Using mini‐concepts to identify opportunities for really new product functions

Develops and refines a new way to generate and identify opportunities for really new product functions. Considers that the role played by marketing research in really new products is limited. Traditional marketing research methods here are largely confined to asking people about problems with current products, watching them use these products and asking them to use new prototypes in extended use tests. Describes a new method for identifying new consumer or industrial product functions. Target consumers for a given category are exposed to 300 mini‐concepts. Concepts consist of verb‐object combinations describing possible new functions in that category. Concludes that once key needs or opportunities are identified for a given category, the next step is to determine which current or new technologies are required to address these needs.