Creax triple diamond framework for purposeful food innovations

The Creax triple diamond approach leads you through a systematic sequence of diverse (data-driven) research and exploration steps, followed by making decisions after bringing all the elements back together. These are the kinds of decisions you will make:

You’re a top leader in a company that makes ice cream. For a while, your sales have been steady.

But now, with more people wanting green products, energy problems, and changing what they buy, there’s more competition. Your company knows that using butane gas might not work in the future because it’s not renewable. So, you’re thinking about the tech out there and what products you should make to stay in the game.

To make products that will sell well in the future and fit with what your company is good at, you need to think about what customers will want and what new tech can offer. Using the 3-diamond method can help find these new wants and tech opportunities, helping you build a strong product line for the future.

The first thing to do is:

Which trend do you want to address? Each scenario requires different types of cooking solutions and will impact your investment decisions accordingly. Which scenario would you choose to pursue, and what are your reasons? Your colleagues may have differing opinions. Unbiased, data-driven insights can aid in making this decision. Currently, flameless cooking appears to be the most prominent trend and aligns well with your strategy to leverage renewable energy. Click here to explore the details.

The world keeps changing, and securing your business’s future with fresh ideas can be challenging. Innovation goes beyond being a trendy world-it’s essential for success.

It is tempting to develop new solutions from what you know and do best. But as a producer of ice cream, you want to avoid investing in developing new products without knowing whether they will be succesfull. That’s why knowing how new trends will affect food behavior will be perceived, and what impact this will have on cooking solutions. Here are some scenario’s:

Inspired by sustainable ingredients, new types of flavors and active ingredients, new types of formulations, alternative ways eating food products, the ultimate dream is to develop a rich portfolio of novel ‘mochi’-style ice cream products that are healthy (e.g., involving bioactives, alternative sweeteners, low-fat), create a very differentiating feeling when eating (e.g. based on fractal proteins), that are individually packed (e.g., from biocompostable materials), and that can be eaten either on-the go (they keep form and shape at room temperature for a while) or on restaurant (e.g. deep-frozen or added to a ‘cream-tea’).

A bit far off what you do now? Horizon planning helps to build gradually, but in a smart way your dream. Here, a simple recombination of flavors and the use of new flavors, perceived as biological or vegan, can be your first version. In the meanwhile, you can experiment with active ingredients in existing formulations. And at the same type, a side product launch can introduce your new ‘mochi’-style ice cream products. During this launch, new forms, combinations, other functionalities can further enrich your product portfolio and brand.

Technologies evolve or are substituted by others. So we consult to keep track of these developments and the early signs of disruption. But let us also give you confidence at the same time. Thanks to our Future Thinking methodology (using the Triple Diamond framework), we’ve looked far into the future with an open vision, so we can be sure we won’t run into any surprises. And that gives you confidence for your ongoing investment in product development and go2market.

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