In this aggressive and competitive market, every enterprise
wants to capitalize on maximum market share and have top recall value.
So why is it that some succeed phenomenally, where as others stagnate
after making some profit? More than extensive R&D, branding,
advertising, marketing and PR initiatives, what works most today is “out
of the box” thinking. The key to exponential growth and increased
consumer goodwill is effective idea management techniques that are well
implemented. Apart from coming up with innovative product development
strategies, streamlined idea management techniques helps in establishing
a deeper audience connect that helps a brand to communicate and expand
better.

Co-creation through open innovation and crowdsourcing
is what most companies focus on in order to capitalize on the
creativity and intelligence of the worldwide audience. Multinational
food manufacturing company Kellogg’s, United States undertook a creative
initiative that helped them in a creating a new product the Cereal
Straws. This project initially commenced in Spain where nine to ten
years old children discussed their breakfast concerns and ways to
resolve them. What came up from these detailed discussions was an idea
that one should not only drink milkshakes through straws but also should
be able to eat the straw afterwards that should be crunchy and taste
good. The outcome was a brand new product called Kellogg’s Cereal Straws
that already had its target audience defined way before the product
release.

Efficient techniques for idea capture not only helps
companies attain creative inputs for new product development but also to
let their consumers know that their views and ideas count. Sometimes,
brands make use of open innovation and mass idea sharing process in
order to boost up their existing product range both for attaining
increased revenue and product awareness.

Leading noodles brand Maggi sometime backannounced an open innovation
campaign where consumers were asked to share the ways in which they have
used Maggi in their lives. What was evident from this idea sharing
campaign was that people cooked and consumed Maggi not only as noodles
but also used them in other food preparation. Other than this, when the
ideas were shared in an TV ad along with the contributor’s name people
also got to know quick easy snack ideas that was tasty and not time
consuming. Through this open innovation Maggi established a better
audience connect by making people realize that their ideas count.

In today’s fast expanding and competitive economy it is very crucial to
understand the pulse of your target and potential consumers.
Enterprises who are able to master this art are the leaders in their
segment. The best way to go ahead with this is through innovative idea
management campaigns and open innovation.