Fabio Offredi, Product Strategy and Marketing Director of Philips Electronics Singapore

I am a Philips man. After serving Philips for 25 years around the world I have been the testimony of great changes in this Multinational Electronics giant. We are an innovative Company by definition. We live driving new technologies into value propositions that we create listening to our customers needs.

The role of the Innovation Producer is embedded in our company culture. He/she is a visionary but also pragmatic manager able to pull the organizational ropes and steer the business creation process departing from the observation of Market, Technology and Socio-cultural trends.

We can compare this manager to “Spiderman” with an extraordinary ability to pull all the key organizational functions required to create innovative value propositions and drive it to the market after winning top management confidence.

The Innovation Producer must exercise leadership, introduce new practices and a culture questioning the way the business currently works. Traditionally CEO’s cover this role, so the Innovation Producer must take this role and act as the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) empowered and recognized in his/her innovative role.

Building on this the Innovation Producer must create an innovative culture at every Company level, generating a conducive environment where people meet and ideas are shared with open dialogue. He/she should also encourage customer intimacy confronting the Company culture with the outside world. Last but not least the Innovation Producer must be a people manager promoting and rewarding entrepreneurship and celebrating successes while learning from failures.

His/her motto is “never standing still”. The innovation Producer warns the management team about the risks of doing nothing and living out of consolidated successes of the past.

Innovation today is a must to grow and stay competitive. The innovation producer knows it and is always ready to act.

The Innovation Producer is facing a new challenge: understanding consumer behaviors. Consumers today are savvier and their power is increasing. They have dreams and aspirations. Moreover they have new ideas and they know what they want.
What a revolution, what an opportunity for a Company that wants to innovate!

The Innovation Producer, the Company management must become behaviorists. Sounds like becoming psychologists but is true and so important to stay in the market successfully.

Today understanding consumer psyche is fundamental. At stake are millions of dollars and sometimes even the future of the entire Company.

First to note is that the Brand element is in the eye of the Consumer even more important than the product itself. This requires special attention while launching and positioning  the Company products or services.

Second what other consumers say has an impact far more important in the success of the Brand and specific products or services. The strongest marketing tool is those 20.0000 networked early adopters. We must make sure they really like it!!!

We must distinguish between two types of Consumers:

• The target users. They are ready to adopt an innovation, determining the success thanks to its positive brand / personality association. They are ready to feedback improvements. They are loyal customers until anything better takes the scene. Their contribution is important during the incremental innovation process.
• The lead users. A breed apart made of inventors well ahead of the time looking for solutions that often solve a personal problem. Lead users are a great source of information during radical innovation process.

Building towards the success of an innovation means understanding consumers behavior. Consumers are at the center of the innovation process where needs and aspirations meet technology and design as the enablers to create meaningful value propositions. The Brand does the magic and the business success.