Make Innovation Happen

We believe that by concentrating on fewer, bigger, better ideas early in the process, your innovation pipeline will flow faster and more efficiently.

Early, rapid idea generation and concept evaluation is at the heart of our approach. MIH’s unique formula can be implemented consistently wherever we are in the world.

Click on Generate, Evaluate, Develop and Deliver on the MIH Toolkit below for more information.

 

The MIH Toolkit Approach

Generate

Insight Creation

Consumer insight can occur as sudden inspiration, but more often it comes as a result of thorough immersion in relevant data and a genuine understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviours.

MIH searches for consumer insight in many different ways, including desk and field research, market intelligence, data gathering, expert interviews and consumer insight sessions.

Serious Creativity

MIH ‘seriously creative’ concept generation workshops are 2 day events with 3 main elements:

The Insight Sessions ensure that all the relevant information is shared with the participants so they develop a full understanding of context and start to develop novel insights.

The Transition is where we invite participants to engage with the creative process and make use of the stimuli we provide. As a result, participants develop their personal creative skills.

The Idea Generation itself is where the group is pro-active in creating templated ideas in sufficient detail to take forward to the first round of our concept evaluation process.

We developed the Serious Creativity concept generation technique with the help of our good friends at Wingivers, who help design and run our sessions.

Evaluate

Our  concept evaluation techniques are designed to streamline the decision-making process and save time.

Q-Blast® – Internal Filter

Q-Blast® is an internal decision forum facilitated with audience response technology and custom software. It is designed to filter the ideas that come out of the creative workshops- objectively.

It will screen 10 -100+ new product ideas and deliver a manageable, prioritised selection of concepts, ready for further development and research. We run this face to face with voting keypads or online..

Q-Blast® – Consumer Research

Q-Blast® Consumer Research is time-saving, cost effective quantitative and qualitative research in a single study, on the same day, with the same respondents. Concepts are screened and diagnosed in an entirely interactive and transparent way so you know What to develop and How to improve it. We license this research technique from Connected, Inc of theUSA, where it is known as Feedblast, and it has been used successfully for over 15 years to prioritise new product ideas and reveal vital qualitative consumer insights.

Develop

Our creative team of writers and illustrators develops the winning researched concepts into fully detailed new product concepts ready to brief your new product development team.. With our creative associates, we can execute product innovation or brand innovation concepts in whatever style and level of finish is appropriate. Our Associates at NPD Direct www.npddirect.co.uk can even produce prototypes or pilot plant volumes of new food innovations  for market testing.

Deliver

Product Innovation management often inspires and requires internal change.

Our skill- and experience-based innovation consultancy will help you adapt your organisation, systems, innovation process, and even culture to make innovation happen in the marketplace. We can work with you to develop your innovation strategy, in the context of your brands and branding strategy and business capabilities.

Our Associates

We believe in working with specialists in their field. At the start of the process we work with Wingivers , who helped design and develop our idea generation and concept generation techniques.

When it comes to creative communications, our Associates at Beaconbrands work seamlessly with us to deliver the launch package.

When the scope of a new product development project includes brand development and pack design, we work alongside our friends at Bryt. 

A lot of our work is in food innovation, but we’re not chefs and technologists; we leave that to the skilled and experienced team at NPD Direct, who integrate recipe and process development with our marketing concept development. They can even manufacture on a pilot scale from their plant and kitchens inSpalding,UK. 

We have a particular tie-up with a European expert in product innovation and launch delivery- Ton Langeler of Pro-Actuate. Ton’s expertise is in activating innovation, and he has special experience of managing joint ventures and collaborative innovations like the successful Senseo coffee system partnership between Philips and Douwe Egberts.

Innovation management often carries with it a review of business strategy. To do this with fact based financial analysis and a perspective on the food industry that genuinely covers the world, we work with James Amoroso. James is well known in the boardrooms of the main global players from his time spent as a top analyst with international investment banks. Way back, he was a chef, and later an accomplished food marketer. James is a high profile example of the sort of quality, experienced people we have in our associate network.

If you choose to work with any of our Associates directly, that’s fine, but please mention that you found them here first.