In Innovation, Being Unique is Sometimes More Important Than Being Liked

It puzzles me why, while many smart companies pre-test their new product offerings in consumer testing, so many base their go/no-go decisions solely on claimed consumer purchase intent. Emphasizing the top-two box, “definitely/probably will buy” score, without strongly considering a product’s uniqueness can terribly mislead you as to the overall potential of the new product.
Think about it. If the new product being tested is not very different from a product consumers are now using, then of course, consumers would see very little risk in trying the new item and would thereby give the tested product a high “definitely/probably” purchase intent score. But if other products are similar, will these consumers be loyal? Will they really buy the new product if other similar items offered them better buying incentives? And, if the new product isn’t sufficiently unique, will the retailer even be willing to stock it?

Sometimes, a better indication of a product’s eventual success is to have a modest consumer purchase intent score coupled with a strong perceived product uniqueness. This could be a sign of an attractive niche brand opportunity--an item that would have “just enough” consumer interest to warrant its distribution. And, because of its uniqueness, retailers could be more open to stocking it because the sales of this item would likely be totally incremental to the store. And because of its modest sales volume, it will be too small to warrant a retailer, or another competitor to copy it.

Just what is a mythstake?

There’s an old saying in my neighborhood: “A Freudian slip may be revealing, but a Jungian slip is just a mythstake.”

Then again, I live in a weird neighborhood.

Hello and welcome to our InnovationMyths.com blog.

This is the place you can expect to find pithy, insightful and conventional-wisdom-busting takes on innovation.

And of course it’s the site that will be exploding all those business-killing myths that you (or your boss) still believe in.

A bit of a warning: Because we’re taking on the time-honored bromides of industry, these blog posts can make you a little uncomfortable. And they can make you laugh (uncomfortably). But if you stick with it, you may just get promoted.

So what are business “mythstakes” anyway?

To answer that, let’s start with myths. You know, those pesky (and all too numerous) misconceptions about innovation held by many executives and organizations today. The myths that not only hamper innovation, but lead to costly blunders.

Even a truth about innovation that is misapplied has the same net effect.

So if you persist in believing a myth or you mangle a truism, you are committing a “mythstake.”

Don’t do that.

We’ve just finished writing a new book chronicling some of the biggest doozies out there that have done some of the most damage. And we wrote it, not to wag a finger, but to reach out a hand . . . to help you become a truly world-class, wildly successful innovator.

While writing the book, we discovered a lot of things we weren’t expecting. New insights, new opportunities, and we’ll be sharing those with you—for FREE—as we merrily blog along. We’ll explain not only what to do, but HOW to do it.

One final word on Carl Jung: he understood that myths are no more about gods than about the physical world. In fact, he said myths are about the human mind and must be read symbolically.

This is true in business as well. You’re either part of the “collective unconscious” out there in the world, or you’re plugged in. Which camp do you identify with?

Innovation is more important that ever and more difficult than ever. So if you’re ready to try something NEW in your quest for positive, productive, and profitable change . . . this is the place.

Welcome home, to the innovationsmyths.com blog . . . where everybody knows your pain.