2009
A proposal for the next generation of H&S
More Head Than Shoulders
More Head than Shoulders Sergio Del Río 884973 Innovation sergio.delriodiaz@gmail.com Have you ever thought of how much is a billion? I mean we all know it is a huge number, but do we really understand the dimension of a billion? Just to clarify; imagine you could travel in time, and your time machine travels in terms of seconds, if you travel a million seconds back in the past you would find yourself 12 days earlier in time. But if you could travel one billion seconds to the past, you would travel 31 years in time. (TYSK, 2009)1 Now that we have some idea of the dimension of such a number the fact that Head and Shoulders reported annual sales for 2 billion dollars is a more impressive (P&G, 2008). That means a dollar every second for 62 years only with the sales of 2008. Definitely this is a mayor relevant product, and any change, improvement, of modification in this product has a potential consequence with a big impact. In the previous publications we have seen how this brand and this company have applied innovation to increase double their sales, to develop new designs, we have also seen their early adopters and how they reach them, the design process they take, the marketing forces behind design, the commercial strategies, and the design evolution this brand has deployed. But now what? What is next? Josheph A. Shumpeter (1883-1950) created the theory of creative destruction. Creative Destruction; he says; is the force that enables economic growth by destroying the worth of existing products. But in order to do that, we first need to understand the worth of Head and Shoulders. We have talked about shampoo, the convergence, and the worth it has as a product, but what is the worth of Head and Shoulders itself.
This is a brand that has a global impact, and as so it could trigger changes and innovations in the field of packaging, logistics, retailing, advertising, and so. Just imagine that such a big brand decides to have an alternate bar code; a QR Code; eventually people would start being interested on this codes, if they are available worldwide, the phone companies will start installing the QR code readers on any mobile phone with cameras, this could change the way marketing is done now a days, incorporating the chase of interaction, addition of media, and content added value. (qrcode.es, 2009) Now I wonder; if such a small change could have such a big impact, what would happen with an extreme change? Rapid amount of changes that add value to the market, or complete chaos? The next series of proposals will not only be bunch of nice ideas, but also a personal exam on my correct understanding of the worth of H&S, after all this time writing about this shampoo brand, I hope to creatively destroy, and creatively construct a prototype of what the next evolution of Head and Shoulders should be, without losing its essence. Remember this ideas had not come from divine inspiration innovation often comes from study and investigation rather than the “eureka” factor. So all my proposals are thing I know, I develop, and lightly control, and also successful cases of study applied at other companies. First proposal: Digital Holograms
Purpose: Increase the interaction with the costumer, increase sales, increase loyalty, add value to the product, give a longer use life to the bottle, and provide more and better ways of communication with the costumer. Methodology: Applying the freeware technology known as augmented reality it is very easy to transform a simple pattern into a bar code that can then be linked into a 3d file, this file can be solid or animated, an can also react to the stimuli of the user.
1 First TV add introducing the new bottle http://www.vimeo.com/3454924
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(TYSK, 2009)
This technology can rely on different platforms like, web, mobile devices, laptops, common cameras, TV cameras, etc. It is a new, but widely used technology, and it’s main uses are promotional, we can find now magazines with this “digital holograms” incorporated” but it has incredible applications in medicine, industry, education, entertainment, trade, film industry, books, etc. The main companies developing this technology are Metaio (http://www.metaio.com/) and Total Immersion (http://www.timmersion.com/) but it can be
made by any one, you only need to download papervision3D from Google code, and also download Adobe Flex which is free if you are a student, a professor, or an unemployed professional. (Remember this is needed for developing Augmented Reality, not for using it; to use it you only need internet, and/or a pc, or mobile phone) there are several tutorials on how to create your own augmented reality, a very good one is in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6PcBS1pWw (Thinkernut) Many big companies as GE and Esquire have great examples of Augmented Reality applications http://ge.ecomagination.com , and http://www.esquire.com/ar now imagine to apply this potential into the bottle itself, imagine going to the super market pointing to the H&S bottle with your phone and see a 3d movie coming out of the bottle. A great example of augmented reality videos created by AID-DCC Inc. & Katamari Inc. can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW6_X9qBeds&feature=relat ed Advantages:
It´s a freeware industry so it is in constant innovation Appeals to play with it An immersive campaign that puts the user in control Huge trend in the world Content can be actualized or changed at any moment Simple codes can be drawn by hand. If you don’t have a mobile phone or a PC the final product will be the same for you as if it didn’t had and Holograms attached to it.
