WAG’s Watts talks innovation at 2010 Product of the Year Awards

NEW YORK —Attention consumer packaged goods manufacturers: Innovation really boils down to uniqueness and relevance. That’s according to Colin Watts, Walgreens VP and chief innovation officer.

“If you think about the world from the standpoint of uniqueness, it is all about something truly different. Is it unlike anything else that I’ve seen out there?… Relevance is ‘it is important to me,’ and is it serving my needs and relevant to my life?” Watts told Drug Store News while serving as the jury chair for the 2010 Product of the Year USA Awards in New York. “The most successful innovations out there are ones that find that position where they are as unique as possible, while also being as relevant as possible.”

As jury chair, Watts was joined by several key industry and media members from such organizations as Fox Business, Fast Company and Drug Store News.

Watts, who joined Walgreens in 2008, is a healthcare and consumer packaged goods veteran, who last served as VP and general manager of the U.S. business of Campbell Soup Co. Before that, he was president of Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare Worldwide business.

“There’s a lot of micro-segmentation that is happening now in terms of new products. It is harder than ever to find broad, unmet needs in consumers, so what you are seeing is companies getting better and better about picking the target consumer that they want to appeal to and figuring out what is that unique need they are trying to meet in that area,” Watts said. “What we are seeing now is that companies have taken that extra step of literally sending out their brand managers and their [research and development] folks into the consumer’s homes and looking at their shopping behaviors and shopping habits to make sure that they deeply understand [the consumer].”

The POY is the only consumer product award that rewards innovation and is voted on by consumers. This year, entries included products from such brands as Pantene, Colgate, Sprite and Bounce. Winners will be revealed at the POY awards ceremony in February 2010, and will be able to use the POY seal for marketing initiatives.