Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

Dumb Idea Leads to a Good Idea with a Poor Execution (Just an Opinion)

In the late 1970's I started collecting videos of shoppers' habits. Generally the videotaping was conducted in association with an in-store project. The problem with the video was the amount of time it took to edit. That is, removing the dead time in the store aisle. It was decided that a mechanical means might be used to eliminate the dead tape time.

To evaluate a mechanical approach, we set up a test site in our office hallway. We placed a video camera in the doorway and a motion detector on the floor. In this way, when there was movement, the camera would turn on and when there was no movement it would turn off. It tested great. Now for a real test. We took it to a local supermarket and set it up to cover the Tide shelf area. The test results were half good and half bad. The recorder turned on all right but when the respondent stopped (feet were stationary), the camera was turned off. We did not record their actions when they stopped walking to check something on the store shelf.

However, while standing in the aisle, one of the team members had a good idea for a use of the motion detector technology. Instead of turning on and off a video recorder, his idea was to turn on a tape recorder. We constructed a unit with a built-in tape recorder and a motion detector so that as a person passed the point, the recorder would turn on. At the time we were working on a new carton opening for Tide. We decided to bundle test the Tide container and the recorder as a separate leg of the study.

We had our small (about the size of a paperback book) recording unit cover designed like a box of Tide to be mounted on the store shelf. When a person walked in front of the unit, a message would say "Psst, Psst, you, yes, you. Have you seen my new flip top box?" We also recorded the respondents' actions via video. The results were great. We patented the device and proposed production of the units. It was decided that an independent group should provide a separate evaluation of the effectiveness of the device.

The independent group set up 28 supermarkets with the units. Instead of the message we used, they chose to have three messages on each recorder all addressing the new Tide box but the major difference was in the content of the messages. They were very bland, essentially saying "Procter and Gamble introduces Tide's new easy-opening and closing box for your convenience." The sales results were still good but not as good as in the pilot study but most importantly they found a number of units damaged after the two-week test. It was believed that the stock clerks were annoyed by the repeated messages when they were working in the aisle and could not shut them off except by damaging them. The independent group recommended dropping the project. The project was dropped despite our recommendations to correct the disabling by inserting a cut-off switch that would work for two hours and then automatically turn back on. We also thought the impact of a more entertaining message was to our advantage. No matter the project was dropped.

I have since seen similar pieces of equipment but none containing the location, visual and verbal components of our pilot study. I believe that the project could have been highly productive if we approached the project as "An idea in development" and not a "Go/No Go" evaluation. Really new ideas should be given care and cultivation. A premature birth of an idea can be dangerous to its health. 


[Back][Index][Forward]