Evaluating a New Idea -- Many Companies Use a Concept Evaluation Study to Determine the Potential of a New Idea.  But do They Evaluate the Concept First, That is, Assess the Effectiveness of the concept in communicating the Idea Before Assessing the Value of the Idea?

The above question may appear to many as a dumb question. However, it is my experience that many companies do not look at the "idea" and "concept" as two distinct elements of a product. When a feature or element shows merit in a product category, the positioning of the new product is described in a concept. This concept is usually used at that time to assess the potentiality of the idea. Unfortunately this is the area where too many good ideas are rejected. Generally, the researcher does not look at the concept as an element of the new product, but only as a tool. The concept is actually the communication element of the product and therefore, deserves the same consideration as all other elements of the product. That is, the concept should be enhanced, cultivated, and evaluated before it is used to assess the viability of the original idea.

Really good ideas come along far too infrequently and should be given every opportunity to succeed. Once an idea is killed it is seldom revived by anyone other than a competitor. Care and cultivation should be given a promising idea in order for it to succeed. We should obtain feedback from the respondents about their understanding of the product and its purpose. The concept itself should be researched to insure that the readers of the concept thoroughly understand the concept's "Description," "Reason for Being," "Reason to Believe," etc. Every element of the concept should work in harmony for the benefit of idea. I do not believe in just assessing the concept in its overall form. Each element should be stripped from the total concept and developed to its maximum. While this may sound like an expensive, time consuming and difficult task, I have found it to be just the opposite. That is easy, fast, and inexpensive with the use of a method called S.P.A.C.E. which stands for Sequential Point Assessment in Concept Evaluation.

In S.P.A.C.E., the overall concept is evaluated at the same time as each individual element is separately assessed. The result is an acceptance profile of the concept where the "hot" and "cold" buttons are identified. A separate and very beneficial result of the protocol is the fact that each of the elements are given equal attention by the respondent unlike most protocols used in the assessment of a concept. With S.P.A.C.E. you know each of the elements are given consideration in the overall assessment of the idea. If you have any questions about the S.P.A.C.E. technique, give me a call.