The Breakthrough Zone: Harnessing Consumer Creativity for Business Innovation

A breakthrough is a discontinuous change that makes new things possible and takes performance in a market to a new level. This book is about creating breakthroughs in large organizations where so much energy is often committed to existing activity. Drawing on their wide experience of working with top companies including British Airways, BUPA, and Carphone Warehouse, Ray Langmaid and Mac Andrews argue that it is customers themselves who are best-placed to conceive great new products and services, but that they will need time and trust to work out how these might best be created. Traditional ways of talking to customers such as focus groups lack honesty and place perceptual barriers - what is needed is a new approach that is open, honest and ongoing. The solution is the Breakthrough Zone, a creative meeting of customer and executives in which desires are unlocked and needs identified. Versatile enough to be used with groups of any size, this process is built on personal relationships, and proven to generate really innovative ideas for brand extensions and product development.
Provides the tools and techniques to enable you to get closer to your customers - a step-by-step guide shows you how to implement the 'Breakthrough Zone' process
Explores why this type of communication is so much more effective than focus groups or traditional database-driven approaches to engaging in customer dialogue
Previous innovations generated in the Breakthrough Zone include BA's 'Beds for Business', BT's 'It's Good to Talk' and new market strategies for VISA and Dell

Roy and Mac have worked together transforming brands and businesses for 8 years. Their work with big brands spans the globe from AMP in Australia, Singapore Airlines, Holiday Inn EMEA, Saudi Arabian Airlines and VISA in San Francisco to Unilever throughout Europe as well as a list of British companies that includes B.A., Granada, Carphone Warehouse, BT and BUPA. Those experiences formed the basis for this book.

Mac, co-founder of the Institute for Creativity, UK, is a highly experienced specialist in creativity, insight and learning and their applications inside businesses large and small. He now operates with The Brand Works Ltd using customer insight to grow and develop brands, their products, services and cultures ― he can be contacted by email at mac.andrews@thebrandworks.com

Roy is the originator of the Breakthrough method. He works for Promise, a consultancy based in London and New York, which specialises in helping organisations to keep their customers at the centre of their thinking. He may be contacted at rlangmaid@promisecorp.com