It is no secret that innovation is critical to sustaining a businesses’ health, profitability and prosperity. Companies that get to the future first stand a much better chance long term. However, it demands imagining said future, a unique challenge in pharma given the potential 10-year span between conception and launch. The danger is that shifting landscapes can make insights obsolete, which means spending new money updating old questions.
Attempts have been made to bring the future perspective into the present-day focus group or virtual IDI. Many an innovation related RFP includes a request about putting respondents in that mindset, which usually ends up being some version of a projective exercise like getting people to opine on what future-oriented companies or people would do (e.g., Apple or Elon Musk). Commonly used but not very effective. Why is that?
Let’s face it, some people are just more into the future than others. If you know the diffusion of innovation theory, then you also know not everyone (including HCPs) adopts technology or new ideas at the same pace: consider the lag in smart phone adoption, something we take for granted today. How one thinks about and acts towards new ideas has a profound implication for how they will contribute to them in research, how they will frame arguments for or against, and what alibis they’ll use to adopt or avoid. After all, try asking someone with both feet stuck in the mud to get their foresight on. Rather than forcing everyone to think like a futurist, wouldn’t it be great to find those who are already living it?
That’s why we created the S+R PROsician algorithm. Inspired by the diffusion of innovation framework, we explored and experimented via a statistically rigorous process. After eight months of work developing, modeling and validating the framework, we arrived at a focused set of questions that identify HCPs’ innovation beliefs and behaviors along two dimensions: the degree of their commitment to stay informed on the latest developments and the intensity of their interest in innovation and experimentation. In other words, how tuned in and how turned on they are by the new.
Meet the PROsician segments…
This is not meant to compete with any existing segmentation you have nor is it some standardized recruiting strategy with set quotas (although it can be based on the nature of the project). Rather, it works seamlessly with your critical criteria to give us a heads up on who is coming into the interview from an innovation perspective so we can get the most out of them.
This added degree of preparedness enables us to maximize the value of each engagement in several meaningful ways:
We can recruit the right mix of typologies based on the research objective: e.g. more Dr. Forward Thinkers and Dr. Go Forits at early stages of innovations development, more Dr. Nono Nos to learn how to break entrenched behaviors
Our moderators are able to maximize the perspective of each respondent, aligning specific techniques, tools or questions with their innovation sensibilities
It enhances the quality of insights and reporting, putting feedback in context of their orientations and ensuring we’re not responding to a homogeneous POV when segment distinctions can make the difference between success and failure
A recent medical device innovation project proved the value of this unique screening tool. We were hunting for breakthrough digital advances to enable patients to better manage their chronic condition. We needed game changing opportunities. Knowing that, we found and engaged many Dr. Forward Thinkers, those with their finger on the pulse of both patient problems and advances on the horizon. Interviews bled into ideation sessions, with doctors feeding us both insight and inspirations for R&D initiatives. To quote our senior client, “This is really going to help us target HCPs more open to new technologies.”
The S+R PROsician algorithm is a genuine advance in the pursuit of winning ideas. It has the capacity and flexibility to contribute at all stages of the innovation development process, from initial inspirations to launch preparation (e.g., objections handling, CVA assessments, etc.)
We would love to share the story and data that demonstrate its value to your future efforts. Please reach out and we will set a date.
Shapiro+Raj
S+R is a research and strategy firm that uses social and behavioral sciences to solve the toughest business and marketing challenges. Our next-gen methods dig deep to unlock market-ready insights. Then our brand planners turn these into strategic marketplace actions that create brand evolution and innovation; customer experiences and loyalty; and new platforms for growth.
