The five Rs
The 5R Model is the result of a comprehensive examination of especially successful innovations from all industrial sectors. We searched for the common success characteristics and encountered the 5Rs in the process:
1. Raise: big innovations generally do not happen in niche markets. Truly successful innovations not only address existing users but also people who had been non-users. The target group is actively expanded and new areas of use are created.
2. Relevant: only commercial success makes an idea a successful innovation. For an innovation to be successful it does not have to be especially creative or spectacular. However, it does have to satisfy or raise a need that is relevant, often latent, for the users.
3. Rule-breaking: big innovations break rules. They have to offer a fundamentally new use and thus shape a new market that did not exist before. Above-average successful innovations do not beat the competition but make the competition irrelevant due to a new use.
4. Remarkable: no matter how fundamentally new and relevant the use of an innovation may be, if the consumers do not notice it, the innovation fails. The users have to instantaneously notice the use. At the same time, this use has to be simple enough for users to remember.
5. Real: an innovation has to be financially worthwhile and technologically feasible, and it has to comply with the needs of the market and the possibilities of the company.
The 5R innovation process
Of course, it is not enough to merely identify the characteristics, i.e., the five Rs. They also have to be integrated into the development process. Therefore, our process is based on these criteria for success. It consists of three phases: research and prototyping are the two main elements, and the strategy phase forms the transition in between.
During the first phase – research – big, relevant and thus far unaddressed needs have to be discovered and areas must be identified in which new needs can be raised. During the second phase, the identified potentials have to be prioritized and strategies and ideas developed in order to address them. During the last phase, the developed ideas are made tangible with rapid prototypes and tested in order to assure that the identified needs are optimally addressed.
In research, we focus on "raise" and "relevance." In strategy, the focus is on developing a "rule-breaking" use. And in prototyping the point is to make the use "remarkable" and tangible and to assure it in a "real" way.
Eliminating the biggest innovation obstacle
Only a realized innovation is a good innovation. An unrealized innovation is only an idea. And there rarely is a lack of ideas. The bottleneck is the gap between intention and realization.
63% of companies do not achieve their self-established innovation goals. This is the result of the study "Inside Innovation" that we realized in the IHA-GfK. If we want to reduce this alarming realization gap it is helpful to separate the real from the supposed reasons. The "not invented here" syndrome, for example. We consider it a rumor, and not a reason. Or have you ever noticed that the concepts of an advertising agency or architect are abandoned just because you didn't have them yourself? Right. The gist of the matter is hence elsewhere.
A more precise look at the three most often mentioned innovation barriers reveals the latter as pure symptoms. The reason, however, is the uncertainty behind them. Why is there so much "internal resistance?" Not because innovation is generally unwanted, but simply because of fear of an inestimable risk. Uncomfortable things and uncertain things are always uncomfortable, have always been subject to procrastination, although they should really be a priority. That's only human but not really a question of resources.
Translated to your company, this means: the bigger the uncertainty, the bigger the implicit and explicit resistance and the clumsier your innovation capacity. In this situation, even more ideas are certainly not helpful. Even if you came up with 1,000 ideas, uncertainty is still the stumbling block on your way towards realization. Conclusion: excellent ideas and solutions are not enough. As innovation service providers, we absolutely must consider the need for certainty.
With our 5R innovation process this is precisely what we achieve. With research and we create the certainty to identify the appropriate needs. With prototyping, we create the certainty to properly address the identified needs. Once the need is verified, it is easy to get everyone on board and to develop the right solutions in a targeted way. If they can be experienced as rapid prototypes, they can be tested and thus provide certainty.