Product Innovation – GAIN with Glue

In the previous articles posted, we have established that to innovate to a higher level as Drucker and Godin preach, requires empathy with your client. This empathy, and providing that Something extra do translate to finding and keeping customers. How can we use the core principles of UX to innovate and provide something unique to an existing product that elevates it above the competition. How can we do this, so it benefits both company and customer?

I proposed that the GAIN framework can be used to asses the suitability of change you would like to provide your customer as “the cherry on the cake.”

From the title you may have seen the hint that today’s article is about Glue – we are going to deal with the kind that you used for school. How can one brand of glue be better than the next? Surely by now, most companies chemists has developed and perfected glue formulas? You can buy glue that shows a bulldozer hanging from a cable – relying on a glue joint to keep it from falling. Further innovation to the actual glue compound will by all accounts be challenging to demonstrate that it is, in fact, superior to other manufacturers products. So, if you are the manufacturer and supplier of glue for indoor/outdoor projects, how can you supply that something extra?

I have a boatbuilding career spanning twenty years and has used an established European glue brand for most of my career, so why should I consider a change? I am currently building a floating dock as a side project.

And the prospect of single-handedly glueing several deck planks onto narrow supporting beams demanded the consideration of a new brand of adhesive. Not because the brand I always use would in any way be less effective as a waterproof wood glue- but only as its application method is – well less than clinical and somewhat messy.

Shopping at my local hardware, I saw a plethora of glues that use the same applicator method as the brand I used, or applicators I have tried before and did not have much advantage over the “standard system” - shown on the left.

And then I spotted something different. A new monkey in the cage!

Here was a bottle of glue bottle that looked different and demanded more attention. I invested in one, went home and starting planking the dock. I impressed – this was pure innovation, this was providing something extra, this was having empathy with the applicator – pure bliss!

What makes it so much better? Let's compare to the standard glue tip in the photo above.

  If we evaluate the Gorilla product against the GAIN Framework 

It also nicely complies with several aspects mentioned as desirable for innovation

• It is a small change with a significant impact for the user
• Although there are some design and tooling costs – it does not need expensive re-certification of the system
• It does not alter the main product – improves the process
• It solves a human problem – and is not an exercise in innovation for a technocratic chemist

Providing that Something Extra is essential – but it is crucial to design, produce and deliver something that will glue your client to you. So use GAIN as your guideline for product innovation.

1. Look for the smallest possible improvement you can make that will yield the highest potential gain for both of you.

2. Work on what is essential for the customer – not on what is interesting for you to make.  

3.   Sensible companies think several steps ahead and work back from the endgame they want

4. Break innovation into smaller chunks or cycles that you can roll out independently. An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) can be used to check market acceptance.

5. Technical people love to find or develop technical solutions for what they believe the most applicable innovation should be. The reality is that innovation ideas – even in a Technical sector, is often found by looking at demographics, economics or other social

Don’t let Technocrats persuade you that technology in product innovation is required – humans will use your product, so ask human questions.

I spent several years in the Boatbuilding industry, and if there is one item synonymous with boatbuilding, it is Glue. Glue, or if you want to be more general- adhesives, is used everywhere in the industry.

G – Grounded (in research)

A – Applicable

I – Inspirational

N – New/Needed

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