The Priceless Return on Prototyping

Consumers are craving more authentic experiences from brands and it is our responsibility as designers, strategists and brand owners to produce more than just a great product or package. Today, brick and mortar stores are under an incredible amount of pressure to stay relevant and the rules of shopping are changing with the accessibility of everything at our fingertips. We have the power to deliver bigger and better brand experiences via our diverse skill sets, yet the same old ways of working and thinking continue to plague our industry.

Ask Yourself These 6 Questions:

1. Am I creating meaningful and holistic brand experiences for consumers?
2. How much money have I spent this year on countless rounds of design revisions on initiatives that ended up barely moving the needle?
3. Am I settling for less because of manufacturing constraints or retail limitations?
4. Am I being forced into uninspired initiatives because of internal politics?
5. Are my agency partners delivering on their promise?
6. Am I designing for what my retailer wants versus what consumers really want, need or will improve lives?

Challenge The “What” to Define the “Why”

At Kaleidoscope, we start with a sketch, we draw on the walls, and we constantly prototype our ideas in three dimensions. By connecting insights with strategy and leveraging our six in-house disciplines, we are able to deliver innovative and relevant brand experiences for some of the world’s leading CPG companies. Our methodology helps to uncover consumer learnings and define new opportunities in real time. We don’t work in silos; we invite our clients and their cross-functional partners to play in the paint with us.

• The benefit: our methodology is valuable in helping clients to identify whitespace and prove out investment in new ideas and technology, while saving time and money.
• The one non-negotiable: All cross-functional stakeholders must have a seat at the table to align on the vision, business objectives and evaluate the brief.
• The return on prototyping: We just saved one of our clients 6 months on a new-to-the-world innovation by aligning on the brief with key stakeholders and by identifying potential end-to-end risks via rapid prototyping at every step. Imagine the cost savings and what you could achieve with 6 months back!

Be Fluid and Challenge Old Methodologies

Breaking down traditional methods by prototyping, testing and learning can be invaluable to your business. Challenge your agency partners to help you find creative ways to navigate internal roadblocks. Start from the end, and work your way to the beginning. Understand what your constraints are and be transparent with your agency partners and retailers. Invite them to have a seat at the table in your innovation discussions. Try out those uncomfortable ideas, test, learn, be flexible, rewrite the brief and prototype meaningful and relevant brand experiences. This is the new path to success.

Collaborate With Your Agency Partners and Retailers For Sustainable Growth

Rapid prototyping, brilliant execution and raw consumer validation can lead to powerful insights and innovation. Find an agency partner that uses prototyping as an integral part of their methodology, and start investing in the development of more meaningful experiences for consumers.

Whether your new idea produces a positive or negative result by going straight to market, the learnings alone will help you and your retail partners learn and uncover new opportunities for greater consumer loyalty, advocacy and sustainable business growth. Stop settling for less. Think like an entrepreneur and prototype for the win! To learn more about how Kaleidoscope can help you grow your business, develop disruptive innovation and create new brand experiences, contact us at contact@thinkkaleidoscope.com.