5 Things You Might Have Missed at Showcase 2024

October 2nd saw the very first Highlight Showcase, a celebration of product innovation across CPG, retail, and beyond.

We at Highlight were thrilled to be joined by experts in the innovation space from disruptive brands like Whipnotic, Cabinet Health, Rent the Runway, Birchbox and more.

Gathering so many product innovation experts under one roof for the day was bound to reveal some exciting industry insights, and this lineup delivered. If you couldn’t make it on the day of, never fear–all session recordings are available on demand for your viewing pleasure.

If reading is more your speed, we’ve rounded up five of our favorite moments from the day below–so read on for the recap:

1. Product innovation isn’t just about success for your brand–it’s about transforming your category

The Highlight Showcase featured a special edition of the Highlight Reel, with Express Checkout and CPG industry expert Nate Rosen leading a discussion with Whipnotic co-founder and president Tracy Luckow and Cabinet Health co-founder and president Russell Gong about the power of packaging. [Watch the full recording.]

For both Whipnotic and Cabinet Health, packaging is a key part of their overall product experience. For Whipnotic, their patented nozzle enables two ingredients to swirl together seamlessly, resulting in flavors consumers love like Strawberry Swirl and Brownie Batter. For Cabinet Health, their packaging is key to their mission to remove plastic from the medical system.

Cabinet Health offers packaging that is plastic-free and even compostable. With distribution at key partners like CVS and Target, as well as direct-to-consumer options, Cabinet Health offers consumers a way to get the prescriptions they need while minimizing their carbon impact.

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But Cabinet Health’s mission goes even further. “If you think about your medicine cabinet or the pharmacy aisles,” said Russ, “that's just the tip of the iceberg. Start imagining the back of pharmacy, the back of hospital systems, and all the other types of healthcare products we use.”

That’s one reason Cabinet Health partners with McKesson, a global provider of wholesale medical supplies and equipment, pharmaceutical distribution, and healthcare technology solutions. Together they’ve developed and launched aluminum-based packaging with 70% less plastic for over-the-counter medications.

According to Russ, these kinds of transformations are the goal. “Doing sustainability in health care is challenging,” said Russ. “What's missing is a collaborative innovator that says, ‘Look, this isn't about taking anybody's lunch. This is about actually servicing our patients.’ We want to be a ‘challenger brand’ that does some of these harder things, that gets patents in motion, that gets supply chains in motion. We look at big players not as competitors, but as mission-aligned partners that are actually going to help us solve the problem.”

You can learn more about Cabinet Health’s mission on their website.

2. If you don’t innovate, someone else will

The Showcase’s edition of the Highlight Reel packed some serious punch when it comes to innovation expertise. While Russ Gong of Cabinet Health shared his thoughts on building a more sustainable healthcare industry, Tracy Luckow of Whipnotic talked about what it really means to be a product innovator.

“There are millions of people with great ideas,” said Tracy. “That’s so exciting. We’re here in Manhattan, and I just picture myself walking down the street, and think about the brilliant people who have walked that same street before me for decades, even centuries, who came up with ideas while walking down this same sidewalk–and all the people who are going to in the future.”

“And I think: if you don’t act, somebody else on that sidewalk will.”

For Tracy, this mindset is personal. She spent decades leading teams at some of the CPG industry’s largest companies, like Pepsi and Dannon. “I remember what it’s like to be the market share leader, and the conversation coming up: ‘Should we innovate? Should we launch something? Is there too much risk to take action?’ And when I look in the store now, there are so many brands and there are so many ideas on the shelf, it’s clear that the risk to not acting is that somebody else will.”

For emerging brands or those would-be product innovators with a great idea for a new brand, this is advice to take to heart. As Tracy concluded, “My advice is just to get started, or somebody else will.”

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3. 50% of consumers plan to spend less this year, while only 7% intend to spend more

With the holidays coming, Highlight dedicated an entire session to original research conducted with Highlight’s proprietary community of product testers. We asked them questions about financial pressures they may or may not be experiencing this season (Autumn 2024), what measures they may be taking to alleviate any financial stress, and if or how these economic conditions may be impacting their plans for holiday spending.

In this session as presented by Highlight VP of Marketing Autum Molay, we revealed data that showed a full half of those surveyed stated they plan to spend less this year, while only 7% intend to spend more.

