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The Flaws in Our Current Marketing Frameworks
In a rapidly evolving consumer landscape, a troubling trend has emerged: the consistent failure of consumer packaged goods (CPG) innovation. It’s a stark reality that for two decades, the innovation failure rate has stubbornly hovered between 70% and 90%. Amid the myriad of frameworks—Design Thinking, Jobs To Be Done, and Blue Ocean Strategy—designed to enhance business effectiveness and consumer alignment, the underlying issue seems not to be the frameworks, but rather the category-centric lens through which organizations operate.
Understanding Category-Centricity
Category-centricity constrains organizations by defining opportunities based solely on where products are situated on store shelves. By focusing exclusively on what consumers are buying now, businesses unwittingly limit their strategic vision, which can inhibit transformational change. This creates a dilemma: while category-centric approaches can provide clarity for immediate commercial gains, they tend to restrict imaginative frameworks that could lead to long-term innovation.
Why Design Thinking Falls Flat
Take Design Thinking, for instance. Originally intended to redefine problems through the consumer’s lens, it often devolves into a mere exercise in generating ideas that fall within the same category boundaries. When organizations define success through category filters, they risk recycling ideas rather than challenging foundational assumptions. Rather than breaking new ground, sessions filled with Post-its turn into repetitive ideation workshops, producing results that harken back to previous concepts rather than refreshing, innovative solutions.
The Danger of Jobs 2.0
Similarly problematic is the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework, which aims to shift focus from product specifications to emotional and contextual motivations behind consumer choices. When reinterpreted through a category-centric lens, however, JTBD can be manipulated into justifying existing product lines instead of discovering opportunities for breakthrough innovation. A typical workshop may transform a contrasting personal desire, like “shaking off the morning blues,” into a mere pitch for “high-quality premium coffee.” This shift not only dilutes the methodology’s impact but also enforces narrow thinking that can stifle real market disruption.
Future Trends Require a New Perspective
To unlock the potential of innovative frameworks, it’s crucial to encourage a shift from category-centric thinking to a holistic view that prioritizes human behavior and deeper consumer understanding. Brands must consider broader societal shifts and evolving consumer sentiments rather than strictly adhering to established categories that define success. As trends become influenced by immediate market signals, integrating a multi-faceted perspective can ignite creativity and deliver lasting impact.
Actionable Insights for Brand Leaders
Brand leaders and marketing professionals must recognize the limitations of category-centric frameworks in their current state. Embracing a consumer-centric mentality involves interrogating problems and challenging assumptions with fresh perspectives. Organizations should diversify their approach by integrating consumer insights, leveraging data trends, and encouraging cross-functional ideation sessions that lead to groundbreaking discoveries. Progress will not stem from resting on the laurels of traditional approaches but from daring to redefine market potential in meaningful ways.
As we move forward, brand innovators must be willing to break free from categorical constraints, enabling a deeper connection with consumers and unlocking the true potential of their offerings. By adopting perspectives that transcend categories, organizations can craft strategies that resonate powerfully with audiences, paving the way for transformative growth and unprecedented success.
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