A key aspect of innovation is understanding what your customers like…and hate about your products. However, we tend to only focus on what they like.
In 1970’s, Campbell’s soup did a study about what people did not like about their soup. The answer was that the meat pieces were too small. Based on this customer feedback, they launched their “chunky soup brand” and it is still around 40 years later!
In 1980, Wrigley did a study and found the chewing gum flavor didn’t last long enough. They created the “Extra” gum brand, which has been the number one chewing gum for 25 years in the US.
In the last couple years, we’ve seen a similar transformation with Uber, which flips the taxi cab experience.
Yet, there are also examples of companies trying to renovate their brands and products with changes that the customer did not want, and thus ended with poor results, i.e., New Coke (Source: Wharton).
“…No such thing as a tired brand; just tired marketers.” Kraft CEO
Do you collect and innovate based on customer feedback?
