Background: In 1999, Procter & Gamble launched the Swiffer, to serve the purpose of a mope, but with a unique disposable cloth. The Swiffer, however, could not be used on carpets. Because three-quarters of homes in the U.S. contained carpet, this proved to be an opportunity for P&G. Procter & Gamble’s long-standing relationship with design consulting firm, IDEO led to a joint project of creating a Swiffer product for use on carpets.
Big Idea: P&G saw an opportunity to expand their market to offer a quick-cleaning product for carpets and created a blue ocean in the process.
How it Works:
· Define innovation buckets: P&G wanted to open up a whole new market by creating a sweeper for carpets. P&G had a 75% share of the quick-clean market and expanding beyond hardwood floors would be an even greater opportunity.
· Zero in on strategic opportunity areas: painstorming IDEO started by visiting homeowners and asked them questions about existing sweepers to uncover customer needs. They found that customers wanted a sweeper that didn’t make a lot of noise and could pick up just about anything.
· Form a small team to develop innovations: sol-jam In November 2003, a team of 15 IDEO designers bought items at a hardware store that they thought might be helpful in carpet cleaning and played around until they discovered what wouldn’t work and what could be used in the prototype.
· Create a mechanism to shepherd projects: Within a couple of days the prototypes were completed and presented to P&G’s chief technology officer. The Shagilator, a box with a slit in the bottom to mimic action of a squeegee blade, was chosen and by September 2004 was being tested in 350 homes. It was tweaked and adhesive paper was added to pick up hair and lint. By July of 2005 the product was released exactly on time!
Key Benefits:
1. The CarpetFlick took advantage of the fact that about three-quarters of home floors in the U.S. are carpeted, a major advantage for P&G.
2. Adding a new bright orange color to the sweeper instead of the Swiffer green emphasizes that it’s a product for a whole new surface; carpet.
3. The unique product design to catch crumbs also has adhesive paper to catch hair and lint. It’s a quick-cleaning product that customers can pull out to quickly clean up a mess without the hassle of traditional vacuums.
Next Steps: Procter & Gamble took advantage of a major opportunity in a market that they had not yet captured (quick-cleaning carpets). They created a blue ocean by eliminating the noise and bulkiness of a traditional vacuum cleaner. They made the competition irrelevant by creating a quick-cleaning sweeper for carpets that had a design unique to others already on the market with refillable adhesive pads. And they did this all within a reasonable time frame.
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