The Marketing Science Institute has issued a report on a conference called Marketing Meets Design, which was held in New Orleans in January 2003 and co-sponsored by the Marketing Science Institute and the Yaffe Center at the University of Michigan. The report, compiled by Lily Aguirre Just and Rommel Salvador, has a wealth of interesting information on the best practices of several design-centric firms.

Speaker Sam Farber, founder of OXO International, maker of those black-handled kitchen gadgets that seem to be in everyone’s utensil drawers, told the gathering about how OXO identified deficiencies in products on the market and coupled that with research in which they watched consumers use various kitchen tools. Pretty standard stuff, really. The trick of course is to use that information to make useful, quality products. Because consumers recognize added value, the report says, and will pay more for a good product. So if you can engender loyalty and charge a premium for your product, you’ve struck gold.

Farber noted that consumer emotion plays a strong role in the loyalty process. “The product design must be such that consumers easily perceive the innovation and feel that the product satisfies a need,” the report says. “Further, the experience can be emotional, evoking feelings of joy, well-being and accomplishment. With this experience, consumers recognize added value and ultimately, identify the brand with innovative products.”

Whirlpool Corporation’s Philip Thompson made some similar points, mentioning that consumer preference is achieved through relevance (how a brand connects to the target consumer) and difference (how the brand distinguishes itself from the competition). Whirlpool too relies on a user-centric product development approach, giving a consistent look and feel to its products which, much like OXO’s, extends the core brand attributes.

Those attributes, when clearly understood by the development team, can almost serve as a jump start when it comes time to create a new product. If the team knows what it means to be a Whirlpool product, for example, it has a strong foundation upon which to build. Of course, it helps if consumers share that same sense of brand make-up. I suspect many a failed product has had promising beginnings and a devoted development team that just couldn’t transmit the right feelings to consumers.

Powerhouses Procter & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard supplied some of the most interesting information. P & G’s Claudia Kotchka told of how product design used to flow from a breakthrough in chemistry in the R&D department to marketing, where the product concept was developed, to design, where labels and graphics were created, and finally to a group that addressed manufacturing issues of feasibility and cost.

These days, a “Visual Identity Team” of marketers, designers, R&D people and external design consultants comes up with a “holistic consumer offering.” Using ethnographic and other consumer research the team identifies design requirements for new products and notes the design aspects that cannot be compromised during manufacturing.

Christian Landry of HP said that the firm believes that a company must be “idea-led” and consumer-informed. To that end, HP allows customers to visit HP design studios for one-on-ones with designers. Landry acknowledged that this entails risk but said the design studio approach has “fueled the fire of innovation” at the company.

An “aha” team within HP’s Personal Systems Group meets every two weeks to look at innovations and ideas. The group includes strategic marketers, designers, product marketers, engineers and members of external sectors. Once a worthwhile concept is identified, the team sets to work, each person bringing their individual areas of expertise to bear. This process has taught the Group how to quickly refine the promising concepts that arise from the one-on-one customer visits and test them on the next visitors.

Recipe for success

The report closes with a summation of the factors that contribute to HP’s product design success. While they are specific to HP, they certainly sound like a recipe any firm could use: “The HP experience demonstrates the need to have a process in place to handle any idea, identify useful innovation, and protect the ‘seed.’ It also shows that having a team of free thinkers is critical, as is identifying an executive champion. Having consistent funding, and keeping communications open, with the knowledge among team members that risks are okay and that failure is certainly possible, are also key to success.”

Marketing Meets Design,  by Lily Aguirre Just and Rommel Salvador (Report No. 03-102), is available from the Marketing Science Institute (www.msi.org).