05-Process Innovation for Marketing

“For the past few years we have consciously and continuously fed the core game audience and now we are reaching that inflection point where we have to reach out to the mainstream consumer and bring them into the Xbox 360 … And what really is appealing to that mainstream consumer is that social experience, in the living or online. Whether it’s the older consumer or the Facebook generation, they see games not as a solitary experience but as something you do with friends and family, and that what we want o to deliver this fall.” David Hufford, Director, Xbox Product Management, Microsoft | New York Times 16 July 2008

“This is the biggest launch of my career.” Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple, on the launch of the AppStore that resells third-party software for iPhones and iPod Touch players | USA Today 10 July 2008

“When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn’t take off until people started discovering the software … The breadth of the applications dramatically differentiates the iPhone from competing smart phones such as the Treo and Blackberry. The games are what you’d find on a computer … You’ll end up with PC-class applications that fit in your pocket.” Tim Bajarin, Analyst, Creative Strategies | USA Today 10 July 2008

“Having an application on the device — instead of going to a website to use it — makes it quicker, more robust experience … You do more of the work on the device than over the Net, so the load time should be quicker.” Chris DeWolfe, CEO, MySpace.

“Invention is just a new product or service. Innovation ties that idea to a better customer experience, and results in increased sales and profits. It lets you make unlikely connections that enable you to solve wickedly hard problems. It is a team sport that uses the expertise of people from a lot of different fields.” A.G. Lafley, CEO, Proctor & Gamble | New York Times, 24 May 2008

“P&G was always really good at branding and commercializing products, but we weren’t better than anyone else at that fragile front end, where the idea is created. So in 2000, we decided to stop being Fortress P&G, and move to an open innovation system that could attract innovations of all stripes from the outside. We set a goal, that half of the innovations we take to market should have external front-end partners. And [writing this] book can help us attract those partners.” A.G. Lafley, CEO, Proctor & Gamble | New York Times, 24 May 2008

“The first thing we did was open the internal innovation architecture. We worked on getting engineers and biochemists to work with marketing, and we got people from our different businesses to work with each other. Each of our businesses used to do its own research. But our core technologies span businesses. We can manipulate surfaces, for example, be they kitchen counters or blouses and hair”. A.G. Lafley, CEO, Proctor & Gamble | New York Times, 24 May 2008

“Human nature is such that, if we push our people to drive the batting average up, they’ll try to hit more safely, take a shorter swing, go for the singles instead of home runs. But we try to set milestones that innovations must meet at every step along the development process. As soon as they miss one, we allocate the resources to another product moving through the funnel. That’s another difference from the old days, when P&G let bad ideas go too far.” A.G. Lafley, CEO, Proctor & Gamble | New York Times, 24 May 2008