Activewear brand Outdoor Voices is so convinced by the benefits of open innovation and co-creating with customers that from now on it is going to involve them in all future product designs.
The brand launched in 2014 and Running was its first collection to involve consumer input which it did via social media.
Valuable Consumer Input
In an interview with Vox Media Outdoor Voices CEO Tyler Haney commented: “We said, ‘we’re building an assortment around jogging and running. Tell us what your preferences are, what kind of support you need,’ and we folded that back into our product development,” Haney says. “Now we’re launching what we consider to be the best six to eight pieces for OV’s customer.”
The open innovation approach could help Outdoor Voices compete against much larger and established brands that have deeper pockets for research and development. Among the other benefits of co-creating with consumers are:
• Cultivating loyalty
• Creating products that consumers want
• Consumers act as brand ambassadors
• Access to new ways of thinking
• Diversity of ideas
• Increase innovation volume
• A quicker way of getting products to market
New Line to be Launched
Recently, Outdoor Voices sought consumer input for a new line of athletic bras and received close to 1,000 responses. Design teams used these comments – which included views on favorite and least favorite bras, materials, closures and designs – to produce new bras that are slated to be released in the summer. This will be a significant increase to the current range and will offer the brand’s customers more variety.