May 2025 | New Product Development

Consumer-Centric Creativity - 9 Steps for Success

An organization’s ability to survive depends on its capacity to adapt and innovate. Companies must constantly adjust to changing markets, changing technologies, changing economics, changing competitors, and changing consumer habits and preferences.

Keeping up with market changes and consumer demands requires a constant stream of new product ideas and new marketing ideas. Consumer-Centric Creativity anchored in real-life experiences and real consumer needs can produce relevant and meaningful new product and new marketing ideas.

Imaginators®

Many companies use focus groups to generate ideas for new products and new services, but this approach yields few new product ideas because the typical focus group respondent is not very creative. That’s why Decision Analyst developed the Imaginators®, a creative community of everyday people from all walks of life who are exceptionally imaginative and inventive. They rank among the top 2% to 4% of the population in idea-centric creativity and they receive ongoing creativity training to enhance their natural creative abilities. The Imaginators® are an important reason Decision Analyst is successful in creating new product ideas. But, Imaginators® are only half of the story. Decision Analyst’s Applied Creativity Process™ is the other half of the story. Here are the major steps in the Applied Creativity Process™:

Step 1: Alignment Meeting

The purpose of the Alignment Meeting is to get all key stakeholders together to discuss and agree upon the objectives and desired outcomes of the ideation project. Marketing, R&D, Product Development, Advertising, Research or Insights, Manufacturing, etc., should all be represented in the Alignment Meeting.

Step 2: Research Review/Qualitative Investigations

Ideation must have rails to run on (starting points or focal points, targets, and goals). Developing a deep understanding of target consumers’ needs, hopes, and dreams can greatly improve the chances of success in the ideation phase.

A review of existing research studies can help determine ideation starting points and focal points. If existing research is insufficient or unavailable, then qualitative investigations (focus groups and/or depth interviews) can help provide an understanding of consumer needs, fears, desires, preferences, and proclivities.

Step 3: Ideation Sessions

Ideation sessions follow a proprietary creativity guide that encourages and nurtures the generation of many starter ideas and idea fragments. This creativity guide outlines the games, activities, and exercises that will be used during the ideation sessions. The ideation facilitators follow the creativity guide as they take participants through a rapidly-paced series of carefully designed creative exercises to generate the greatest number of unique and relevant ideas. Ideation sessions are conducted in an environment that encourages participants to be freewheeling, uninhibited, and spontaneous. Sessions can be conducted online or in-person, and the two approaches are often combined.

Step 4: Ideation Debriefing

No matter whether the session is online or in-person, the results are not neatly organized into concepts, but are jumbles of highly-creative ideas and idea fragments. Decision Analyst works closely with the client to determine which ideas to develop further, based on client objectives previously discussed in the Alignment Meeting, new learnings from the sessions, and client feedback.

Step 5: First-Stage Concept Development

Decision Analyst’s Innovation Team develops rough first-stage concepts, which include working names, written details about the features and benefits, and supporting messages and illustrations. The number of first-stage new product concepts can range from 10 to 25 or more, depending on the number of sessions and project goals.

Step 6: First-Stage Concept Review

Decision Analyst conducts a first-stage concept review with the client. Each first-stage concept is explained and discussed, then evaluated against the project’s goals and objectives. The client and the Innovation Team agree on the new product concepts to take into qualitative refinement and final development.

Step 7: Qualitative Refinement of Concepts

The selected concepts are shown to approximately 12 to 20 members of American Consumer Opinion®, Decision Analyst’s worldwide consumer panel. The purpose of this step is not to determine likes and dislikes, or the likelihood of concept success, but to ensure that each concept’s description and illustrations fully and effectively communicate the new product idea.

Step 8: Final Concept Development

The Innovation Team uses the results of the refinement phase to further polish the new product concepts’ copy and illustrations. The result is test-ready concepts—complete with written descriptions, illustrations, and rationale.

Step 9: New Product Concept Testing

ConceptTest® is an industry-leading concept-testing system that can predict a new product concept’s chances of ultimate success in the marketplace. This testing system also provides extensive diagnostics, pricing feedback, and guidance for concept improvement.

Celebration

Imaginators® ideation sessions, guided by the Applied Creativity Process™ and Decision Analyst’s Innovation Team, produce 10 to 25 new product concepts for client review. Of these, perhaps 5 to 10 new product ideas will be tweaked and refined qualitatively. Then, it’s on to final concept testing and a hero’s celebration when the test results come in.

Jerry W. Thomas

CEO

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Bonnie Janzen

President

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Felicia Rogers

Corporate Executive Vice President

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You can find more articles and videos in Decision Analyst's Marketing Research Library

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