How I Helped Procter & Gamble Design an Onsite Experience that Inspires Agile Innovation connect + develop Partner Summit - page 2

The thought leadership ignites behind the curtain, actually, past the green room door of the John G. Smale auditorium, the massive event space in the main tower of Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) Cincinnati, Ohio world headquarters.

As the creative provider of design, emcee support, strategy and writing for the 2014 connect + develop Partner Summit, it’s inspiring sharing conversations and ideas with my fellow P&G vendors like Tim Hammond, Durham University; Andrew Backs, former P&G staffer and founder of startup and brand consultancy, Pilot 44, and Jayson Yuan, with the online investment platform, Circle Up.

While the Smale auditorium is a familiar home to many P&G staffers for its company meeting, a creative team including designer D.J. Trischler, P&G staffer Rick Mason and I help transform it into a pop-up innovation conference via 20-odd TED-like talks, all of them with the goal of attracting, finding and igniting innovation opportunities with the company’s strategic partners.

One by one, we take to the stage to discuss their innovation case studies and concepts in front of hundreds of visitors from P&G’s global network of valued vendors. Listening to Backs and Hammond share their concepts around co-creation and developing operations that support innovation 24/7, it’s clear that they fully embrace the summit’s title, Innovating in the 21st Century: Building the Unexpected to Create Value Together.

SR Media helped Procter & Gamble design an onsite experience that inspires agile and rapid innovation.

Sharing a Spirit for Discovery

Looking back approximately 130 years to Cincinnati’s Mill Creek Valley and P&G’s innovative Ivorydale Industrial Complex, where production of Ivory soap began in 1886, a Spirit for Discovery becomes the core theme in support of the connect + develop Partner Summit.

It’s this Spirit for Discovery that helps ignite innovative products like Olay Regenerist, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and SWASH, a home clothing restorer and alternative to dry cleaning.

An event as unique as connect + develop also has the ability to make a long-standing impact on attendees because its sponsor company’s core messages of discovery are honest and organic.

Combine these messages with the day’s presentations around open innovation, increasing agility and speed in one’s business models and the combinations are compelling and powerful.

Agility. Speed. Managers want a platform that speeds commercialization. That’s the call to action from Andre Lee, CEO & Founder of Technology Reserve, an open product development platform that delivers the latest tech to enterprises of all scales.

“I believe in the democratization of innovation,” Lee tells the Smale Auditorium audience. “I also believe this is how we work and create in today’s shared economy.”

 

SR Media Helped Procter & Gamble Design an Onsite Experience that Inspires Agile Innovation.

John Scarchilli, Science Communications, P&G, highlights the importance of agile, rapid product development by presenting the Disney Magic Timer App by Oral-B, a unique product to make dental health fun for kids.

More importantly, Scarchilli’s compelling story behind the co-creation of the Disney Magic Timer App inspires the attendees to work consistently at moving the operations needle when it comes innovation.

Finally, by the day’s end, after shared presentations and private negotiations, everyone at the connect + develop Partner Summit agrees that embracing a spirit of discovery enables all of us to do our best good possible and that drives us to deliver the best consumer good(s) possible.

Learn how SR Media can build, design and implement a unique experience for your enterprise. Contact steve@steveramosmedia.com or call 1-513-295-4488.