A Head of Marketing (CMO) has a less than 4-year tenure on average, and far less in CPG. How can you keep your job when others are struggling? This podcast is filled with useful ideas and statistics, as well as a 5-step process to help you to answer the ever-increasing demands and risks of a head of marketing job.

C3Centricity

The Good, Bad and Downright Ugly Parts of a Head of Marketing Job

Executives and business owners of mid-sized CPG companies face unique challenges that differ from those of startups or larger enterprises.

These challenges stem from the need to balance growth, operations, and innovation while competing with both larger firms and more agile startups.

Here are the top ten challenges mid-sized consumer goods companies face, real-world examples of businesses that have successfully overcome these obstacles, and expanded solutions explaining how to implement these strategies in your own organisation.

All companies struggle at times, and mid-sized businesses have their own specific problems to solve without the resources of the larger organisations. 

The examples in this episode show it is not only possible but sometimes in just a year or two. 

The examples covered include: 

 - Prose: Improved employee retention by 20% over 2 years.
 - Chobani: Achieved double-digit revenue growth annually over 5 years.
 - RXBAR: Improved cash flow by 15% in 18 months.
 - KIND Snacks: Grew DTC sales by 25% in 3 years.
 - Beyond Meat: Became a leading player in the plant-based market over 5 years.
 - Gatorade: Increased consumer engagement and repeat purchases over 2 years.
 - Seventh Generation: Avoided fines and strengthened market position in 3 years.
 - Clif Bar: Successfully transitioned key executives over 5 years.
 - Mondelez International: Reduced waste by 15% in 3 years.
 - Nestlé: Pivoted towards health and wellness trends over 5 years.

Mid-sized CPG companies face unique challenges as they navigate the complexities of growth, supply chain management, consumer trends, and competition from larger and smaller brands.

This Deep Dive covers the top ten challenges CPG companies face, supported by statistics, real-world examples, and actionable solutions tailored to this industry.

Top 10 Challenges of Mid-Sized CPG Companies: Insights, Statistics and Real-World Solutions

Navigating The Top Ten Challenges Faced By Mid - Sized CPG Companies

This podcast presents seven lessons on customer experience excellence learned from the author's personal healthcare experience. 

Each lesson, illustrated by a hospital scenario, is then applied to business practices, supported by statistics and research from sources like Salesforce, Bain & Company, PwC, Harvard Business Review, and McKinsey. 

The core message emphasises prioritising customer needs at every stage, from initial contact to post-service follow-up, to foster loyalty and boost profitability. 

Denyse concludes by offering a FREE business process audit to help companies implement these principles.

7 Lessons In Customer Experience Excellence

This podcast examines seven key customer-centric strategies crucial for business growth. 
These strategies include: 
 - enhancing customer focus
 - integrating artificial intelligence for personalisation
 - emphasising sustainability
 - creating omnichannel experiences
 - achieving personalisation at scale
 - building trust through shared values
 - leveraging emerging technologies like AR/VR. 

The discussion uses examples from companies like Allbirds, Patagonia, Netflix, and Sephora to illustrate successful implementations. 

Ultimately, it is argued that prioritising customer needs and using innovative technology are essential for long-term success. 

Denyse concludes by offering her consulting services to help businesses implement these strategies.

7 Customer - Centric Strategies For Growth

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can significantly improve their performance by strategically using customer data. 

The discussion explores how SMEs can leverage data for personalised customer experiences, predictive insights, enhanced decision-making, and operational efficiency. 

Specific examples worldwide illustrate the benefits to marketing, product development, service enhancement, and operational optimisation. 

The importance of ethical data handling and data privacy is also stressed, alongside practical steps for implementing a data-driven strategy and future technological advancements like AI and IoT that will further enhance the potential of data usage. 

Ultimately, the talk  ends by suggesting that SMEs embrace a superior data strategy to gain a competitive edge and foster stronger customer relationships.

Unlocking SME Potential Through Superior Data Use

The episode discusses brand portfolio management, arguing that fewer, well-chosen variants lead to greater success. 

It challenges the common belief that more choices benefit consumers, citing research indicating that excessive options can hinder purchasing decisions. 

Denyse uses examples of successful global brands to illustrate the benefits of focused brand portfolios and suggests strategies for streamlining SKUs, such as annual reviews and targeted innovation. 

She says poor brand management is linked to marketers prioritising quick promotions over effective long-term brand strategies. 

