Speeding Innovation: Collaborative Co-Creation Workshop for Fast-Tracking Product Success

Procter & Gamble (P&G) sought to accelerate the development of a new feminine product – a night pad. The challenge was to speed up the time-to-market without compromising quality, ensuring that the product concept was viable, validated, and met the needs of target consumers. Given the competitive market landscape in China, capturing the opportunity quickly was paramount. P&G needed a streamlined approach to achieve rapid validation and concept development.

As the lead consultant, I was tasked with facilitating a cross-collaboration workshop that would bring together the marketing team, engineering team, design team, and target consumers in a co-creation process. The goal was to develop concepts, validate them quickly, and accelerate the product development timeline. My role was to guide the team through a structured process that would not only generate innovative ideas but also gather immediate feedback for refining those ideas.
I led the one-week workshop, using cross-collaboration methods where all relevant stakeholders, including designers, engineers, marketing specialists, and consumers, were in the same room, brainstorming and working together. This co-creation process allowed us to generate multiple concepts, test them in real time, and validate the best ideas quickly. We worked collaboratively to ensure that each concept addressed both consumer needs and business objectives.

During the workshop, we conducted rapid prototyping, and I facilitated user testing with the target consumers to assess how well the concepts aligned with their needs and expectations. Through this iterative process, we refined our ideas and moved from ideation to concept validation in a fraction of the time it would typically take.

Result:
The Koala Huhu night pad project became a huge success for P&G China. The product development process was significantly accelerated, allowing P&G to capture the market opportunity much faster than anticipated. The product gained significant market share and was highly successful in China, earning multiple awards within P&G for its innovative approach and market impact. This co-creation workshop method helped P&G improve its time-to-market, setting a new benchmark for future product launches.