General Session II: The "pain points" of innovation

“Assess their pain points,” said General Session II Keynote Julie Setser on a few occasions during her presentation Tuesday morning. Setser, the Vice President of R&D Innovation Capability at Proctor & Gamble was driving home the point that there is a good probability you will find your next innovative idea if you do just that with your consumers. Innovation is at the heart of the business model at P&G, where they strive to make products that “create a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” said Setser. And they actively and successfully employ this method with their new products, as evidenced with the Gillette Treo, Pampers and Oral B videos. 

But there’s a balance there that needs to stay intact and there’s also the issue of time, because the “fast fish eats the slow fish” in their world instead of the “big fish eats the little fish.” 

Setser’s following examples and visuals were direct and impactful, and highlighted how even a massive company such as P&G has to keep abreast of change and continually improve. 

Companies who fail to embrace change fast enough won’t survive. “It is crucial for us to figure out how to survive and thrive in this changing economy,” said Setser. She outlined some ways P&G has adjusted its approach in order to do this, but a few stuck out such as:

- We need to adopt some more agile ways of working.
- It is really important to think deeply and really reflect on, ‘What are our proprietary gifts and how are we leveraging them?’”
- The solution to consumer understanding is not continually asking them. Assess their pain points, their challenges and what new opportunities you can create to solve some of those problems for your consumers.
- Create small groups of people 100% focused on new ideas. At P&G they incorporated this in the form of Learning Labs.
- Implement smaller teams. “Collaboration is easier when you have small teams,” she said. “It makes the difference of something getting to market and something dying along the way.”

P&G has also studied the market extensively and a massive trend they are seeing is “the demand for more sustainable and natural solutions and more transparency.”  Another trend is urbanization, which forced them to think more broadly and differently. They are also dealing with the effects of technology too, and embracing the “technological shift.” 

Her challenge to the attendees: “Try it on.” Don’t start big, but start. “We manage risk by taking small steps and learning from them,” she explained. The airport industry has a lot of consumer pain points, she said. “My advice is to take them seriously.”