Denyse concludes by emphasising the importance of understanding customer needs and aligning product offerings to those needs for optimal results.

Brand Portfolio Management  5 Secrets To Success

The episode explores hyper-personalisation, a marketing strategy using AI and real-time data to create highly individualised consumer experiences. 

It details how this approach builds customer loyalty, boosts sales, and strengthens brand differentiation through tailored product recommendations and interactions across various touchpoints. 

The importance of data privacy and ethical considerations are also discussed, alongside examples of successful hyper-personalisation implementations from various global companies. 

Ultimately, the discussion concludes that hyper-personalisation is no longer optional but crucial for sustained success in today's competitive market.

Breaking The Glass Ceiling  7 Truths Smart Women Need To Know

This episode of Marketing Deep Dives by Denyse examines why many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies' AI marketing strategies underperform despite significant AI market growth.  
It highlights several common failures, such as relying on single AI tools, outdated measurement methods, and static segmentation, providing real-world examples of successful companies like P&G, Nike, and L'Oréal that have overcome these challenges.  The discussion then outlines a three-year roadmap for effective AI marketing investment, emphasizing infrastructure, talent development, and governance. 
Finally, it emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adaptation to emerging technologies like quantum computing and edge AI to ensure long-term success.


AI Marketing Strategies_ Success & Transformation

This podcast discussion argues that mid-sized companies can achieve remarkable success by strategically outmaneuvering industry giants, despite having fewer resources. It substantiates this claim by presenting compelling case studies from both the technology and consumer packaged goods sectors, such as Stripe, Zoom, Chobani, and Kind Snacks. The analysis of these examples reveals key winning strategies centered on focusing on specific problems, leveraging new technologies, creating new categories, building authentic connections, and maintaining quality during growth. The session serves as an implementation guide, offering practical steps and success metrics for mid-sized companies aiming to not just compete, but to truly outperform their larger rivals by prioritizing agility, focus, and customer understanding.

How Mid-Sized Companies Outsmart Giants: Learning from Tech and CPG Success Stories

This podcast discusses key strategies for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands to cultivate consumer loyalty in 2025 and beyond, emphasizing a shift towards a consumer-centric approach. 

It highlights the increasing importance of exceptional experiences, radical transparency, hyper-personalization, and purpose-driven commerce as primary drivers of purchasing decisions. 

The article discussed provides real-world examples of brands successfully implementing these principles and offers actionable strategies specifically tailored for mid-sized CPG companies, focusing on leveraging AI, agile development, co-creation, and precision marketing. 

In conclusion, the piece argues that moving from reactive insights to predictive foresight is crucial for gaining a competitive edge and fostering lasting consumer relationships.



7 Powerful Secrets Explaining How Successful CPG Brands Capture Consumer Loyalty

The article that this podcast discusses argues that for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, the key to successful AI investment for customer understanding is not simply adopting technology. But undertaking a business transformation starting with clear strategic objectives. It highlights that many companies struggle to translate AI insights into measurable business impact, with a significant gap between generating insights and acting upon them. The author proposes a framework for balanced AI investment across short-term and long-term horizons, emphasizes the need for organizational capabilities like decision architecture and cross-functional activation to utilize insights effectively, and suggests using comprehensive metrics beyond just financial returns to measure success. In concluding the article asserts that value comes from building systems to translate understanding into decisive action and growth, not just from the AI technology itself.

Why Smart CPG Leaders Are Rethinking Their AI Strategy to Maximise Consumer Insight Value

The discussion argues that inclusive innovation is a system, not a department, and that many organizations are hindered by overlooking their mid-level managers. These managers should be appreciated as crucial for translating strategy into action and for possessing vital insights from both the C-suite and the front lines. Excluding them from innovation processes leads to stalled initiatives, lost insights, and leadership drain. True inclusive innovation involves not only who is within the company but also innovating for and with consumers, with mid-level managers playing a key role due to their proximity to both. In conclusion the discussion suggests that changing this requires a mindset shift, structural adjustments, and cultural reinforcement to include and value the perspectives of mid-level leadership.

