Guest Post By Robert Brands; Innovation Coach, Speaker, and Author
Bottled water consumers might have noticed lately the shrinking size of plastic caps. Conceived as environmentally friendly, they’ve been marketed as the bottled-water industry’s solution to plastic waste that otherwise would end up in a landfill.
In the meantime, the caps are too small for some consumers to use easily. They can be difficult to grip and remove or thread and replace, especially for an aging population. And if put on poorly, water leaks out.
So much for innovation.
In their pursuit of The Next Thing, some companies implement solution-in-search-of-a-problem innovation. To be sure, the bottled water industry is not alone. The iPod Shuffle debuted as a one-inch-square micro device that won raves from its creators at Apple. It soon was panned by some reviewers and consumers as too small to easily navigate or control. On the other hand, for working out at the gym or running, the compact size was welcomed.
Even governments have faced similar issues. In Florida, for example, the move to reduce class size has left school districts struggling to meet mandates in the face of shrinking budgets. Lawsuits have been threatened.
As in the case of bottle caps, “smaller is better” has found root in the environmental cause. As a marketing exercise, it makes sense. Many consumers are alarmed about climate change. So they’re inclined to pay a little more for a “green” product. Or they might be sold on a product – like bottled water with smaller caps – in the hope of doing whatever they can to save the planet.
Yet with many such “solutions,” consumers should employ their Hype Meter and filter out utilitarian fact from superficial marketing fiction. Do smaller caps help? Should people use bottled water anyway, verses refilling sport bottles with filtered water? Do the batteries of electric vehicles create long-term issues once they’ve lived out their utility? Does the mercury found in compact fluorescent light bulbs render the products landfill and aquifer hazards?
I’m not questioning conservation measures. I, too, am concerned about Mother Earth. But consumers are beginning to question “green washing” – a marketing play on “whitewashing” over a product’s limitations or failings.
Sustainability is vital to our survival. Environmental awareness is important to a product’s or a company’s success. But for a product or company to move beyond the fad or trend, brand credibility has to be legitimate. Products must be user friendly. They must not stray from their intended purpose or utility.
In short, if the cap fails, or if the solution only causes bigger problems, does the blemish tarnish the entire brand? The key considerations for brand managers, then, are that…
– For green to be good, promises of sustainability must be sincere and well founded.
– Forget creating a solution in search of a problem – imagined or otherwise. As noted in “Robert’s Rules of Innovation” (1), ideation and new product development should strive to keep functionality in mind.
– Giving people a reason to question your integrity opens the door for competition to benefit. Remember, innovation officers’ mandates are to, among other things, to create value. You’ll best accomplish this by keeping customers’ real needs in mind.
Keep these central to your new product development initiatives and Mother Earth and the company’s bottom line and reputation may share equal, long-term benefits.
Reference: “Roberts Rules of Innovation,” by Robert Brands, Wiley, 2009.
Robert Brands was the Innovation Coach and provided coaching, training, and workshops on Innovation.
Note: Visit the Amazon bookshelf on the sidebar to get your copy of “Roberts Rules of Innovation.”
Why did someone think the cap to the water bottle needed to be smaller? They are wrong. The small caps are very hard to hold while taking off and trying to put back on. Mine end up on the floor most to the time and now it is wasted. Seniors with arthritis use a lot of water but unable to handle the small tops . I will find a bottle of water with a large oldfashoned top.
I don’t like the smaller lids because if you happen to drop the bottle or it gets knocked off a table the lid will get blown off the bottle even if it has never been opened before. Not cool!
The smaller caps on our water bottles suck!!!!! They are harder to get off and the bottles themselves are also cheaper, thinner and crush when trying to unscrew the aweful caps…. Go back to the larger caps and thicker bottles..
I have always bought Dasani . After these new caps, I’ll be looking at a different brand . These caps are awful !!!!!
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These small caps are horrible!
Not easy to take off or put back on, especially if you are driving or lying in bed at night.
They are difficult to grip and get off or back on!
Also on cardboard milk cartons. And those such cartons stop the plastic madness, and just stop using a plastic screw lid at all. Go back to the old way of opening the cardboard milk carton! The inner plastic screwed makes it difficult to try to open the old fashioned way because it’s in the way! Just give up on the plastic all together! Thank you for listening to my frustrations. I can’t get the dang plastic Lids off; they are too short to get a good grip.
I hate the bottles and new caps please go back to the old way!!
I’ve been looking for a way to contact companies who now use short caps on cartons and bottles which are very difficult to open. I hope this is the correct forum to voice my opinion. The small caps are a ridiculous size for any adult. I usually need to use a pliers or ask my 5 year old grandson, whose small fingers can fit around the cap just to open my creamer carton in the morning so I could have a cup of coffee! It’s quite frustrating! I I’m a I’m an advocate of change and truly believe we need to come up with innovative ways to help our environment. However, change needs to be for the better. Small caps are not better for the consumer. Not one person I know or met ate in favor of smaller caps. I would assume there was a test kitchen where consumers would have had an input before marketing the size change in the caps. Am I wrong in this assumption ? A change which should be made, is to eliminate the plastic cap altogether and go back to opening a milk carton, etc on the side.