A queue full of rocket-powered horses

Maybe he didn't say it, but he probably meant it

Think inside the box Henry Ford didn't actually say "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses," but it's true. People may well have asked for faster horses. What they probably wanted was to get to their destination more quickly and conveniently, ideally without the risk of being thrown from a height into a pile of...recently digested grass. Truly new ideas rarely arrive in an Archimedean bath-leaping flash of inspiration1.  They are more likely to arise from long immersion in the chunky soup of research, customer interviews, experiments and knowledge borrowed from other fields.  So no, you don't have to just ask people what they want. You can read between the lines, and ask good follow up questions. Learn about people's lives and their jobs to be done, and interpret their comments in that context. There is no guaranteed formula for inventing new products or even for making changes everyone will like, but your customer service inbox is an incredible source for the input you need to greatly increase your chance of success. The trick is to recognize that input in its raw form, and to have a process for getting it into the right hands. If your support team is merely a buffer against problems, those insights will never make it through. The truth is out there.   1 "Despite what TV writers seem to think" Mat Patterson Help Scout Turning support requests into customer insights Your customer service team hears directly from customers who have specific questions but are also providing incredibly useful information. Here's how to collect that information and get it to the people who need it. Think inside the box Why Analytical Reading Is a Must-Have Skill Read more › Why Steve Jobs Didn't Listen to His Customers Read more › How to Create a Customer Feedback Loop That Works Read more ›   100 City Hall Plaza 5th Floor  •  Boston, MA 02108 view in your web browser  |  unsubscribe Made by hand in over 75 cities around the world. © 2022 Help Scout View in browser

The Next Big Activewear Categories

Why We Root Against Celebrity Beauty Brands, What's a ZEO?

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY: THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022 Activewear brands are creating products tailored to fans of fast-growing sports like pickleball and boxing. Hailey Bieber and Kim Kardashian have wildly different ideas about overcoming consumer fatigue around celebrity beauty lines, writes Rachel Strugatz. Edelman has named designer Harris Reed its first "ZEO," heading up the company's new Gen Z Lab, an effort to better market to younger consumers. Ann Demeulemeester is the subject of a retrospective as her namesake label plots a turnaround. This week on The Debrief, BoF's luxury editor Robert Williams explains why Chanel is opening private boutiques for top clients. What will it take to fix fashion's greenwashing problem? Join us for our new BoF masterclass series.

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RETAIL The Hunt for Activewear's Next Big Category By Chavie Lieber and Daniel-Yaw Miller

Luxury brands and startups are betting on the growth of pickleball, padel, rugby, boxing and skiing to inspire a new appetite for sportswear. READ MORE

BEAUTY Why Do We Root Against Celebrity Beauty Brands? By Rachel Strugatz Two of the most talked about celebrity skin care brands make their debut this month – Hailey Bieber's Rhode and Kim Kardashian's SKKN by Kim. But are consumers getting tired of celebrity beauty lines? READ MORE

LUXURY Ann Demeulemeester's Enduring Modernity By Angelo Flaccavento 'I do not like timeless,' said the Belgian designer, whose freshly opened retrospective highlights a body of work that is both of its time and completely modern. What does that spell for her brand's reboot under Claudio Antonioli? READ MORE

MARKETING Here Come the 'ZEOs': Inside Edelman PR's New Gen-Z Project with Harris Reed By Alexandra Mondalek The world's biggest PR firm and consultancy tapped the gender-fluid designer to help lead its "Gen Z Lab," part-consultancy, part-data hub, to better understand the next generation of consumers. READ MORE

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NEWS BRIEFS Forever 21 Takes Third Crack at China With New Bricks and Mortar Store H&M Sales Jump as Shoppers Return After the Pandemic

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PODCAST Why Chanel Is Opening Private Boutiques By BoF Team

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