6 Insights from FEI Boston - Pepsico & DuPont

Today, I visited Boston for the first time... And it was worth it.

I was invited to moderate a track on disrupting business as usual. I've summarized 6 insights from day one, for those of you that couldn't make it.

Here are some first insights from Alexa Dembek. Alexa is the Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer - Specialty Products at DowDuPont. DowDuPont is making a major transition to split up activities across different brands. She is leading the transition on the creation of the new DuPont brand. As she phrased it she is "launching a 217-year-old startup."

"Build a Learning machine" - Alexa Dembek - DowDuPont

Alexa uses the concept of learning machines in DuPont. A Learning machine is a short term track that combines tech profiles with marketing profiles to validate a focussed topic in a short amount of time. It was clear to her that science should always be complemented with business, in order to create an impact.

"Right, Win, Worth" - Alexa Dembek - DowDuPont

Is it real? Can we win? Is it worth it? 

3 simple questions, but they're hard to solve... The key is to ask these 3 questions to every team in order to make sure innovation is done for impact.

Trends are clear, the key is to uncover value - Alexa Dembek - DowDuPont

...the hard part is to connect the trends to the value for the organization. It is the role of a leader to identify the right opportunity areas and focus on what could have a lasting impact.

Example: Biotech is clearly a disruptive trend, but what does this mean to DowDuPont 

Here are some insights from Chris Hintermeister. Chris is responsible for long-term Innovation & Strategy at Gatorade Pepsico. The team validated a new personalized offer during the Soccer World Cup finals in Brazil.

"Omni Channel Experiments" - Chris Hintermeister Pepsico

The Gatorade team ran experiments within multiple markets at the same time. One with top professional teams, including the Brazilian soccer team. Another with college sports teams. These different experiments allowed the team to get different perspectives and insights.

Omni-channel positioning was key to Gatorade. Building on learnings from the experiments, the team identified the opportunity of personalization of re-usable bottles. This enabled the brand to create value for both the retailers, by selling the bottles, and Gatorade, by connecting with the consumer directly by buying personalizations via Gatorade.com

"The paradox of resources" - Chris Hintermeister Pepsico

Since Gatorade is a part of Pepsico, unlike traditional startups, it had the luxury to experiment with robust resources. Chris referred to Nasa developing the space pen VS Russia using pencils in space. To his point, he highlighted that the team is continuously challenging itself to look for efficient and effective solutions.

"Understanding different speeds" - Chris Hintermeister Pepsico

Since the Gatorade team was developing multiple things at the same time, they've encountered different speeds. The launch of consumer capsules enabling personalized hydration for consumers was an immense challenge that took longer than expected. It is important to consider difference execution speeds as a given from the start.

I'm looking forward to your insights or comments. You can find more insight in my second article here including some insights from Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.