Welcome to the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse

Innovations come and go – capturing our attention and personalizing the future that is unfolding before our very eyes. Some innovations make a huge splash and disappear in the blink of an eye. Others unfold in a slow burn and melt into the fabric of our lives. How are we to know as marketers what innovations are really storming the market and which are just hype? And, of those innovative products, which ones will be most likely to stick, grow, and develop into mainstays of the economy? Finally, how can Innovators better measure ideas before they finalize them, to make sure they exhibit the same strengths as successful introductions before they are introduced? The InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse is designed to answer these questions and fuel Innovators with knowledge to help them grow big ideas.

What does the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse do?

First –
the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse is a Marketplace Monitor. We use continuous collection of consumer noticeability of new products as they enter the market. These Consumer Noticeable Innovations become the platform for further analysis.

Second – the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse measures consumer awareness of innovations that are noticeable, the marketplace conversion potential of these products, and a modeled success index based on 18 diagnostic questions designed to assess a product’s perceived ability to meet consumer needs from three standpoints: 1) using the product itself; 2) using the product to produce or create something else or an experience; 3) sharing the product or information about the product to have experiences with others. These three dimensions measure the product’s ability to stretch beyond functional dynamics and become part of the fabric of life.

Third – the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse measures for Modeled Interest (part of Marketplace Conversion Potential) and the Success Index can be collected for products that are not on the market yet – those in the concept stage. These measures help Innovators make adjustments to new product concepts prior to introduction and better understand the likelihood of success.

Finally – the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse is a personal experience. Kelley Styring, Consumer Strategist, Author, and creator of the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse, personally uses and shares her experiences with the top scoring products in her blog: The InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse Blog. The blog helps “bring to life” the Innovations measured and offers one real person’s experience as a template for understanding the broader consumer measurements and an expert opinion to help interpret the consumer measures provided.

Please contact Kelley Styring at: kelley.styring@insightfarm.com for more information on the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse. The InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse is powered by C&R Research, Chicago, Il.

InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse: the Measures

Consumer Noticeable Products: Items achieving a noticeable level of mentions in an open ended question about “new products” on the market enter the InsightFarm Innovation HotHouse measurement system. All items reviewed are Consumer Noticeable Products.
Initial Awareness: Consumer Noticeable Products are presented to consumers and aided awareness measured for the first period after they are noticed. This is Initial Awareness. The product will continue to be presented in subsequent periods until a minimum awareness base of 75 is reached. Then diagnostic data across waves is combined for analysis. Initial Awareness is not impacted by subsequent waves.

Conversion Score: A composite measure modeled from purchase interest, perceived popularity, and intention to recommend.

Domino Analysis: A weighted composite of 18 diagnostic measures compiled into three outputs including “consume”, “produce”, and “share” dimensions. An index to the average of other composite scores is reported. An index above 120 is considered strong.

Success Index: Total weighted composite score from the Domino Analysis. This total score incorporates the 18 diagnostic measures’ impact on interest, perceived popularity and intention to recommend. An index to the average of other composite scores is reported. An index above 120 is considered strong.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Nintendo Wii Fit





When you’re 12, it’s high time you figured out that your parents have been hypocrites all along. That’s about 2 years after you learn they’re dumb as a bucket of rocks and 15 years before you change your mind about that. So, it’s time really. Our son turned 12 last year and we bought a Wii for his birthday after relentless railing against gaming and screen time, going without broadcast television for 15 years, and inflicting an endless diatribe about the intellectual surplus created when people interact with each other instead of licking content from technology like treacle in the gutter.

Then came Wii and our resolve dissolved.

At first, it was energetic and fun. We as parents were vindicated in that this game system had our kids jumping and running in the living room albeit with carpet vapors and processed air instead of Oregon sunshine, but hey, there’s not that much sunshine in Oregon anyway, so BFD. It only took the kids a week to figure out how to play tennis with a few flicks of the wrist while sitting on the couch with their other hand deep in a bowl of Natural Cheetos. If we caught them, we turned it off, but kids are wily an can jump off the couch really fast, panting like all get-out when you walk in the room and flop down again equally quickly when you leave.

Then came Wii Fit.

This thing comes with a pad that you stand on to operate. It takes you through exercise routines and even Yoga – recording time spent, balance and control, and even form. My eight year old daughter learned more Yoga poses in a day than I did in a whole year of classes and she didn’t have to smell the sweat of the rail-thin stretchy bendy guy with the soul patch who would smile inappropriately at my fleshy behind during Down Facing Dog, which is a real slap in the face if you ask me, though I see my dog do it every day with a look of serene satisfaction right before she passes massive gas.

Anyway.

Way to go Wii! Kids off the couch. Bendy and whatever. No skinny sweaty dude.

All good things.

The Data:
Wii Fit has an astonishing 75% awareness in the first period of measurement and a conversion rate of 25%, which is very high in this system. The success index is 139, the highest in the HotHouse to date. It has high internal scores across the board for consumption, producing and sharing. Strong all the way.

1 comment:

mendelj2 said...

The wii fit is literally brilliant. My wife and I use it all the time (and she has no video game interest, nor gym interest.) For all of us who want to exercise but would never go to yoga or a step class it is at least a starting point. And while I don't appreciate its snarky comments if I miss a few days, it really is a huge step forward. I'd love to see some deep consumer insights on how people use it and in conjunction with what other fitness options. Have you seen any?

Maybe I am the only one who runs to hop on it and weigh in when I know I have lost weight, just to shut the little scale up!