Globalization has not only introduced global brands with their
respective products and services, but also modified an individual’s
lifestyle pattern. The modern day consumers are conscious about every
product they choose and analyze whether it would cater to their taste
and preferences. More than a product or service, it’s the brand image
that decides how a consumer will to relate to it. As a result Lifestyle
brands are becoming increasingly cautious about the ways in which they
connect to their audience. To strengthen this connection they are
resorting to idea management and open innovation techniques.
Lifestyle is individual and unique to a person and
holds a distinguishing factor to it. Swarovski, the famous luxury
product retailer resorted to open innovation with its Lifestyle
Electronics Competition 2011. This competition encouraged consumers to
incorporate Swarovski gems into lifestyle electronic such as earphones,
e-books, mobiles, notebooks and the like. Innovative designs created by
the public were asked to be uploaded on the company website and later
were judged by a team of Swarovski executives. The end result of the
competition of was 2,000 configured and 600 freely created designs. The
designs attained through this open idea capture gained prominence and
got added to the brand’s product/service portfolio. The idea that got
promoted was irrespective of the electronic device you carry, it becomes
unique with a Swarovski in it!
The term “Lifestyle” essentially
means a way of life, that is never static and forever changing for
betterment. New and creative ideas help lifestyle brands create product
awareness and also in product development. Philips, the global leader in
lifestyle, healthcare and lighting has frequently adopted open
innovation strategies to bring greater innovations to the market,
quickly and efficiently. In the year 2005, Philips established its One
Philips Innovation Campus in Shanghai, by investing 40 million Euros
annually. The aim was twofold. First, the brand aimed to promote
internal collaboration and increase efficiency in bringing multiple
R&D centers in one campus. The second objective was to open up the
campus to external teams, facilitating R&D cooperation and open
innovation. The main objective of this open innovation to set up an
environment that promotes networking, interactions and
knowledge-sharing, resulting in joint projects and ventures amongst the
HTCE organizations.
Thus
we see that the procedure of idea management has stretched beyond the
confines of a seminal hall or corporate meeting room. Today,
entrepreneurs are aware of the fact that every individual is capable of
“out of the box thinking”. It has been proved time and again that the
best of the ideas come in from a mixed, unidentified and unorganized
section! However, there lies its uniqueness, that the crowd to whom
brands sell their products can well be contributors to their success.