Syncrowd at Interpack Conference in Düsseldorf

A look into the future

Some 2,700 exhibitors from 60 countries recently took part in interpack in Düsseldorf, the world’s most important trade fair for the packaging sector and related industries. Under the motto "Quality of Life", the Innovationparc Packaging at the exhibition creatively formed a kind of shopping mall with five different shopping areas, each devoted to exploring and showcasing one of the following themes: Meaning, Health, Identity, Simplicity and Aesthetics.

Meaning is the major component of quality in life because the sense of meaningful actions gives our life direction. The realisation that resources are not limitless moves sustainable economics and consumption to the very heart of society’s debate on meaning.
Health is at the top of the list of life’s priorities and is the major component of quality of life. It is no longer considered a given fact but something that can be actively influenced. As a consequence consumers will ask for products that proactively contribute to their health and well-being.
Identity explored how certain lifestyles can be represented by packaging and design, bringing a feeling of comfortability and belonging into an increasingly global and complex world.
Simplicity is the pursuit for happiness and simplicity with a focus on the essentials, constantly trying to reduce complexity in life. In terms of packaging this means true convenience throughout the value chain.
Aesthetics contributes to the quality of life by enriching everyday life with beauty and design. As such this is a trend that will gain more importance across the consumer industries, and it will eventually permeate the whole process of buying as well.

Creating Breakthrough Products from Hidden Needs

Many managers want their organizations to develop breakthrough products and ask their R&D departments to come up with the equivalent of the iPod or iPhone. Unfortunately, the reality is very different—most organizations struggle to come up with novel product concepts, and of the thousands of new products introduced worldwide each year, product failure is more common than success. What are the reasons for product failure and what steps can companies take to avoid it?

Avoiding product failure

The first lesson from research is that failure rates are high. For example, a recent survey found that of the hundreds of new food and beverage products introduced in the last few years in the US, 90% had failed (and were withdrawn from supermarkets within 3 months of launch). Food and drinks is a particularly challenging market but research in other sectors—from automobiles, to pharmaceuticals, to chemical products—shows that product failure is a (far too) common phenomenon.

Products sometimes fail because they do not function correctly. For example, although most people think of Apple as the archetypal innovative company, it has had its failures, notably the Apple Newton personal digital assistant that promised but failed to recognize handwriting. Similarly, both Unilever and Proctor & Gamble have introduced ‘power’ washing powders to remove stains but which damaged fabrics. Products must function correctly but research shows that this is a necessary but not sufficient condition for product success. Product differentiation is critical, that is products must stand out from the crowd. Truly differentiated products, which offer unique features that provide real customer benefit, have an 80% chance of success, whereas ‘me-too’ products that replicate competitors’ features have only a 20% chance. Creating breakthrough products requires a deep understanding of customers’ needs.

Link to European Business Review article: http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=3373

Action Research

Action Research is booming and because it´s is and has been the core of our service since day one!!! Syncrowd is invited to England and the Netherlands in the next month to talk about how we conduct action research all over the world:)

New Faces to the Syncrowd Team

Syncrowd is constantly in search for new talent.... and guess what we found a new one:)..Look out for this face who have just joined our team:)
With a passion for infographic and empathic design our new colleague is transforming the front-end design of our online service...

Syncrowd Research!!!

Syncrowd is currently doing research for a numbers of clients in the Swedish market.
Specific consumer groups are involved, action research is executed and concrete guideline for product development and marketing projects is delivered through our online service toolkit:)