Hybrid Liquid Hand Soap
Product: Softsoap Ensembles
Brand: Softsoap
Retailer: Target
Type: Mass
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Softsoap Ensembles is a new liquid hand soap system that is partly durable and partly consumable. The product has a durable, reusable metal pump that you simply move from one soap base “cartridge” to the next. This approach greatly simplifies the refilling process, promotes both better reuse and recycling and provides the user with greatly improved design aesthetics.
Ok. Ok. You can call this example shameless self promotion if you must ( since 2ndEdison designed and developed this product for Colgate. ) however, this is a perfect example of how a pattern of innovation can be reapplied to make a new product in another category. Just take a look at the razor blade business and you will see a well developed spectrum of products including fully disposable razors on one end and completely durable razors on the other. In the middle, you find the hybrid: durable razor handles with disposable blades. The hybrid in this case delivers a significantly better experience for the end user and also accounts for the bulk of the revenue in that market.
If you look at the liquid hand soap category prior to Softsoap Ensembles, there really were no hybrids. The consumer was forced to either buy a completely durable dispenser and refill it, or buy a completely disposable dispenser and throw it away. So look for the opportunity to make a hybrid in your business. It is not just about creating hybrid durable and consumables either. Could it be part product and part service, part analog and part digital, part new and part used, or? The trick of course is finding that perfect match that creates something truly new and relevant for the category.
Innovation Pattern: Make a Hybrid from the Ready Alternatives
Sparks: (Ideas for how to reapply this pattern in another product category)
- How can you find a middle ground between the ready options a consumer has in the category?
- Would making your product or packaging more disposable add any value?
- Would making your product or packaging more durable add any value?
- What other categories of products could be merged with your product to create something new?
- What would make consuming or using your product easier for the consumer?
