February 2015 Digital Issue: Addicted to NEW

 

View the February 2015 Digital Issue

N-E-W! Without fail, any time I walk into a store, it catches my eye. Why are we so drawn to bright, shiny new things? I can’t resist the packaging that has those three letters followed by the exclamation point that screams, “You have to try this!”

As consumers, we flock to the latest and greatest products, and as brand owners, we struggle to keep that fresh packaging on shelves. Even stepping away from actual physical products, we’re always on the edge of our seats trying to find the next big idea, the next new business process and the fresh new minds to keep that innovative culture going.

That is why our cover story this month is about Amway, a manufacturer and distributer of health, beauty and home products that has found the right mix of consumer needs, business processes and technology for many new product successes. Whereas, General Mills followed an intuition combined with an external resource to create one new product hit with oatmeal. And, Cadbury boosted its new product innovation process through personalization.

Speaking of new, CGT welcomed Nicole Giannopoulos as Group Managing Editor, and Jennifer Cohagan as Senior Account Executive, both fresh minds coming to us from sister publications. (After all, we can’t preach collaboration for an innovative culture without following those best practices ourselves!) Finally, as you flip through the pages of this issue, keep an open mind, embrace diversity and above all else – keep us addicted to NEW!

Alarice Rajagopal