Organisational Capability
In a dynamic market, the ability to innovate is not merely an advantage; it is essential.
We work with established companies that need to innovate beyond their core business but keep losing momentum between strategy and delivery.
We help build the innovation capability, process and confidence to move from insight to commercialisation, covering everything from innovation strategy and technology scouting to product design and engineering.
Our team works across all three so that what gets built is what was actually intended, not a diluted version of a consulting report.
Our approach
Our work: Pentland Brands
Creating a new central innovation group. Pentland Brands is the name behind some of the world’s best sports and outdoor brands including Speedo, Berghaus, Endura and Mitre. After an external review of its corporate innovation strategy, it recognised the need to update its central innovation group. It asked Ignite Exponential to be a ‘critical friend’ and to help it to translate its corporate strategy into a meaningful vision, strategy, structure and process for the new group.
We led a series of collaborative meetings with a broad team of senior stakeholders drawn from R&D, Marketing and the brand teams. We started by understanding what worked, and frankly what didn’t about the previous innovation structure, process and culture. We reviewed existing ideas about what sort of innovation structure the company needed and drew on our own team’s experience from tens of other companies.
Through this series of collaborative workshops, we defined a vision and mission for the new innovation group, agreed its scope of operation, co-created a structure, process and tools for working with the brands, and agreed a series of activities to drive the changes it needed. We brought the process to life by supporting its innovation projects over the coming months.
Our work: CamelBak
How can we successfully innovate in connected products? CamelBak provides a range of innovative hydration packs, backpacks, and water bottles. Its consumers know when they buy CamelBak, they are purchasing a durable, high-quality product, but after purchase they may not interact with the brand for several more years. Consumers are increasingly using digital technologies such as smart watches, phones, and apps to manage their lives. CamelBak has previously embarked on a few digital technology projects but has encountered a range of challenges in successfully developing connected products.
Through an Ignite Exponential Learning Exchange, we brought CamelBak’s senior R&D and Product Management team together with experienced corporate innovation leaders from our network who have successfully navigated similar challenges in their own industries. We screened more than 100 companies to shortlist those from whom CamelBak could learn the most.
Our approach allowed CamelBak to learn about the technical and commercial capabilities it would need, as well as the impact of ‘soft’ factors such as partnership, purpose, and organizational culture. By drawing directly on the real-world experience of non-competing leaders, it was able to build its confidence and internal alignment in a strategy for future connected products.
Our work: Disruptive Innovation in Consumer Electronics
How to innovate effectively for sustaining NPD and disruptive innovation. A leading consumer electronics brand asked us to help it improve the speed and effectiveness of its device development process. Over the last few years competition has intensified, and new connected technologies mean that products are becoming more complicated.
We arranged a series of learning meetings with current and former innovation leaders representing seven non-competing companies from markets including FMCG, Apparel, Domestic Appliances, Consumer Health and Industrial Devices.
A key learning from the programme for the brand was that its product development process was actually very effective. However, there was an important opportunity to better deliver disruptive innovation (e.g., new technologies and business models) alongside its product development pipeline. We analysed the learning from the collaboration and created a comprehensive report evidenced by the key interview insights and headlined by a powerful one-page visual summary.
Our work: Sustainability as capability-building
Kimberly-Clark’s EMEA Family Care division recognised a more disruptive sustainability approach was required to meet its 2030 corporate goals and asked Ignite Exponential to help it to resolve a paradox: how could it reduce material use while improving the consumer experience and driving business growth?
We helped Kimberly-Clark to learn from and be inspired by more than 20 senior corporate innovation and sustainability leaders, and from this insight to develop an updated strategy and action plan.
Kimberly-Clark now has a new strategy for transformational sustainability and the key learnings are being reapplied in its business to reduce the use of materials, persuade consumers to change behaviour positively and drive these business changes internally.
The client’s perspective
We don’t just offer you an innovation journey
We ensure you are well equipped to continue that path long after our initial engagement. We span the bridge from initial strategy and concepts, through development, all the way to manufacturing and supply.
Discover how Ignite Exponential can help you grow your organisational capability and drive innovation that makes a difference.
