Consumer, Retail & FMCG Innovation Case Studies

Image of brain storming session Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-businesspeople-having-a-business-meeting-7674629/

How Innocent Built a Repeatable Innovation Playbook - UK + EU

Innocent didn’t need another brainstorm. They needed speed, confidence, and a system their teams could repeat. The goal was to reduce the time it takes to generate data-led ideas, validate them in the market, and get through decision gates without everything slowing down.

Over 3 months across the UK and EU, we worked with cross-department teams from marketing, brand, digital, and insights. This was not theory. We ran on-project workshops and built Innocent’s own innovation playbook, designed to fit how they already worked while upgrading how they make decisions. The focus was making them more lean, more agile, and faster, without lowering the quality of thinking.

The output was twofold. First, a repeatable innovation playbook with clear decision gates so teams could move from idea to evidence and make confident calls sooner. Second, a validated concept that was greenlit with a funded roadmap and delivery plan. The concept blended digital and live experience in London, using a fun, gamified approach to encourage healthier eating for kids while educating them on food, fruit and vegetables, and the health benefits.

The point was not to “do innovation”. It was to make innovation behave like a capability, not an event. Faster learning, clearer decisions, and a playbook that keeps working after the project ends.

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How Staples Found Its Next European Bets - EU

Staples saw what many incumbents miss until it is too late. New competition was changing how B2B customers buy, not just who they buy from. The CEO wanted a clearer read on the shift, and a set of opportunities that were grounded in real behaviour, not internal assumptions.

Over 6 months in the EU (Netherlands), we combined customer discovery with deeper B2B behavioural analysis to surface pain points and reframe the problem. This was not a surface-level “what do you want” exercise. We looked for what customers actually do, where friction shows up, and what that implies for future buying behaviour.

We ran interviews, mapped journeys and jobs-to-be-done, and used behavioural data to challenge the original framing. Then we used workshops to translate insight into options, and options into a prioritised opportunity portfolio. The output was practical and CEO-ready: a clearer strategic direction and a ranked set of opportunity areas that could be shaped into new concepts and pilots.

The point was simple. When buying behaviour changes, your old playbook becomes the risk. This work gave Staples a decision-grade view of what was changing and where to place smarter bets in response.

Turning Toy Design Into a Repeatable System - IMC Toys / Disney - Spain

You can have the best brand in the world and still ship toys kids do not care about. At IMC Toys, with Disney as the client, the issue was not creativity. It was the process. The design workflow was effectively build-first, with too little customer research and prototyping before committing to production. That is how you burn budget, demotivate teams, and end up guessing what “good” looks like.

Over 3 years in Spain, we changed the system. We upgraded the skills and the way the team worked, reduced staff turnover, and built a repeatable approach that made customer evidence part of the job, not an optional extra. The key shift was simple: research and prototype before build, then use what you learn to make decisions early while change is still cheap.

We put in place an end-to-end workflow with clear decision gates, a cadence of customer research and concept testing with kids and parents, rapid prototyping to pressure-test ideas before committing, and training so the team could run it without dependency. This did not just improve output. It improved confidence and speed, because the team was no longer arguing from opinions. They were learning directly from the audience.

The outcome was commercial and cultural. During this 3-year period, IMC Toys’ revenue increased by around 40%. At the same time, the team became more stable and more effective because the process stopped punishing people for not being psychic. It rewarded evidence, iteration, and better choices earlier.