This document discusses how engaging with extreme consumers can help drive innovation. It provides examples of how extreme demands from individual consumers transformed companies like Harley-Davidson and Top Shop. The document advocates finding extreme or unconventional users, called "muses," to help think laterally and create unexpected solutions that could change a business. Engaging with extreme consumers may be more valuable than typical average users when it comes to innovating new products and business models.

1. Innovating with
extreme consumers
Brian Millar, Director of Strategy
Sense Worldwide
@arthurascii

3. WELCOME TO
THE WEST
COAST.
HOME OF
ECCENTRICS...

4. ...AND
INNOVATIVE
BUSINESSES

5. ...AND
INNOVATIVE
BUSINESSES
COINCIDENCE?
MAYBE.
MAYBE NOT.

6. ONCE UPON
A TIME ON THE
EAST COAST

7. “Wou
like ald yo
u
comp new
uter?
”

8. “Keyboards on
desks are for “W
secretaries” ould
like a you
comp new
uter?
”

9. NOR
MAL
PEOP
HATE LE
NEW
STUF
F

10. HOMEBREW
COMPUTER CLUB,
MENLO PARK, CA

11. “Wou
like a ld yo
perso u
comp nal
uter?
”

12. “Yes, a nd
’s h ow to “Wou
here er” like ld yo
it bett a new u
m ake com puter
?”

13. H
T . E
O S
T E
E
R Y ’S ON
E Z
H A
C R

14. “We a
going re ne
to su ver
unles rvive
s we
little get a
crazy
”

15. “Creativity is the most
important leadership quality,
according to CEOs.”
IBM CEO Survey 2010

16. “Go get me
some
creativity”

17. iPHONE 4S:
NOT INNOVATIVE
ENOUGH
12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm

18. ZING
A MA W
N E
T HE
IS RMA L
N O
http://vimeo.com/14975413

19. How one extreme
consumer transformed
a company

20. IMAGINE
YOU’RE A
SADDLEMAKER
IN 1910

21. SHOWROOM
ON RUE ST HONORE,
PARIS

22. WWI:
GOOD FOR
BUSINESS

23. FEW REPEAT
CUSTOMERS

24. SADDLEMAKERS
IN THE AGE OF
THE MODEL T

25. ONE DAY, IN
WALKS EDWARD
ALBERT CHRISTIAN
GEORGE ANDREW
PATRICK DAVID
SAXE COBURG
VON GOTHA
THE PRINCE OF WALES...

26. “Plea
me ase m
ake
with jacke
a zip? t
”

27. bag
and ng.
ind ah
“I ca n’t f ul and stro
bea utif one ?”
tha t’s ake me
an yo um
C

28. K E T
R :
A P
M A
C N
€2 9B
>

29. WITH EXTREME
CONSUMERS,
IT’S ABOUT WHO
NOT HOW MANY

30. FASHION
REINVENTS ITSELF
EVERY 6 MONTHS

31. FASHION
REINVENTS ITSELF
EVERY 6 MONTHS
O W ?
H

32. SUPERMODEL

33. SUPERMODEL
MUSE

34. KATE MOSS IS A 37
YEAR OLD WHO
EARNS $9M A YEAR.
TOP SHOP’S CORE
TARGET AUDIENCE
IS A 17 YEAR OLD T
WITH A SATURDAY
JOB. SHE’S A
DIFFERENT KIND
OF USER. BECAUSE
SHE’S A MUSE.

35. SHE PUT THIS
PLAYSUIT
ON BACKWARDS.

36. A S
IT W T
O U
O LD
S A YS
IN D

37. How to find your muse

38. HARLEY DAVIDSON:
SADDLEMAKER
IN A MODEL T FORD AGE
Oc
1968 1969 1970 1971 1972

39. MEET
WILLIE G
DAVIDSON

40. IN THE 60’S HE
STUMBLED ONTO
THE CUSTOM BIKE
SCENE IN LA.
HE TOOK SOME
CUSTOMIZERS
BACK TO HARLEY
HQ IN MILWAUKEE.

41. RESULT:
THE SUPERGLIDE

42. RESULT:
THE SUPERGLIDE T FIR ST
ER A
SA ST
. ..A DI

43. BUT THE SUPERGLIDE
LOW RIDER
SOLD
UT RY
...O VE
E ER IKE
TH B
O Y
LE T
R U
HA P ER
GE TH
TO

44. BAKE CUSTOM
CULTURE INTO YOUR
PRODUCT

45. EY
RL ON
A S
H ID
AV KET
D AR
M AP:
C
10 BN
> €

46. Every product has an
extreme consumer

47. Your typical
average
consumers
Look here Don’t look here Look here

48. ...sometimes
you have to
think laterally

49. Running shoe design?

50. Running shoe design?
Barefoot runners

51. Sweaty feet and blisters?

52. Sweaty feet and blisters?
Dominatrixes

53. Toilet cleaners?

54. Toilet cleaners?
Obsesive compulsives

55. Toilet cleaners?
Obsesive compulsives

56. Smoking cessation

57. Smoking cessation
Recovering addicts

58. IN
L W
L E
A R
E EB
E R
’ M
W HO O W
E UB
H L N
T C

59. THIS CHANGES
EVERYTHING

60. THIS CHANGES
EVERYTHING
ARDUINO MAKES
HARDWARE AS
EASY TO CREATE
AS APPS

61. N
B S
.2 ER
1 K
C OUT
A B
H A
A E OME
R C
T O LINE
O N
GOO
GLE ‘J
UGAA
D’

62. THE FLOATING
BICYCLE,
PRODUCTIZED
BY THE HONEYBEE
NETWORK
http://youtu.be/2LnatUMwU_0

63. IF YOU CAN’T GET YOUR
PRODUCTS RIGHT,
YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL
DO IT FOR YOU.

64. an yt hat
comp osoft is
“T he M icr ed
es
tak eing fo und
o ver ly b w.”
bab ge righ 995t no
pro ara ad 1
in a g oad Ahe
The R

65. LARRY PAGE AND
SERGEI BRIN
CREATED THEIR FIRST
SEARCH ENGINE IN 1996

66. IF YOU C
AN’T GE
MOST C T YOUR
CONSU REATIVE
MERS T
YOU, TH O WORK
EY WILL WITH
YOUR C BECOM
OMPETI E
TION.

67. IF YOU C
AN’T GE
MOST C T YOUR
CONSU REATIVE
MERS T
YOU, TH O WORK
EY WILL WITH
YOUR C BECOM
OMPETI E
TION.
@arthurascii