65

The Art of Translating Market Insight into

Business Opportunities for Innovation
Ellen Di Resta
President, Synaptics Group, Inc.
Arlington, MA
ediresta@synapticsgroup.com

Abstract
Identifying and evaluating market relevant opportunities is an important pre-cursor to the
execution of a product development process. If organizations want to innovate new
products and services that will reliably connect with the market, they must develop
expertise in translating market motivations into products and services that will satisfy
them. This is best achieved using people who possess the ability to synesthetically
connect seemingly disparate disciplines in new ways. This type of translation skill is not
broadly recognized by the majority of people who work within large companies, yet it is
vitally important in developing opportunities that are relevant to the market. Companies
that learn to recognize this talent, and adopt a process that will make this skill accessible
to the organization, will be able to reap great returns on innovation investment.

1. INTRODUCTION
By all rational accounts in today’s market, Tyler Brûlé should be sitting in the middle of colossal
failure. In late 2007 he launched Monocle, a global briefing publication covering international affairs,
business, culture and design, developed for an international audience hungry for information across a
variety of sectors. [1] It is no secret that the publishing industry is currently experiencing tumultuous
times, with many publications from high end magazines to newspapers closing their doors, yet Monocle
is growing. In fact, Brûlé has expanded his concept to include retail stores (another currently troubled
industry), launching the fourth one in June 2009. [2] The publications are very well produced as is the
website, and there is no user generated content. None of these venues are new, so what makes Monocle
a success? What is Brûlé doing that allows him to be successful by going against current wisdom?
An interview with Brûlé in The Australian [3] asks this very question, and Brûlé’s responses are
quite revealing. While there are several factors responsible for his success, what stood out was his
statement that they don't do any research at all, and that he doesn't believe in it. He then described his
idea of research, which consists of using focus groups to decide what the cover should be, or other
specific executional details. Later on in the interview, he talked about how he spends time with
consumers in the shop, just having a chat with them. He also mentioned that he watches what
magazines business people are buying in the airport, and then described how he observes what people
are reading on the plane. From reading his weekly column, it can also be seen that he is spending the
bulk of his time staying in touch with the real people in his market, either by meeting with them at his
stores, or personally vetting recommended products and destinations. Also, like his readers, he
maintains a grueling travel schedule, and makes sure his reporters and correspondents are in the places
they are covering. He then mentioned that they did use a readership survey to confirm some of their
assumptions about their readers' habits, but it was not to learn what features they might like.
Like most business people, Brûlé has a very narrow definition of what research is. The ethnographic
and immersion research methods he is using are being used more frequently in business, but their use
alone does not account for the decisions Brûlé has made in determining Monocle’s offerings. Brûlé is
certainly learning a lot about his consumers, but they did not directly ask him to launch that specific set
of offerings in the way they are offered. So how did he decide what to do? And what made him suspect
that it would work?
This is not Brûlé’s first success. Several years ago, he launched Wallpaper, a well-known magazine
within the design profession. It too was a unique offering that fit the needs of this niche market
perfectly. Since he caters to such niche markets, Brûlé is not as well known as those who have led
similar successes in the mass market such as Steve Jobs. Some people are quick to dismiss this type of

Volume 2 · Number 2 · 2010

 m



  
 
 
    

 




 

 
   
    

 
 


 


 

 





 

  
    








  

   


   

 


 !!" 

#
m $ %
ë

 ë  

 
 
   !"#$%&
 &&
'()(!***+,$
-

.*()/0 !
1
.*23/ 1
.*+'/ 
 1







4
 
 

'    (  
)
 (
*

+,+

  
           
  
(-   (  


 (    . ( 
   
- 
/           
( 
/
)
 ( 



5 
 
 + 
,

  ( 
 / - / (  
    0  

)- 
/ (  ( - 

 

 
1
    233+ (  /

233

 
3*