The Chewing Gum of Tomorrow: 6 Take-Aways

I have been reading a number of books about innovation in the last few months, and there is a certain “sameness” to them that is a little bit numbing.

Everyone mentions Edison and the light bulb, pointing out that Edison didn’t invent the light bulb. Then there’s a discussion about the competition between wireless and the telephone. Sometimes the railroad is thrown in, and sometimes Ford. Then it’s on to the PC, the Internet, and Google. And often more Google. Then, a little bit about eBay and Amazon, and then even more Google.

There’s generally a few “gee whiz” paragraphs about innovation being really hard work, and not just the result of some genius being struck by intellectual lightening.

And, of course, there’s always the story about Post-It notes.

It’s a little bit like the authors of innovation read each other’s books and shared a handful of the same stories, somehow missing the avalanche of innovation that’s going on in fields outside of the Web and the PC. (And Post-It notes.)

How about the building trade, for example? I hung some pictures last weekend with a device the shoots a straight, horizontal laser beam along the wall. Very innovative. Very cool.

And what about Tyvek? Maybe 33 million people visited Facebook last month, but honest-to-goodness, I have not driven by a construction project in five years that didn’t have Tyvek wrapped around it. I can only assume that Tyvek represented some kind of very cool innovation that the books I read missed.

And then there’s the Egg McMuffin. Here’s an innovation that launched a whole new dining category. And, as for impact, I suspect the Egg McMuffin will make more money this month than the five Web 2.0 start-ups that got funded today will make in the next three years.

Don’t get me wrong. The light bulb and Post-it notes are great stories, and Google is a truly innovative company, but there’s so much more to innovation.

So, it was a surprise to read, in the October 2007 issue of Fast Company, about innovation around chewing gum.

Could there be anything further removed from algorithms and ASICs than chewing gum?

It turns out that the Wrigley Global Innovation Center in Chicago is creating the chewing gum of tomorrow. And, as James P. Andrew, head of the BCG’s global innovation practice says, “Companies that innovate in industries where the benefit of innovation is often overlooked tend to reap disproportionately large rewards.”

Here are another 6 take-aways:

1. Wrigley fully embraced innovation in 2001, when the success of its first modern gum, Orbit, proved that the future of the business was in the "functional" qualities of sugar-free gum as a breath freshener, low-calorie snack substitute, and so forth.

2. Wrigley's $45 million Global Innovation Center (GIC), opened in 2005, represents a signal moment in the history of a 116-year-old company long regarded as a hulking relic. Company officials are pinning big hopes on the first new gum to emerge from GIC, a premium high-concept brand called 5 that rolled out last summer. The new gum must justify not only a heavy investment in infrastructure but also a dramatic reimagining of gum's purpose for Wrigley customers.

3. The development of 5 came out of a management edict to make a splash among image-conscious teenagers and young adults (the most reliable gum consumers). The company sent 10 top scientists, engineers, and marketers to hang out with young people and figure out why they chew what they do. After tagging along on camping trips and club outings, they discovered that kids "don't just want a functional gum that freshens breath," says VP and global chief marketing officer Martin Schlatter. They also see a gum brand as an expression of who they are.

4. Early on, developers considered incorporating sound into 5's packaging but were shot down by their young subjects. "They told us, in effect, 'Don't play in categories you don't know. We have iPods for that.'"

5. The R&D team also went to the gum lab to mine technological advances in flavor intensity--known in the industry as the "initial hit"--and flavor longevity.

6. Finally, drawing on the success of Orbit, which included a new envelope-style package, engineers came up with a carton for 5 that slightly resembles a hip cigarette box: The top flips open to expose 15 sticks of gum in neat rows. The dark, sleek pack of gum, in short, masquerades as an accessory, aimed at demonstrating that the carrier chews gum that's as stylish as she is.

Gum as an extension of who we are? Who would have guessed?

It certainly reinforces the single important take-away, which is James Andrews’ observation that innovation yields the greatest results when it’s applied to products and services where it’s least expected.

Look around the company. Then pop a stick of chewing gum into your mouth. Notice the “initial hit”?

What can we innovate today?

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

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