Even before approaching the holidays, consumers say they are cutting back. 66% of those surveyed reported feeling more stressed about money than they did this same time last year, and 63% said they have cut back on “just for fun” purchases in order to mitigate that stress.

In which categories do consumers say they will cut back the most? Retail brands should prepare for a more competitive holiday season, and these consumer insights are key to preparing these strategies.

Find the full data results in this free report, or watch Autum’s presentation of the data.

4. Catch bugs in testing so you don’t have to fix them in production

What does software engineering have to do with product development? More than you might realize.

In the Highlight Showcase session called Unlocking Innovation: The Power of Sensory and Insights Integration, Head of Customer Development Carly Shira shared a slide with this important graphic:

For the uninitiated (or for those who work in software development), you might wonder what this chart has to do with physical product development.

Also called “agile”, this approach to product development is used more and more in physical product development by the industry’s leading companies. (Find more info on how Clorox fuels agile product development with data by Highlight in this recap from our Quirk’s Chicago 2024 presentation: What Physical Product Development Teams Can Learn from Agile Software Development Teams.)

Here’s the thing: Whatever kind of product you build, it’s not going to be perfect. In software development, the golden rule is not to code without causing any bugs–it’s to always create testing conditions that catch them before launch.

The same exact rule should apply to physical product development. That’s where integrating consumer and sensory insights are key to achieving a truly agile product testing experience.

As Carly explains, “When we don't combine [sensory and consumer insights], we can have tricky results. Products may be technically sound, but not perfectly relevant to consumers. Or [products] may be on trend with powerful ideas, but lack an execution of sensory appeal or efficacy.” In other words, you haven’t created the right testing conditions to catch every bug.

With in-context learning by Highlight, brands can speed up their development cycle and mitigate risk. Customer surveys can reveal trends in evolving preferences, but only when paired with “in-context feedback are teams empowered to make more informed decisions quickly.” As Carly offers as an example: “If in-context learning reveals that a product's texture isn't favored by consumers in real-world settings, and sensory testing supports this, adjustments and pivots can be made quickly.”

Remember, it is a privilege to uncover shortcomings before going to market. “When either sensory or consumer insights components indicate the product might not meet expectations, you have the opportunity to address these concerns before launch. And it's this proactive approach…that helps minimize the risk of product failure, avoids costly post-launch modifications, and maximizes impact of that product.”

You can watch Carly’s full session here.

5. You are not (necessarily) your target audience

Many a great product has been born out of a pain point a founder personally experienced. But many founders aren’t direct users of their own products. How do founders in this boat understand their target audience with the intimacy and depth it takes to build products consumers will love?

“I think they need to find ways to talk to customers and to watch customers engage with their product,” advised Jenny Fleiss, co-founder of Rent the Runway. “The data is also really important, but I want to make sure I never forsake those qualitative insights.”

Hayley Barna, co-founder of Birchbox, agreed. “I think it's really a mix of data and stories,” she said. “It might start with a personal pain point, but you can't scale to millions in revenue or millions of customers just building for yourself.”

“When you build out your team, it's another chance to bring in diversity,” added Hayley. “Diversity of age, of gender, of different demographic backgrounds. And then it's about creating a culture where people feel free to speak up and voice their thoughts.”

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Nowadays, both Jenny and Hayley use that wisdom in their work as early stage investors. They both know from personal experience that a great idea that appeals to one key audience may not make sense to another, and so it’s crucial to use both quantitative and qualitative data to make informed decisions.

Hayley shared her experience from pitching Birchbox to potential investors. “Investors, mostly male, didn't always even want to touch [the boxes]. So we’d have to slide them across [the table], tell them to open it, see what's inside, see the thoughtfulness in terms of how the product is unboxed and unfolds.”

But even then, many investors didn’t “get it.” “The real key was the executive assistants or the front office staff who were in our core ICP,” said Hayley. “We would leave the Birchboxes with them, and the investors could see the squeals of delight and the women in the office crowding around the boxes talking about them and seeing what was inside. That was our way of bringing the experience to them, even if they weren’t the ones who were going to try on the lip gloss and give the bronzer a whirl.”

As both Jenny and Hayley can attest, with data and more diverse teams at the table, it’s possible to spot great ideas.

Want more Highlight Showcase content? Every session recording is available on-demand: