The innovator’s guide to co-creation

Dr Nick Coates, @nickcoates

FDIN event, December 2012

The inexorable rise of co-creation

1Defining co-creation

Co-creation isn’t…

You can’t hurry love

Meet fluffy...

Co-creation’s future

lies in its past

2000s 20101960s 1970s 1980s 1990spre-history

Participatory architecture(Gehl, Price, Huth)

Psychoanalysis

(Freud)User innovation

(von Hippel)

Open source movement(Linux, Mozilla)

User-centered design

Evolution of co-creation

Action Research

Psycho-doodles

Co-design OpenSpace

Big Talk Communities3D

printing

Creativity Collaboration Control

Focus on outcomesNon-rational focus

Reaching new places‘creative’ approaches

[not just choosing]

InteractivitySnowballing

Real-time componentSocial

[not a solo effort]

Purposive; often time-boundOrganisation-led

Facilitated

[not organic]

3 defining characteristics of co-creation

2Doing co-creation

Objectives of successful co-creation

1. Stretch and challenge the organisation

2. Keep solutions true to their ethos

3. Outside-in, not inside-out perspective

4. Iterate and get the details right

5. Involve a diverse stakeholder base

Do it all earlier, quicker and with greater agility

Big Talk1-2 day co-creative

workshops with consumers, staff and

experts

Consumer Advisory Boardson-going or project-based

online customer communities

Our favourite co-creation tools

Live / dramatic / physical

Great for ideationBreakthrough zone

Stakeholder engagement

Mainly asynchronousIterative, great for

optimisation24/7 access, globally

Social glue

A range of food & drink applications

Positioning Stretch NPD Retail Activation

Devising a new brand positioning to revitalise Red Stripe in

the UK

Helping Tropicana create a Brand

Stretch roadmap

Co-creating two new

products in market – Snack Pot

and Pouring Yoghurt

Co-creating the

‘restaurant of the

future’, leading to

family concepts

stores in UK, France & Germany

Coming up with Activia’s “one insight” to underpin communi-

cations

3The benefits of co-creation

Better Insight

Tactic 1. Permission to dream

The Activia Advisory Board• 3 strategic projects, 12 tactical

research questions

• 125 activities and collaboration sessions

• 80 consumer initiated activities

• 1,300 hours of participation

• Over 15,000 individual contributions

• Produced deep insights to inform strategic projects

• Answered a range of quick turn around tactical questions

Co-creation through the looking glass | slide 23

Results: co-creation in the optimisation phase

Optimisation led to the development and launch of Snack Pot and Activia Pouring Yoghurt and some of Danone’s highest ever performing concepts at BASES.

Activia’s Single Pot received 80% distribution in the first month and ASDA alone sold 3 million pots in the first month.

Co-creation through the looking glass | slide 24

Results. A winning comms campaign

• The insights generated from the community were 82% more effective than those generated through traditional methods. (Danone IPSOS Study)

• The community generated 47% more insights than those produced using traditional off-line methods (e.g. focus groups)

• Insights fed into the development of the Activia campaign: Tummy Loving Care.

• The campaign resulted in a +9% uplift in base sales.

Better Creativity

Where do the best ideas come from? (according to business leaders)

41% customers

35% heads of

business units

33% R&D

Source: Promise, Brand Together

Tactic 1. Upskilling

Tactic 2. Disinhibition

Better Belief

In summary

1. Co-creation’s richer than we think, with more applications

2. It’s not something you automate, it’s social and complex

3. It takes courage and effort to get right.

4. Key benefits we notice time and again are insight, creativity and belief – the rest you can do in other ways…

5. And the right tools mean you can explore, build and iterate to your heart’s content…

For this group, there’s still massive untapped potential

Thank you!