We’ve thought long and hard about this, kept up with countless blogs and forums, discussed with design and industry experts, and of course, we’ve spoken extensively to the target customer. We wanted to give you something flashy and hip, but in the end we settled on a simple problem (with an elusive solution) with huge market potential (doesn’t mean you can’t make it flashy and hip!).
Problem
Moms with kids ages 12 months to 24 months (toddlers) are frustrated because they can’t find products that help their kids drink on their own without fuss, mess, spilling and spoiling. They want safe product materials and a design which leads to healthy physical development. 
Your task: Design a safe, easy to handle, spill-proof vessel that is appropriate for healthy child development and effective drinking of fluids.
Target customer: Moms of toddlers will buy your product by the millions if you please them
End user: Remember that your end user is the toddler. Will your product be good for him / her?
Outcomes
- A full-scale, dimensional “mock-up” , the model for the 3D prototype
- A written value statement that will appeal to moms
- A reward strategy for placement on Kickstarter.com
- A written “high-buzz” product marketing description
- New design to solve problem for moms of toddlers in a brand-new way
- Make moms raving fans, go for the WOW factor!
Why this?
We can only imagine you’d be curious to know why we would settle on this idea…
- As a current non-user, your perspective is fresh: the best results for innovation come from individuals outside of the initial user and who can more easily think outside of the box as a result; creativity goes up 30%when inventor is naive
- Huge market size: approximately 5 million (12 – 24 month-old toddlers in US); moms buy 5-6 or more per year of this product
- Active target customer: moms research extensively for the perfect products for their kids, and constantly share ideas and opinions with other moms
- Example of need: one mom invented a strap just to hold sippy cups and made $1.5 million in sales
- Potential for impact: existing products fall short of customer requirements; big concern for slowed speech development when using improperly-designed drinking vessels / devices
Are you ready?
The full design challenge description, along with the functional and non-functional design requirements, will be emailed to all registrants today.
We know you are all extremely busy, so don’t worry if you come to Innovate This! without having had much time to think about this beforehand. We will have guidance, experts and all necessary materials on-hand this Saturday. That being said, however, our model has always rewarded the entrepreneurially-minded. We have spoken to some teams out there who are ready to come with their own preliminary market research (looking at current products and shortcomings, getting to know the target customer’s needs, etc.), and we think this is fair game. Remember, there is a pretty cool prize at stake!
We will leave the rest up to you. There is still time to register or add members to your team. Good luck!
Can’t wait to see what cool designs result from the event tomorrow. I expect to see something no one else has ever considered!!! It could change the way toddlers get nourishment and result in a lot of happy Moms