Companies can take more leaps of imagination by getting better at developing truly useful customer information and acting on it

Admap, June 2006

Great growth ideas require a leap of imagination and the courage to make a big bet in the face of uncertainty. The overabundance of small, incremental ideas creates a huge drag on performance. Of the more than 10,000 new products launched annually by packaged goods companies in the US (the vast majority of which are marginal improvements on existing products), 90% fail within 12 months. These failures divert valuable time, talent and investment from initiatives with a larger potential payback.

To grow, companies must learn how to take more leaps of imagination and fewer leaps of faith. This means getting better at developing truly useful customer information and acting on it. In this article, the authors discuss why the traditional approach to gathering and synthesizing customer insight has failed and the impact this has had on companies’ ability to grow. They then outline a new approach focused on a few key criteria for gaining confidence in a growth idea. Finally, they illustrate the benefits of using this approach by sharing some recent real world examples.