And if you were wondering kiwi smells a bit like grapes and bananas

It’s like listening to individual instruments rather than the whole orchestra. When you hear an orchestra, it’s much easier to pick out the violin after you’ve heard a violin on its own. A cello has very different sound to a violin, but only if you’ve heard the two independently. I found that I was able to pull out individual aromas after this trip.

Ask your team and suppliers.

Ask the sales teams, production managers to look back through old reports, check the archives. There could be something that was not appropriate for launch a few years ago, which could make it to the market today.

Ask your customers. 

Customers use your products and sometimes they modify them to make them more user-friendly without mentioning what they have done to you. Walk round your customers’ factories and offices and see how your products (and your competitors’ products) are being used. Ask your customers what they would wish for if they had a magic wand.

Look at the pressures influencing the market. 

The traditional forces that shape a market are political, economic, social and technological. Which of these are having most effect on your market? A company selling mail-order products could see that its customer base was ageing rapidly. Instead of trying to diversify and find younger customers, it extended its products for older people and tapped into a very wealthy and profitable seam.

Ask the academics.

Universities and academics have time on their hands to think about new products. Try offering and exchange of services and set the business students a challenge. Sometimes their lack of commercialization means that they ignore opportunities which are sat on their benches. Or run a student competition to win a prize for the best ideas.

Check out foreign sources.

 It used to be said that products launched in America would find their way into other countries five years later. America isn’t the only cradle of new product development today. Asia could be a fertile source of new ideas.

Don’t forget to speak to the DITthey often have request from retailers looking for products