The Invisible Strategy Behind Beauty & CPG Product Development is vetting, which requires three capabilities that remain active throughout product development.
Start here with the first capability — Recognition.
This reading guide walks through how to determine which emerging information may matter throughout product development before deciding what to do about it.
How to Recognize What May Matter
Brand, consumer, and category dynamics will continue evolving as products are being developed. Staying relevant requires distinguishing temporary activity from markets shifts and recognizing what may become consequential before the broader consensus makes it obvious.
This intelligence is continuously developing. Every function is contributing knowledge from its own perspective, creating a broader reference point for what the brand and its products may need to account for next.
The skill is knowing how to read those signals beyond your immediate category or function so you can recognize what may matter early enough to determine what it means for the brand.
Futureproofing a Brand is Knowing What Will Outlast the Trends
Read This to Understand:
- Brand, consumer, market, and category dynamics are constantly evolving, but you need to determine which changes are temporary and which ones may become important enough for the brand to account for.
Key Takeaway:
- Not every change in the market has the same significance. Distinguishing trends, new entries, and market shifts helps determine what the brand may need to account for.
Why It Matters for Vetting:
- Futureproofing a brand requires recognizing what is becoming non-optional before the market makes it obvious.
What you’ll understand:
- Products are developed on longer timelines compared to the market changes. Recognizing structural shifts early helps teams evaluate whether an opportunity is building toward where the market is going or responding to activity that may not last.
How Product Strategists Recognize Where the Industry is Heading
Read This to Understand:
- Something appears to be changing within your category, but the signal is not established enough for the market to agree on what it means yet.
Key Takeaway:
- Widening the frame beyond your immediate category helps reveal patterns across different contexts and recognize when an emerging signal is becoming harder to ignore.
Why It Matters for Vetting:
- Consumers do not live by product categories. Recognizing what may change within one requires looking beyond it.
What you’ll understand:
- Recognizing patterns before they reach category-wide consensus gives teams more time to determine what an emerging shift could mean for the product and whether it should influence what the brand develops next.
Recognizing that something may matter does not tell you what to do about it. Next is determining what that information means for strategic decision-making.
—by THE BUILD BRIEF