Using Creativity To Generate New Product Or Service Ideas

Creativity is often overlooked in favour of giving the job of new product development to the Marketing department. In fact anyone can have a go, just get hold of a few good techniques and see what happens.

Are you stuck? Well here is a simple technique that might help you out. Take that idea and try to apply some of the items in the following List And Twist checklist to it. They may seem strange but they just might jog your memory! For instance I showed the list to someone who was writing a children's book and they were taken by the suggestion of adding a smell! The net result - a scratch and sniff book. Try it for yourself and see.

Add a step, Find other uses, Slow down, Rearrange the steps, Improve the quality, Add motion, Add an ingredient, Make it easier, Change packaging, Combine ingredients, Align with other product, De-automate parts, Make it more extreme, Make it more expensive , Put some fun in it, Substitute materials, Find new distribution, Change the state, Make it self service, Combine other processes, Change the shape , Add more service, Make it a game, Put a story with it, Celebrity connection, Reverse the concept, Turn it upside down, Purify it, Add nostalgia, Add smell

Feel free to add your own steps to create your very own technique.

Derek Cheshire is an expert, speaker, consultant and facilitator in the areas of Business Creativity, Innovation and Idea Generation. He is creator of the Innovation Toolkit, and co creator of workshops such as Creating The Difference, Creativity as a Business Tool, Sticky Strategy and The Idea Factory.

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