Achieving a new design quickly with innovation sprints

The development of new packaging designs usually takes one to two years. For the trend and packaging agency WINdesign, this is too long. With its innovation sprints, it has developed a process in which, together with the customer, realisable results are available after just five days.

WIN's Innovation Sprints are aimed at both start-ups and established companies. The creative minds want to take the decision-makers in a company out of their day-to-day business for a week and come up with new ideas together.

„When it comes to new concepts, innovation sprints are a wonderful tool. For example, one of our customers was looking for new ideas for their brand. They wanted to replace a range that wasn't delivering the sales figures they wanted. This is a classic case for a five-day innovation sprint project: from an idea to visualised and qualified concepts.“ Katharina Müller, Managing Director WINdesign

The process in this case: The WINdesign team met the client in London on the first day. Together they looked for inspiration with the help of a Trend Safari, visiting and strolling through the relevant shops and stores. Day two was all about collecting and compiling ideas and writing concepts. Out of 100 ideas, six were selected in order to formulate brand concepts and supplement these with product designs. This took place on the third and fourth day in the Berlin agency with a team of designers. On the fifth day 50 consumers were interviewed at the client's points of sale, to find out which of the ideas that had just been developed were successful and which were not. „Fortunately, none of the ideas were a flop, so we were able to develop some of them further for the customer.“

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Packing two years' worth of innovation processes into five days

Innovation is a key to success, and not just for fast-moving consumer goods. People often work on ideas and then a competitor launches just a moment earlier. „In an agile world with a growing number of start-ups and tight budgets it is particularly important to accelerate the innovation process and ensure that ideas strike a chord with consumers“, says Katharina Müller. „Internal stagegate processes often let ideas die before they even get the chance to grow and develop into a final concept. By firstly accelerating the process and secondly gathering top-level management around the table, we discuss projects in start-up style and shape ideas together.“

WINdesign shortens innovation processes

This allows quick decisions to be made and eliminates endless fine-tuning at a point where it is not necessary. „In this way, we can shorten innovation processes that used to take years in the innovation sprint, making them crisp and creative. Normally, a lot of time passes in the hierarchy before the management team sees the ideas, and a lot of money is invested.“ The sprint eliminates the diversions, and everyone reaches their destination much faster and more cheaply overall.

„A good idea doesn't have to be completely worked out. Quick and dirty is enough for now. When I look back on my experience in FMCG companies, we wasted far too much time on fine-tuning and design before we even presented the idea internally.“ Katharina Müller, WINdesign

So why not first present the idea with a preliminary design to give consumers a feel for it and get feedback? asks the designer. Consumers are not initially interested in whether the branding or the colours are 100 per cent accurate. Katharina Müller advises: „Change the communication channels! Sit down together and make decisions! The creative process cannot be planned, If there isn't a suitable meeting, you can also coordinate via WhatsApp or Messenger. We do this on days three and four in particular, when the first designs are being created, so that we can coordinate quickly and easily with our customers.“

The opinion of consumers is important

At Sprint, consumer opinions have a special significance - this is also an experience for the designers from the start-up sector. „You simply go out and talk to the target group yourself. When was the last time you shared ideas with your target group on the street? Most of us have probably never done this. But why not? Once again - it's fun and it's a helpful check for every marketeer.“

In this way WINdesign quickly find out which ideas work and which don't. You can always carry out serious testing later, but then focus on the final idea. Katharina Müller is enthusiastic about the Innovation Sprint idea. „I find it incredibly inspiring to see what you can achieve in such a short space of time with the right team and the right tools.“

[infotext icon]The WIN Group has been in existence since 1997 and is organised under the umbrella WIN Creating Images with the companies WINcommunication and WINdesign GmbH as an owner-managed trend and packaging agency. In addition to its headquarters in Aachen, the agency also has offices in Cologne, Berlin and Zug, Switzerland. The agency works nationally and internationally for companies in the food & beverages, beauty, fashion, hair and fragrance sectors. Its clients include Lindt & Sprüngli, Teekanne, dm-drogerie markt, Brandt Zwieback, Emmi AG and Merz Consumer Care[/infotext].