Mid-Level Managers Drive Inclusive Innovation

This discussion explores the paradox of being irreplaceable in the workplace, arguing that while initially appealing, it can ultimately hinder career advancement. It highlights the benefits of being essential, such as enhanced job security and increased influence, but then identifies the hidden costs, including burnout, career stagnation, and succession challenges. The article on which the discussion is based advocates for a "Goldilocks Zone" of strategic indispensability, where individuals offer unique value through vision and leadership while ensuring their day-to-day tasks are tactically replaceable. It offers six practical strategies for achieving this balance, emphasizing knowledge sharing, team development, and a shift from operational tasks to strategic direction. The discussion concludes by advising individuals to focus on building sustainable systems and developing others to foster long-term career growth and mobility.

The Hidden Danger of Being Your Company's MVP (And 6 Smart Ways to Avoid Being Irreplaceable at Work)

The blog post discussed in this episode of Marketing Deep Dives by Denyse argues that the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry faces a "relevance crisis" because traditional market research methods cannot keep pace with rapidly changing consumer behaviour and preferences. 
It emphasises that AI-powered consumer listening is crucial for CPG companies to regain relevance, illustrating this with examples from industry leaders like Procter & Gamble and Unilever, who have leveraged AI to achieve faster insights, more accurate predictions, and improved product development. 
The discussion reviews the six pillars of AI-powered consumer intelligence summarised in the post, such as real-time sentiment analysis and predictive consumer modelling.
It concludes by asserting that embracing AI for deeper consumer understanding is no longer just a competitive advantage but a "survival requirement" for sustainable growth in the evolving market.

How Smart CPG Leaders Are Mastering AI Consumer Intelligence to Drive Growth

This week's blog post "How CPG Leaders Stay Ahead When Consumers Innovate Faster Than Brands" suggests that consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies urgently adapt to the accelerating pace of consumer-driven innovation, which often outstrips traditional brand development cycles. It highlights how platforms like TikTok foster viral trends and "dupe" culture, compelling brands to embrace, rather than merely analyse, these grassroots movements. The post presents case studies, such as e.l.f. Beauty and L’Oréal Pakistan, illustrating successful strategies where brands rapidly responded to consumer creativity. It concludes by outlining a playbook for CPG leaders focusing on spotting viral trends, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and visibly demonstrating the impact of swift responses to maintain market relevance and leadership in a fast-evolving landscape.

How CPG Leaders Stay Ahead When Consumers Innovate Faster Than Brands

This podcast emphasizes that effective cross-functional collaboration is crucial for innovation in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector. It highlights a global innovation crisis, with a low percentage of genuinely new product launches, particularly in North America, while Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern companies are leading with entrepreneurial mindsets. The discussion suggests that traditional siloed approaches are failing, leading to significant financial waste and missed opportunities. Instead, successful CPG leaders are leveraging integrated teams to achieve higher revenue growth, increased efficiency, and more new product launches. It introduces the CATSIGHT™ process as a framework for developing actionable insights and transforming dysfunctional teams into innovation powerhouses, citing examples from companies like Unilever and Nestlé. It concludes by saying that mastering cross-functional innovation is no longer optional but a necessary competitive advantage for the coming decade, especially with the rise of automation and AI.

How Smart CPG Innovation Leaders Are Rewriting the Rules

The discussion of the C3Centricity blog post "AI in CPG: Strategic Growth, Not Just Content," emphasises that while AI adoption is increasing, many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are underutilising it for low-impact tasks. It argues for a strategic shift, highlighting that leading companies are orchestrating multiple AI models for both efficiency and innovation. The article suggests that CPG leaders should focus on asking sharper, more strategic questions of their AI, moving beyond superficial metrics to analyse mental availability and conduct robust scenario planning. Crucially, it advocates for deploying AI to tackle high-impact, complex challenges like dynamic customer segmentation, retailer-specific positioning, and rapid concept iteration. It concludes by warning that companies failing to embrace AI strategically risk falling behind competitors who are already leveraging AI for significant gains in productivity and market share.

AI Marketing Strategy for CPG- Your 2025 Playbook

The discussion this week is on the latest blog post on C3Centricity "Unlocking CPG Growth: Conquering Process Paralysis with QC2™." 
It diagnoses a critical issue for mid-sized CPG brands: process paralysis, identifying it as an internal barrier to innovation and growth. 
It explains how this paralysis manifests through excessive approval steps and a disconnect from rapid consumer expectations, leading to missed opportunities. 
The experts then introduce the QC2™ framework (Quantum Customer Centricity) as a solution, highlighting its four orbits - Company, Consumer, Brand, and Process - to pinpoint and address inertia. 
It concludes by offering some simple, actionable steps for mid-level leaders to implement QC2™, providing a case study and concrete recommendations to foster agility and accelerate market responsiveness.



