Co-Creation | Consumer Product Company

Co-creation has been widely used in product development for quite some time. But there seem to be so many different approaches and definitions to co-creation, that it become it hard to pin down. For some, it's a way to new product innovation - and to making new ideas and strategies for businesses. Others use co-creation as a path of crowd-sourcing ideas - canvassing the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies. However, online communities represent only one of the options in the wider co-creation toolbox for collaboration and inclusion.

Our own favorite co-creation definition comes from the creative strategy consultancy, Sense Worldwide who write that co-creation 'is the practice of looking outside an organization to collaboratively create ideas, products and services with clued-in consumers, creative individuals or people with particularly relevant skills.' In short, co-creation is collaborative creation. It isn't about jolly brainstorms and flip charts, but rather about channeled creative energy - using well-planned tasks to meet a business challenge in a smart and structured way.

Co-creation is gaining in popularity. And it's easy to see why. Simply put, it is a faster, more effective and cost efficient way of working - and one that reduces risk while also enhancing the chances of success. The creative process and co-creation is a match made in heaven. Why? Co-creation enables thinking outside the box, bouncing around ideas, playing with color, words, imagery and so much more. Yet many brand strategy and brand design consultancies are not exactly rushing to adopt a co-creation approach. We think there are three key misconceptions behind these organizations’ reluctance to adopt co-creation:

Market research derails creativity

Any brand design consultancy can wistfully list superb ideas and concepts that were murdered by Consumer ProductCompany research and sent to the great creative graveyard. It's safe to say that the brand design industry's experience of consumer involvement in the creative process has not been particularly positive. Andy Knowles from JKR highlights the issue in Research World: 'We have witnessed, (suffered), a complete reversal of the conclusion about a proposed design by reversing the order of questioning between groups. Same moderator, same design, same competitive set, same demographic group; rejected out of hand by the early groups, lauded to the heavens by the later.'

One of the fundamental issues is when in the creative process consumers should be brought in. The Big Picture Design Research - one of the most respected agencies among brand strategists and designers - describes a common problem: '...research brought in at the last moment, as judge and jury, long after major decisions about the design approach have been made, an approach which inevitably results in many research debriefs that are seen to put the brakes on the creative process, rather than inspiring it'. It's a bleak vision, but these issues that can be easily solved by bringing consumers in to co-create at the start, rather than giving them the final say-so at the end of a long and complex project. For more information - http://www.bellwether-institute.net