Making consumers emotions central to the way we inspire innovation, emotional led innovation (ELI) can revolutionize they way companies generate breakthrough ideas for new products and services.
Look at breakthrough brand innovations in recent decades. Apple. Google. Bath & Body Works. Orbit Gum. Hagen Daaz. Bear Naked. John Frieda. It wasn’t just a disruptive technology or new behavior that led to success, it was the way the product radically changed how consumers feel that created commercial success.
There’s never been a more compelling time for ELI. As brands compete in mature categories, it’s often harder to have a technical breakthrough, so the most compelling way to differentiate is on an emotional basis. Also, the ability to research emotional reactions in both words and rich visuals is accelerating, enabling us to refine the emotional response in real-time with the consumer.
What’s more, cutting edge techniques are starting to track how consumers respond emotionally—both consciously and subconsciously—to the way ideas are positioned.
Newly established techniques can enable an organization to adopt emotional innovation, and drastically change their creative momentum. Critical success factors include creating structured processes to gauge emotional insights; mapping emotional opportunity spaces and their value drivers; exploring a spectrum of emotions; and investing upfront in building a rich emotional experience.
Laurence Knight is principal of Fletcher Knight, a marketing consultancy based in Stamford, CT.
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