Process Paralysis in CPG

The discussion about the latest C3Centricity blog post, "The Future of CPG: 2026 Consumer Trends," outlines four critical non-negotiables that will define consumer packaged goods by 2026: experience over product, transparency as a trust multiplier, personalization at scale, and sustainability fused with functional wellness. The article emphasizes that brands must adapt to these expectations to maintain loyalty and growth, as consumers increasingly prioritize values like trust and individual relevance. It introduces the QC2™ (Quantum Customer Centricity) and CATSIGHT™ frameworks as strategic tools to help CPG executives shift from reactive guesswork to proactive, consumer-centric leadership. Ultimately, the article argues that success in the future CPG landscape will hinge on a deep understanding of consumer needs and the authentic integration of these four core values into brand strategy.

The Future of CPG: 2026 Consumer Trends for Loyalty and Growth

From_Billboard_to_Digital_Passport__How_Smart_Packaging,_Sunris

This episode discusses how Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands can significantly increase revenue and profit margins by systematically analyzing existing consumer feedback rather than relying solely on traditional market research or costly R&D. It identifies five "hidden consumer signals" found in reviews, service emails, and returns, such as the “How To Use” Gap and Seasonal Language Patterns, which often reveal simple operational or messaging solutions. The article which is the sources of the discussion emphasizes that these signals provide actionable insights into product friction points, packaging issues, and new use cases, allowing brands to implement low-cost changes that directly boost sales and customer satisfaction. The post argues that strategically analyzing this already-owned data offers a sustainable competitive advantage over brands that only address complaints reactively.

The_5_Hidden_Signals_in_Customer_Feedback

The article on which this discussion is based provides an executive overview and seven actionable strategies for businesses to increase repeat purchases by improving the crucial first-use experience of a product. A central argument is that brands frequently leak value in the first week due to consumer confusion over things like product dosing, packaging closure, and safety information, which leads to a drop in confidence. The recommended solutions focus on precise first-use redesign, suggesting practical fixes such as ensuring dose clarity with non-adjective anchors, treating reliable reseal mechanisms as a loyalty feature, and using plain language for safety cues. Furthermore, the post emphasizes leveraging consumer reviews as instructional content to teach correct usage and highlights regulatory and economic tailwinds, such as the move toward standardized food date labels, that support efforts to increase clarity and reduce waste.



Seven_First-Use_Fixes

Many companies create great new products and services – from their perspective – but they fail! In such a situation, it is almost always due to an outdated innovation process, in which the customer has not been involved.

I know it can be difficult to innovate in this new age of technology, but it remains vital for growth. This podcast shares some of the latest ways to improve your innovation success rate.

C3Centricity Blod Post Podcast

Improving Ideation, Insight & Innovation

There are many articles on advertising testing, but this one answers IF you should be testing at all! It covers the when, what & how of ad testing.

In summary when it comes to testing your advertising:
1. Know with whom you want to communicate.
2. Know what your target audience wants to hear.
3. Know why you are communicating, what the message is that you want to send.
4. Know which concept(s) or ideas have the most resonance with both your target audience and objectives, and why.
5. Know how the concept(s) will develop into a campaign across media.
6. Know how you are going to communicate, the most relevant medium and channels for your target audience.

