Research Services
jobs to be done +
innovation
a consumer-centric approach to innovation
At C+R, we lean into the consumer perspective to help our clients with early-stage innovation. We can design a full innovation program, leveraging jobs-to-be-done theory, design thinking, and creative problem-solving principles to guide clients throughout the process.
Our innovation programs are custom and can be more of a sprint or robust approach depending on project parameters. Regardless of the specific design, we use an iterative, insight-driven approach that puts consumers’ needs at the heart of it to help us emerge smarter with new ideas that resonate.
jtbd + needs assessment
Often an innovation programs starts with an immersive understanding the current consumer situation. We typically conduct qualitative research to explore the consumers’ current behaviors and uncover their motivations, needs, and pain points. We may leverage a JTBD ideology – to explain the functional, emotional, and sensory benefits a consumer is seeking by the “jobs” they are hiring products and brands to do.
To converge these insights into white space opportunities, we often facilitate a workshop with clients. This allows us to collaboratively unpack the research learnings and translate them into strategic innovation opportunities, whether it’s the form of a needs statement, opportunity platform, or a desired outcome statement. We can test the opportunities quantitatively, to help assess where the most important opportunities and biggest gaps lie.
ideation
At the ideation stage, we employ a variety of creative exercises designed to push thinking and explore the key opportunity spaces to inspire idea generation. Our sessions are a balance of play (to foster an open and creative mindset) and structure (to ensure actionable, strategic ideas).
To help inject out-of-the-box thinking, we often include our Idea BuildersTM in the ideation sessions – these idea-fluent, creatively-minded consumers act as a catalyst to provide new ways of looking at opportunities.
concept development
Top ideas coming out of an ideation can be taken through a quant idea screen to help prioritize them, or we can internal metrics (such as brand fit, feasibility, interest) to determine what should advance through the process.
C+R can flesh out the ideas into test-worthy concepts, and we can train clients on the process to that they have the building blocks to write concepts in the future.
We often first test concepts qualitatively so that we can iteratively refine the statements to ensure they best reflect consumer needs and desires. As a last step, we can conduct a quant concept test to validate which concepts are worthy of moving forward immediately into product development, and which can be used to fill the innovation pipeline.
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jtbd + innovation
case studies
