Page 6 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

SILVAN BRAUEN
“YOU CAN’T RELY JUST ON WHAT’S POPULAR
WITH THE CROWD”

Silvan Brauen is the head of business development at Rivella, a
leading Swiss manufacturer of soft drinks, which over the past five
years has used open innovation to create new products. He recently
spoke with HBR about the pros and cons of that approach. Edited
excerpts follow.

Why did you choose to What did you do with the
crowdsource? We didn’t want crowdsourced suggestions?
a technology-driven innovation, We narrowed the 800 ideas down
where we add a random new flavor to 20, and then we went to work
and hope that consumers like it. with internal workshops, focus
We wanted to go new ways and, groups, and taste tests. It was a
most important, to start with collaborative, iterative process, and
consumer needs. 80% of the work took place after the
crowdsourced ideas were submitted.
How well does it work? Very You can’t rely just on what’s popular
well. When we first did this, in 2012, with the crowd—you have to turn on
we received more than 800 ideas. your brain and evaluate what makes
They ranged from obvious ones we sense, also with regard to the overall
could have come up with ourselves company strategy. We ended up
to crazy ones, such as licorice- launching two new flavors: peach and
flavored drinks and strange colors. rhubarb. Both were among the top
The diversity of ideas has expanded 10% of the ideas on the platform, but
our imagination, because we may they weren’t the very top finishers.
have blind spots or be overly The launch was very successful and
influenced by something we tried increased Rivella’s penetration rate
years ago that didn’t work. by one-third, from 30% to 40% of
Swiss households.
How did consumers’ “likes”
influence your evaluation Are you using open innovation
of ideas? We viewed them as less than you used to? Yes, and
qualitative, not quantitative, I think other companies are too. But
data. An idea that has eight likes part of the reason crowdsourcing
isn’t necessarily better than one became so popular had to do with
that has seven—it’s not an exact marketing, not innovation. For a
science. But we did view likes as time, if you advertised that a product
an indication that there was was created in collaboration with
emotion or controversy around consumers, people reacted quite
an idea, which is a good thing. positively, and it increased your
An idea that triggers no discussion chances of a successful launch.
and gets no attention on the Now many companies have done
crowdsourcing platform will that, so it’s not a useful selling point
probably get little attention in anymore. However, open innovation
the marketplace. can still be a great resource.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCANDERBEG SAUER

NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 21