Creativity: Power Groups
PowerGroups© is a technique developed by Research Dimensions to:
- locate unfulfilled consumer product needs or image gaps
- generate new product ideas designed to fill those needs or gaps.
PowerGroups combine Idea Generating techniques with consumer research. The session is conducted by two moderators.
PowerGroups are held with 8 to 10 articulate, future-oriented, and creative consumers.
Clients are involved in front of the mirror as participants and guides. They contribute ideas and select those ideas which should be developed more fully in the PowerGroup.
A five step process is used.
- 1. Corporate objectives, product preferences and limitations are determined.
- 2. PowerGroup target respondents are recruited and given "Homework" prior to the PowerGroup in order to begin the process before the actual session.
- 3. The first part of the PowerGroup is a consumer research session conducted to identify and understand existing products or services. These are mapped qualitatively. Purchase motivating factors and product gaps are identified.
- 4. After a break, the second half of the PowerGroup focuses on New Product Development / Idea Generation.
- 5. At the end of the PowerGroup, ideas are reviewed and ranked by participants.
Participants are divided into teams and encouraged to devise new products, new marketing and positioning ideas (sometimes) in a competitive format against other teams. Teams reconvene to present ideas to each other. Card-sort, idea-shuffle and ranking exercises as well as various non-logic exercises are employed throughout the session.
This method has been used to design Executive Class for Canada's national airline, a premium credit card for one of Canada's leading financial services providers, a new marketing strategy for a premium range of office products and a range of new insurance products.