Case Study
Author: Mike Holcomb | 5 minute read
The Opportunity
Three adjacent categories looked attractive and nobody had the bandwidth to assess them.
Adjacency decisions usually get made on a hunch and a deck, because the team that would do the analysis is the team already running the base business. The result is either paralysis or three simultaneous bets with no evidence behind any of them.
- Three adjacencies, no evidence
- Brand right to win untested
- No internal innovation capacity
- Insight plan did not exist
The Approach
The analysis covered category size and dynamics, consumer needs, competitive structure and channel economics for each candidate, then the brand equity work asked a harder question. Not whether the category is attractive, but whether this brand has permission to play in it. Those are different tests and most companies only run the first.
-
Analyzed size, dynamics, consumer needs and
channels across three adjacencies. -
Tested brand equity in each to find where the
brand had a right to win. -
Set where-to-play and how-to-win choices for
each adjacency to enter. -
Built the consumer insight plan needed to
jump-start innovation. - TPG led the rollout until the client could staff the capability itself. The engagement was designed to end, which is why the innovation work continued after TPG left.
The Outcome
Product lines launched in all three adjacencies, plus an internal innovation capability the client now runs. Keep the launch count as the measured fact and the capability in design tense.
3 of 3 Entered
Launched in every adjacency
Capability Built
Innovation now run in-house