Challenge Conventional Beliefs, Reframe Categories

Creativity is often constrained by strongly held convictions or beliefs, or simply by the way we are accustomed to doing things. Once we are prepared to remove these barriers and cross old boundaries, we often discover new possibilities. For instance:

  • Infant milks have been in existence from the early 1900s for babies up to the age of 12 months. When birth rates began to decline and manufacturers began to experience the pressures of their shrinking market, they began to question the boundaries they had set. Observing that parents are concerned about the mental and physical development of their children, growing up milk for toddlers aged one to three years was introduced towards the end of the 1980s. The new segment experienced sizzling growth and soon became larger than the traditional infant milk market. Today, growing up milks for toddlers aged above three and children above six are also widely available.
  • The discovery of pink diamonds in October 1979 posed a challenge for Rio Tinto. At that time, the notion that diamonds could be intense pink was virtually non-existent. It was through branding and marketing that the company imbued the pink diamonds with an alluring mystique about their origin and colour. Described in advertisements as “the most revered diamond in the world”, the Argyle Pink diamonds soon began to command a high premium.
  • When Fabuloso, Colgate Palmolive’s floor cleaner was launched into some Asian markets, the advertisements conveyed the product’s long-lasting fresh scent. The floor cleaner that “smells so good” soon became the market leader in many of these markets.
  • Vegemite, an iconic Australian brand (“Real Australians eat Vegemite”) was invented by Dr Cyril P. Callister, a leading Australian food technologist in 1922. For years the brand was constrained by marketing strategies confined to the narrowly defined “yeast-based spreads” category, where it commanded over 90% share. The blinkers were removed with the launch of a new variant blended with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, at a time when Kraft (who then owned Vegemite) was striving to re-invigorate growth. Reframing product categories to spur growth was one of CEO Irene Rosenfeld’s top global endeavours in 2006.

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