Increasing impact & engagement through advertising testing

My seven learnings about excellence in customer experience:
1. Introduce yourself
In business, we often forget to introduce people in meetings and when we do, we don't explain their responsibilities.
Perhaps if we did this, there would be far fewer people in meetings, as only those with a real reason to be there would attend! 
Direct contacts with customers, whether by phone, email, chat, social media or in person, deserve the same detailed introduction. This moves the connection from a somewhat cold, professional exchange, to something far more friendly and personal, if not actually personalised.
2. Confirm that you know me
Most businesses could benefit from confirming who their customers are. Whether by careful targeting for marketing purposes or by reviewing notes of previous interactions with customer services, a company needs to immediately recognise a (returning) customer
Personalisation has become essential in all engagements between companies and their customers. In fact, this is one of the most important uses of Big Data, both now and for the foreseeable future.
3. Ask if I am happy/comfortable
Do you encourage critique of your ideas from your colleagues? It takes a strong and confident person to constantly put themselves up for criticism. Too many people look (only) for positive support when asking for opinions, rather than a truly constructive assessment.
And what about your customers? Do you encourage them to share complaints and ideas? Why not? It's much better to know what's wrong and put it right quickly than to continue in blissful ignorance until your customers leave.
4. Ask if you can do more
Business can no longer afford to merely satisfy their customers, they need to delight them. Do you ask both yourself and your customers what more you can do for them? If you do, you might just find a new product or service concept that answers their desires and get ahead of the competition.
5. Don't stop before the end
Entrepreneurship is very popular today for both individuals and even within large corporations. However so many entrepreneurs try an idea and when it doesn't immediately work, they give it up for a different one.
Today's world is one of constant change, so don't forget to be flexible and adapt to the changing circumstances of the market or your brand. But don't give up either. Just because one part of the plan didn't work doesn't warrant throwing out the whole thing.
6. Don't wait until it's urgent
So many adjustments in business involve making significant changes, whether cultural or process-wise. Therefore when introducing large changes within your organisation, break them down into more "humanly" manageable steps.
Want to make a radical change in one of your processes? Then it is often more effective to start by modifying the beginning and the end of the process. The middle steps then adapt automatically as new needs are identified.
For example, in updating your innovation process, start with better identifying the target customers and their needs. Then look how the launch will be rolled out and monitored. You will then realise that brainstorming in a vacuum or testing multiple concepts just before launch is no longer effective. These parts of the process will then be adapted to the new demands.
7. It all starts and ends with the customer
Take a look at your website, your communications, your plans; do they all start and end with the customer?
Do you publish content your customers want to read, or just what you want to tell them? Does your contact information include every possible way a customer can connect with you or just a static form and drop-down menu?
Are your communications relevant and emotionally validating for your customers? 
Do your plans mention the customer as often as the brand? 
Do they also show images of customers and include extensive knowledge and understanding about them?

C3Centricity Podcasts

What a Short Stay in Hospital Taught Me about Customer Experience

What habits have you become so comfortable with that you don’t even notice or question them? These 13 marketing quotes are amongst my all time favourites. 

1. “There may be Customers without Brands, but there are no Brands without Customers.” Anon 
Brands depend on customers and if companies remember this, then they can only succeed. 

2. “Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.” Nido Qubein
One of the biggest mistakes marketing can make is to not appropriately define its target audience. 

3. “The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.” John Russell, President, Harley-Davidson 
Every employee should have regular customer connections added to their annual objectives. Customer connections inspire new thinking, can identify previously unknown issues and excite everyone to think customer first.

4. “If you use standard research methods you will have the same insights as everyone else.” David Nichols 
The methods you use to observe, understand and eventually delight your customers should be moving as fast, if not even faster than the market.

5. “The structure will automatically provide the pattern for the action which follows.” Donald Curtis 
Perhaps it is time for your organisation to review its structure and see if it is still optimal for the business of today, as well as of tomorrow.

6. “Customer Service shouldn’t be a department, it should be the entire company.” Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos 
Zappos have an integration program for all new hires that incorporates time at their call centre answering customer queries. What a great way to show a new person what the company is really about.

7. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Instead of forcing your marketing and R&D to meet certain percentage targets of new launches, why not review your current offers with the customers’ eyes?

8. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” Jeff Bezos 
As consumers become interested in knowing and adhering to the policies of the companies behind the brands they buy, it is vital to manage your image from both perspectives. 

9. “The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Chinese Proverb 
Today’s customers often have more complex paths to purchase in many categories than they did in the past, so thinking of the simple awareness to loyalty funnel becomes less relevant. 

10. “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” Winston Churchill 
Review last year’s business results in comparison to the metrics you have been following. Were you correctly assessing the environment, the market and customer behaviour? 

11. “The fear of being wrong is the prime inhibitor of the creative process.” Jean Bryant
Do you embrace entrepreneurship in your organisation? What happens when someone fails whilst trying something new? The more accepting you are of relevant trial and error, the more likely it will be that your employees will share their more creative ideas. 

12. “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information.” T S Eliot
Do you ever take decisions based on information alone? If so then perhaps you should reconsider your insight development process. It is only when you have integrated everything you know and understand about them, that you can begin to develop insight.

13. “If you can’t sum up the story in a sentence, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Garr Reynolds
Taking the decision to share understanding in a new way through storytelling, will have a profound impact on the way your employees think and remember the essential understandings of your customers. Before every presentation ask yourself what is the one sentence that sums up everything you want to share.