And finally interaction games can be developed creating a new relation product-consumer. Disadvantages and threats:
This technology to be applied needs a camera at some point, rather if it is in you mobile, or web cam, but many people don’t have access to this technology. If the hologram is very good, it might replace the value of the product in the purchase decision People not used to technology might find this threatening As a new technology it might have technical problems.
Second proposal: Ecological packaging
This might sound a little bit trigger, how many times we have heard about ecological packaging, but I propose an ecological packaging I terms of business model, and in terms of logistics. Methodology: Talking about the business model, there are 3 main strategies I would take into the formula, first reduce the footprint in transportation, lots of the energetic cost of the H&S bottle are lost transporting empty bottles to the different refill areas, a bottle that could collapse to reduce space would be more efficient in the production time, but also after disposal. Second avoid using in mold labels because that complicates recycling a lot. Third make partnership with some other small company so they can manufacture products out of the empty bottles, this model was used by Pepsi, in partnership with teracycle with the Frito Lay brand, and it worked very well in terms of public image, increasing product value, and people acceptance of the product. (Terra Cycle) Advantages:
Benefit in the image of the company Cost Reduction Lean production Disadvantages and threats: People might associate the brand with trash The cost of implementing this structure. Third proposal: Happy Industries
This proposal relies on a more psychological intangible property of the products, the property of making people feel good. Methodology: The methodology is really easy and don’t require a big effort, but a lot of creativity, the idea is to print self stem encouraging phrases in the product, a small phase telling you that today is going to be a good day while you are taking a shower in the morning, a phase that encourage you to make this world a
little bit better than it was yesterday. This technique has being used by a medical laboratory called “Help Remedies” they use fun and recon forting texts in their packaging trying to distract you a little bit from you pain, and maybe laugh a little. That’s why it has a double benefit, in comparison to traditional medicine. (help remedies, 2009)
Positive impact in the user As the user feel good the chances that he buys the product again increases Minimum effort and cost, big outcome Positive association with the brand.
Disadvantages and threats:
Finally imagine the impact of a nice motivating phase in the morning, a phrase that makes some one feel better, multiplied the all the people all the mornings. Try to give good feeling, good moment, good days free in the purchase of every good product.
Advantages:
very common, but they enjoy the same as you do, give them a happy moment, apart you are making the use life of the bottle longer, maybe someone decides to keep the bottle for other uses because it has the code for a game.
The brand might be associated with an optimistic club, or a religious campaign. People could have a terrible day while you inspire them to have a great one, and feel disappointed.
Interesting Links http://www.boffswana.com/news/ agency dedicated to develop Augmented Reality Solutions http://www.5gum.fr/ a great application of augmented reality and sound http://www.symbianfreak.com/downloads/freeware/cat_s60_3rd/descriptions/games/a ugmented_reality_for_s60_devices_demo_now_available.htm Great free symbian games in Augmented Reality (Nokia and Erickson)
Conclusions
It is a matter of extreme tact, and delicacy to make changes in such a big, famous, and important brand, any big change could have unexpected consequences, but at the end the only way to know is to apply them and see what happens, make those changes gradually, and trust the early adopters’ for any feedback they could give.
http://www.pg.com/annualreport2008 Great reference for innovation application, worth to take a look in this big company. http://www.esquire.com/ar the first magazine that uses AR intensively with famous actors, and many times thought the magazine. www.fabricaecologica.com a project similar to Terra Cylce but in México.
But don’t be afraid of taking the risk, someone will be leading the change, and hopefully we will be part of that evolution.
References
Finally I would like to encourage designers to go to the big companies and trigger changes, trigger changes that make this world a better place, remember small changes in a big company can have great impact, juts think about the possibility of reducing a little bit the amount of plastic used in every bottle, that might represent tons and tons of plastic not wasted, no imagine the re use of the bottle, it is a great help not only in terms of the bottle and it’s foot print, but also because maybe there is no need to produce more stuff, because you are
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creating it out of garbage. Now think on the people, you are giving them the chance to play, remember old men like to play as much as you do, it is just not
help remedies. (2009). helpineedhelp.com. Retrieved Nov 28, 2009, from http://www.helpineedhelp.com/ Procter and Gamble. (2008). Anual Report. Retrieved Nov 28, 2009, from http://www.pg.com/annualreport2008/#/defining/ qrcode.es. (n.d.). Qr code . Retrieved nov 28, 2009, from tinta en bits: http://qrcode.es/?language=es Terra Cycle. (2009). Terra Cycle. Retrieved nov 27, 2009, from Terra Cycle: http://www.terracycle.net/ Thinkernut. (2009, oct 11). Thinkernut. Retrieved nov 28, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/user/gigafide TYSK. (2008). How much is a billion? Retrieved nov 28, 2009, from http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Taxes/million.htm