Innovation strategy beyond traditional products and markets

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest manufacturer of LCD glass, engaged us to create new product solutions that would extend their existing capabilities in LCD technology into new markets beyond TV display panels, cellular phones and digital cameras. 

Challenge
The brief was to identify, design and test new, commercially viable applications for LCD technology. Success was critical for Samsung’s LCD division in its pursuit of sustainable and margin accretive growth in what had become a technically complex yet commercially commoditized space.

What we did
We identified eight new markets that met pre-defined success criteria, and then developed a portfolio of product solutions across these markets. Two of the eight ideas are successfully in-market today. uVending solves a global supply chain problem for vending machines. It was also estimated that 30% of all vending machines were out-of-stock of at least one product at any given time.

To solve these issues, we developed uVending: the world’s first connected vending system. Samsung’s next-generation uVending machines are enabled with large-format LCD touchscreens and wireless data connectivity to transform what were previously disconnected, passive transaction points into an active real-time distribution and marketing platform.

The uVending system delivers interactive content to a global network of uVending machines, allowing a marketer to communicate a universal marketing message instantly, as well as customize content to specific regions, locations and even times of day. Automatic inventory management enabled uVending machines to both communicate low stock levels with the supply chain, and also adjust marketing communications to reflect the change in inventory.