13 Inspiring marketing quotes

All marketers know their 5Ps, but do you know what a customer first strategy looks like in each of them? 
People
In addition to knowing and describing your target customers in detail, the other tip I give my clients is to start and end every meeting by asking what your customers would think of the decision you are about to make/have just made. This one simple idea is incredibly powerful in identifying actions which are not customer centric. 
A customer-centric approach to your customers is both thinking about them in every action you take, as well as knowing them as deeply as you can and keeping this knowledge constantly updated.   
 
Product
This is often seen as the most important “P” for many businesses. In fact, it is usually the one they think about day in and day out. But it’s not the most important in a customer centric organisation.
Think about it. Without knowing the P for people in great detail, you won’t be able to optimise your offer in terms of the other four Ps. That’s why it’s a customer first strategy that works. 
A customer-centric approach to product is therefore once again thinking about your customers and involving them in your decision-making whenever possible.
 
Price
People estimate the value of products and services they purchase, based in part upon its price.
Research shows that customers value a better experience above price.
Retailers like Aldi and Lidl have used their pricing strategies to position themselves against more traditional competitors. In these new super-discounters, consumers accept limited choice for the sake of rock bottom prices..
Consumer goods companies, in particular, have for too long relied primarily on price promotions to meet their sales targets. Amazon has forced pricing down in most other categories because people now check online before buying in many categories. 
A customer centric pricing strategy will enable businesses to continue to grow, by understanding how to fix pricing levels more carefully. Knowing the value of what you offer and the importance of brand or service will enable retailers and manufacturers alike to continue to thrive.
 
Place
The more variants you have the more difficult it usually is to gain a wide distribution. If you know your customers as deeply as you should, then you will be able to identify their differences by region. 
Since most retailers provide limited shelf space to each manufacturer, it is best used by showcasing your top selling variants in that area, plus eventual new offers to test their acceptance.
Another “place” that it is important to understand today is social media. Ideally, you should know both where your customers are and when. This P is relatively easy for a brand to be customer centric. You just have to offer what your customers need, where and when they need it.

Promotion
As with place, knowing what messages your customers are interested in receiving from you and even more importantly where and when are one of the keys to successful communications.
An organisation which makes it difficult for customers to connect using their preferred channel is not customer-centric.
Take a look at your own website contact page. Does it include email, postal and street addresses? Does it have a telephone number or live chat option? It should.
Another related area of promoting your brands is PR. Quickly own up when you’ve made a mistake, rather than trying to hide it. This builds trust and customers will even forgive companies that do this. 
A customer-centric organisation provides their customers with valuable information where and when they need it. They also communicate in ways which enhance their relationship and shows they value their business.

What a Customer First Strategy Means for Marketing’s 5Ps

Whether you believe that 60% of new product launches fail, or the number is 80% or 95%+, the truth is that successful innovation is rare. Why is this? Here are some solutions. 
Start with the Category rather than (just) the Customer
Every customer-centric organisation should start their processes with a review of the customers they are looking to please. However, in order to do this, the actual first step to both insight development and successful innovation is to identify the category in which you are, or want to compete. 
Another practice I use is to zoom in or out when looking at a category, in order to identify new opportunities. 

Your business is or will change - fast - so don't depend on your skills alone
Many industries have been cloned into totally new businesses as a result of technology and new customer priorities.
As just one example of this, Food companies must now adapt to delivering family time, not just ready-made meals. There has therefore been an explosion in meal kits because families want to eat better and even prepare together.
 
The future of the future
Google has gone from Internet-related products and services to hardware such as Pixel smartphones and Google Home, an Amazon Echo-like device. It has also expanded into energy, AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality) and eye-tracking. 
Virgin has gone from airlines, media and entertainment, to travel, health and aerospace. Amazon has gone from an online bookstore to the general retail of a vast selection of products. 
Facebook started as a social media and networking service. One year ago, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed his ten-year vision, centred around artificial intelligence, global connectivity, VR and AR. 
Tesla started in the automotive industry but has since moved into energy storage and residential solar panels. Today it is advancing into underground high-speed transport and space travel.
All these examples show the importance of preparing to adapt to fast innovation change impacting many industries at lightning speed. 
 
