Innovation Drives Speed to Market in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry is highly competitive and increasingly regulated, driving the need for enhanced speed to market when it comes to innovation. Automotive brands must keep a pulse on their target audience’s wants and needs in order to stay ahead of trends and ensure their 10-year roadmap will remain relevant for the future. Let’s look at a recent example from this product category to see how research communities can help brands implement a Customer as a Stakeholder™ model focused on customer centricity.
In a highly disruptive industry in which new competitors are reimagining what mobility means, one of the world’s largest auto manufacturers sought to bring the consumer voice into all aspects of the organization’s decision-making process.
The manufacturer partnered with Gongos to create two long-term research communities. One representative of the marketing and one designed for luxury drivers—each with a unique look, feel, and engagement model that fit the lifestyle of the participants.
Both communities serve the core purposes of:
- Supporting over 20 teams across the organization from product development, to features development, and human-machine interface
- Assessing general consumer sentiment around topics like the economy, the election, and other trending topics to keep a pulse on broader issues and trends
To meet the diverse audience needs, a variety of activities are utilized in the communities, ranging from flash polls for quick reads to online focus groups. Through each activity, community members understand they have a seat at the table, and that their opinions will be incorporated into decision making—ultimately driving the product forward.
By adopting our community solution, the organization was able to develop a continuous stream of insights that otherwise would not have been possible given timing and resource constraints. Ultimately, embedding the customer voice into micro and macro decisions allowed teams across the organization to drive more customer-centric strategies.
