By: James Harmer of Touch Packaging Innovation

Have you noticed? Cracks are appearing in the once impenetrable walls that guarded the key to product and pack design. The unswerving focus on consumer insight to supposedly unlock innovation is waning. Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturers are beginning to realise more agile innovation that brings competitive advantage and has staying power, needs to come from stronger innovation foundations—beyond what consumers tell us.

I have been noticing this for some time now. A reliance on consumer insight that is driven by the need to get ever closer to the end user is starting to feel like we have reached a tipping point. Worse still, it is starting to skew the outcome of so many expensive and lengthy initiatives.