Your next steps to future-proofing your innovation
#1. Working with new innovation levers
As already mentioned, most organisations start innovating from their past successes and current skills. While this is certainly quick, it is unlikely to lead to successful innovations. Why not challenge yourself to look at your business from a new perspective? 
A personally adapted and developed wheel is a powerful tool to get people to think differently about their brand, category or offer. What all successes have in common is a deep understanding of both their customers and their own brand image. 
#2. Zooming out for brands and categories
When you are successful in one category, it can be tempting to extend into others. However, this needs to be done after careful thought. Go too far from the parent brand, as the above examples did and you'll be doomed to failure. Stay too close and you'll not benefit from anything more than a mere renovation.
#3. Zooming into a category niche
It is possible to innovate by zooming in rather than out of the category in which you are in. There are again many examples of this since, in theory at least, it is simpler because you already know the category customers and can segment to appeal more strongly to certain groups of them.
Food manufacturers use this strategy a lot. They often extend into low calorie or low fat, and more recently into gluten-free, OMG-free or lactose-free offerings.
Online marketers depend a lot upon finding the right niche for their product or service offer. They have the advantage over bricks-and-mortar stores of collecting a wealth of personalised information. Together with machine learning, they can quickly develop algorithms to precisely target each person with relevant offers. I don't believe that offline retail will ever catch up, however long they collect data - unless they have an online sales strategy too of course.

A customer-first approach to successful innovation

With the move of most major supermarket chains to offer online stores too, plus a few successful online only stores, such as Amazon in the US and Ocado in the U.K. manufacturers are now reconsidering just how big they could or should grow their online business.
Today, supermarkets are scrambling to catch up as start-ups in many developed countries are giving this new type of freedom to consumers.
The case for bricks & mortar stores
Customers will always need to see and try before they buy in numerous categories. Offering free returns may work for apparel but not for electronics. 
Several home improvement brands and stores are already offering apps which allow customers to see their potential purchases in their homes. Or their paint and fabric choices "in situ" but actually virtually. 
The future of retail
I decided to summarise some of the key changes which I believe are essential to answer customers needs already today, not just in the future:
Convenience: customers have busy lives and prefer less and less to go for the large weekly shop in out-of-town shopping malls and hypermarkets. This is why smaller stores in strategic localities will develop faster in developed markets. There will also be a clear differentiation by category. 
Experience: while some shopping malls are in decline, especially in the US, those that survive will shift the emphasis from purchasing to experience. By incorporating cinemas, bowling alleys, cafes and restaurants, malls are hoping to attract customers by differentiating themselves and driving more traffic to them. 
However, the retailers themselves also need to start selling differently. Apple, Nike and a few others have already done this. But most outlets appear to be oblivious to the change in their customers' desires for experiential connections with brands.
Delivery: Whether we buy online or in-store, one thing is clear; we want it NOW! Fast these days is two-day or same-day delivery. In the near future, we will want our purchase to be waiting for us when we get home. Already a quarter of shoppers, according to some L2 research said they would abandon their cart if same-day delivery was unavailable.
Choice: We all know what is available around the world, thanks to the internet. Our desires are no longer limited by what is available in-store or even in our own country. We want to have the choices that others have, wherever in the world they live.
According to research conducted by Walker, by the year 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.
Values: Millenials, in particular, are basing their choice of brands on things such as social responsibility, sustainability, transparency and authenticity. 
Corporate reputation is being scrutinised and evaluated at each mention in the press or on social media. Organisations that don't walk their talk will be rapidly found out and publically discredited.
 
Conclusion
Retail has always been about making sure that "the right product is in the right place at the right time at the right price.” The right place at the right time appears to be gaining ground over the other two. What do you think?

Is the future of retail in the stars?

Are you as shocked as I am, to think that there is a free communication channel which most marketers are not using effectively today?
So what is this incredible channel? The Internet? No. Social Media? No. It's Packaging!

You're missing out on A Free Communication Channel! (Any guesses what it is?)

MARKETING DEEP DIVES by DENYSE is a Podcast for CPG Executives wanting to attract, delight and retain more consumers.
In each episode Denyse shares her tips, tools and ideas gathered from her more than 30 years experience working in over 125 countries around the globe.
Denyse is: 📈 Advisor to Fortune 100-Inc 5000 | 🚀 Strategist for mid-sized CPGs | 👨‍💼👩‍💼Leadership Coach | 🎤 Keynote Speaker | 📚 #1 Best-Selling Author | 🌍 Former Global Head of Consumer Excellence at Nestlé

Marketing Deep Dives by Denyse

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