Birds Eye View

A six-week cruise to Labrador, Canada (on which passengers were working on biological surveys for the U.S. government) resulted in the creation of a new food category. On this trip, Clarence Birdseye observed the Eskimos' quick-freeze methods and realized that quickly frozen fish retained flavor and texture better than fish frozen slowly.  As the story goes, in 1923, Birdseye invested $7 for an electric fan, buckets of brine and cakes of ice, perfecting a system of packing fresh food in waxed cardboard boxes and flash-freezing it. The two aspects of this concept that should have set him up for instant success were that his freezing method enabled a fresh taste and his packaging allowed for direct sale to consumers. I say "should have" because, though a breakthrough concept, this was not a case of "right product, right time."

Most households back then still had iceboxes, not refrigerators with freezers, and frozen food did not keep well. Mass production of home refrigeration units did not begin until after World War II. In fact, even most grocery stores at the time could not afford freezers. Undeterred, Birdseye introduced an inexpensive freezer display case and leased it to retailers. This, along with leasing the first insulated railroad cars in 1944, made nationwide frozen food distribution possible and changed the way food was produced and sold.

By today's standards, an innovation that took more than 20 years to catch on would hardly be considered breakthrough. Yet, Birdseye not only created a product, he created a market for it. In this issue, we talk about innovation not just in product, but in process and culture. On Page 20 find out how Avon globalized PLM to support the launch of more than 2,000 products per year. Also, find out how Heineken USA reinvented its approach to IT -- opening a store within its corporate offices to better serve its "customers" (Page 18). Additionally, our Standout SMB profiles (Page 22) offer shining examples of how this sector of the market serves previously untapped needs of consumers.

Finally, I promised to mention a conversation with an old friend who thought he called-out a recent game-changing innovation. Upon further research, I discovered a packaging modification in the paint category to be from 2001. Perhaps the best innovations are timeless, making us think they were invented yesterday, leaving us to wonder how we were able to live without them.

What is your favorite new product? What new product would you like to see? Let us know! [email protected]