Case Study:
Innovation & Product Development
Business Challenge
Our client, a category leader in confections, wanted to fuel their innovation pipeline for 2025. A top goal was driving growth in fruity candy, a category that has appeal for Gen Z consumers. Additionally, the new innovations would need to meet timing specifications as well as manufacturing process guidelines.
We designed a multi-phase immersion program to learn about what inspires Gen Z consumers as part of an endeavor to inform potential new products and flavor trends the client could integrate into their planning structure.
Methodology
The two-week program included five phases:
- Discovery and alignment with our client team to lay the foundation for the work and identify a strategic launching point for the research.
- An Immersion Excursion was conducted at the Dream Mall in Newark, NJ; this experience helped the team gain empathy and understanding for their target Gen Z consumers. It was also an opportunity to explore adjacent categories for fruity Innovation inspiration.
- A “Consumer Connects” session with Gen Z candy eaters included three simultaneous roundtables, each with three Gen Z participants, three members of our client team, and one Radius team member who facilitated the conversation. We explored Gen Z participants’ lifestyles, motivators, relationship with fruity candy, and desires pertaining to fruity candy innovation.
- A facilitated half-day synthesis and debrief session included collaborative work sessions with client team members to explore the learnings from the Immersion Excursion and Consumer Connects activities.
- Idea-generation sessions on the first day included a cross-functional client team and Radius team facilitators to focus on generating numerous seed ideas. On the second day, we prioritized and refined ideas into 20 fleshed-out product concepts with illustrations for further development.
Growth Outcome
- The multi-phase program resulted in over 150 seed ideas and 20–25 fleshed-out product ideas and sketches. From there, the client was able to take these product ideas for additional consumer testing to further prioritize options for their 2025 pipeline.
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