Kodak's Brand Transformation

Jeff Hayzlett, CMO for Eastman Kodak, reveals how Kodak is successfully transforming itself into an innovative leader in digital imaging.  He will share his perspectives on what it takes to succeed in the digital age, with a particular focus on how companies can utilize marketing to build closer relationships with customers, build their brand and create innovative products, and deliver tangible return from their marketing investment.

The Art and Science of Positioning - The secrets to creating effective positioning

In this interactive workshop, we’ll examine each of the 3 elements of effective positioning, learn how to generate them, and practice how to write effective positioning concepts.  The workshop will consist of lots of hand-on practice and discussion, interspersed with a few illustrative slides.

Interactive

Workshop

Susan Robertson

Ideas to Go

http://www.ideastogo.com/
http://www.ideastogo.com/ExperienceMore/sRobertson.htm
 

Grounding innovation through Claimstorming(SM) services
Developing a variety of claims at the beginning of the development process can serve to challenge thinking and optimize development on new products, technologies or positioning. In this context, a claim is any short, true (or potentially true) statement about a product that differentiates, distinguishes or highlights it – ultimately motivating a customer to purchase.  In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to develop compelling claims for your product or service.

Some claims can be softer and more language-driven. Others can be more concrete, compelling statements. And even others can be demonstrations or visuals that ground a claim in consumer understanding.

Cross-functional teams, including technical, clinical, or R&D representatives, seed the process with facts, figures and expert knowledge of the product or technology. Then facilitators lead customers, as well as the cross-functional team, through a variety of techniques to help uncover myriad claims, including detailed product attributes, metaphors, language alternatives, and aspirational claims, to create customer-driven statements that really resonate with your target audience.

And, the process can be used equally effectively on existing products, to generate new news without requiring any new development!

Susan Robertson

Ideas to Go

http://www.ideastogo.com/
http://www.ideastogo.com/ExperienceMore/sRobertson.htm
 

How to Create Innovative Ideas at Will  (Not just for product development – for anything!) In this fast-paced, interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to develop and nurture creativity and innovation in yourself, your team, and your company.  So, whether you need innovative marketing plans, ways to improve communications in your team, or solutions to any business challenge, you’ll be able to come up with more innovative ideas.  You’ll gain an understanding of how two of the cornerstones of creativity interact and result in innovative thinking. 

• Environment – Learn how to create an environment that promotes idea generation rather than idea suffocation.

• Process – Gain tools and techniques to stimulate lateral thinking and allow you to come up with new ideas any time you need to.

Oh, and did we mention, we’ll be learning how to accomplish real work while having a lot of fun!  Bonus!

Susan Robertson

Ideas to Go

http://www.ideastogo.com/
http://www.ideastogo.com/ExperienceMore/sRobertson.htm

Three B2C New Product Development Tools that Work - Lessons from the PDMA's benchmarketing of 1000+ business units 

Lessons Learned in Developing Commercial Value Up Front - Everyone has had at least one experience in their career where you just move ahead with a new product idea and ignore some of the basic steps along the way.  Next thing you know your about to commercialize a new product that had substantial investments made by your company and you realize the payback just isn’t going to be there. This roundtable discussion will help participants understand the importance of developing commercial value upfront for a new product concept by sharing the experiences of the group. 

Some of the questions that will be discussed during the session include: 

• How do I establish commercial value for a new product concept?
• How important is an ROI analysis and when should it be use in the commercialization process?
• When is the best time to kill a project and how do I communicate it?

Defining the Fuzzy Front End of New Product Development  - All new products have to start somewhere.  Usually it starts with an idea that forms into a concept and hopefully evolves into a commercially available product.  Early on in the process it is critical to frame out what this product will be.  It is this “Fuzzy Front End” that can be very challenging to define.  The scope of this presentation will focus on how to define product requirements upfront in the new product development process to ensure commercial success. 

Questions the presentation will address:

• How soon should I start defining the product requirements?
• What tools can be used to understand the unmet needs of the customer?
• How to convert the unmet needs into specifications?
• What’s the best way to deal with product trade offs?

Customer Immersion 

1. Making new connections with your customers and users
2. Visiting your customers
3. Capturing and documenting the observations
4. Interview questions
5. How to focus and understand what customer will pay for
6. Capture the different types of Needs, e.g. qualifier, activity, context, common
7. Prioritize the findings
8. Reporting your experience back at HQ

Capturing the Customer's Voice to Drive Product Innovation - We are all asked to come up with more innovative ideas for our products.  Unfortunately, it doesn't come naturally to all of us.  One of the ways we can learn more about incorporating unique market and customer insights into our products is to learn from  other companies and how they achieve higher levels of success with their products.  This is an interactive discussion, not a straight presentation, so you will have a chance to work with other people, participate in vigorous discussions, and even have some fun! 

How to Create & Use Video on the Internet to Grow Your Business - Get 1st page ranking with video, use video in your email marketing campaigns, & more...             (plus where to get Free software for video production & SEO)

How to build your personal "product manager" brand?

We as product managers are well trained in listening to the needs of the market, building the right products, helping marketing position the product in the marketplace, pricing products and the list can go  on and on. 

But how much time do you spend managing the best product you have - "YOU".

Do you know:

1. "Your" unique competencies?
2. "Your" positioning to your buyers - "future employers"?
3. How to build "your" personal brand?
4. How to make yourself "findable" on the internet? 

1. How to best build your "personal" brand or your "NET" worth? (and I don't mean assets and liabilities)
2. What does "marketing" yourself mean in this day and age? 

Forecasting Competitor Responses to Your Next Product Launch - Hint:  They Aren't Going to do Nothing 

Your company is planning to introduce a new product in the next few months and there are considerable risks.  Your marketing department is working overtime to plan the launch at an upcoming trade show - product demonstrations, press releases, testimonials and endorsements from beta tests will be showcased.  Everything is in place to make the best impression with the media and your customers.

But have you forgotten a critical aspect of your product launch?  Have you considered how your competitors react?  Is there a way to predict their actions?  Can you anticipate their moves and "head them off at the pass?"

Turbocharging the Stage Gate Process with Market Intelligence 

This workshop will provide participants wtih proven, successful tools and techniques to incorporate competitive analysis into the product development process, including:

• Patent Analysis
• Comp etitor S.W.O.T. Analysis
• Benchmarking Tools
• Value Chain Analysis
• Competitor Response Model
• Blindspot Analysis 

Primed: how our approach to innovation helps us see the world beyond the way we are - Cognitive bias informs so many of the choices made in the product development realm. From where and how we source input during ideation, to how we sort and organize our thinking, to where we choose to invest our time, energy and effort - each act is a reflection of who we are and not necessarily a response to the way the world is. Learn to recognize and understand how you are "primed" so you can make better choices about creating "what's next."

Agile vs. Traditional Development:  The Best of Both Worlds - There’s a misconception that organizations have to use either agile or traditional development. Learn how to benefit by using a hybrid model and get the best of both worlds.