Years back, the brilliant Howard Moskowitz wrote a book called “Selling Blue Elephants.” It’s an ideation exercise centered on Rule Developing Experimentation, an approach to systematic variation that seeks to determine consumer desires—even before they happen. It’s the proverbial golden goose—analytical trend prediction before said trend surfaces. The product-development framework it puts forward has an evergreen quality that smartly serves all benchtop conceptual development.
Phil Lempert, the “Supermarket Guru,” also brought elephants front-and-center in his recent presentation at this year’s Snaxpo, held March 28-31 in Orlando, FL. His visualization employed an elephant as a motif for trends. When you’re behind the elephant, chasing it with bow and arrows on hand, all you can do is shoot it in the rear as it keeps on plodding ahead. You’ve missed your chance. The trick to success, he noted, is to get ahead of the elephant, dig a pit and catch it.