CHAPTER 19HOW TO INNOVATE
I'm often asked how we came up with such great ideas for new products, promotional ideas, and PR campaigns that broke the mould and garnered so much attention. In short, it was our passion to always do better that drove us on! In the dynamic realm of retail, staying ahead meant being innovative. We understood the importance of:
- consistently introducing exciting new offerings
- creating exceptional product formulations
- ensuring that we always had something unique and captivating to present to retailers.
If the campaign idea didn't send tingles down your spine and make you think ‘wow’, it didn't make the cut. In short, we strove to continually improve and outdo the last thing we had done. We thrived off coming up with new ideas. Our culture demanded it.
Our inspiration for innovation came from a variety of sources. Travel. Trade shows. Trend reports. Sales data. Market research. Talking to retailers. Watching customers in action. All these data points coalesced and we funneled those insights into our New Product Development meetings.
Attending industry trade shows kept me in touch with innovations in the retail world. The big shows for us were the natural health shows in the United States and Europe that focussed on raw materials and the finished products and, whilst travelling, I would regularly visit the best retailers outside of our industry to see what they were up to. I liked to cross-pollinate learnings from different worlds. This is when true ...
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