{"id":1783014,"date":"2025-11-11T13:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/?p=1783014"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:18:08","slug":"innovating-to-win-with-consumers-and-kantar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/blog\/innovating-to-win-with-consumers-and-kantar\/","title":{"rendered":"New mindset, new platforms: How Clorox innovates twice as fast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The following Q&A originally was published on Kantar\u2019s <\/em>Perspectives blog<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Dr. Nicki Morley, Global Innovation Leader, KANTAR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By switching its focus from technology to the consumer \u2014 and from one-off solutions to longer-term platforms \u2014 the brand has embraced AI to cut its innovation discovery time by a third and deliver bolder ideas.

Outstanding Innovation<\/a> is our annual campaign spotlighting the world\u2019s most innovative brands.

This year, we unpack the strategies of those not just adapting to change but actively shaping what\u2019s next. Powered by 2025 Kantar BrandZ<\/a> data and rich qualitative insights, we explore how these brands are finding new space and what you can learn from their disruptive innovations. Let\u2019s begin with one of the Rising Innovative Brands \u2014 new or established brands that have entered our BrandZ database in the past two years.

In recent years, Clorox has turbo-charged its innovation work through two bold shifts. Where it previously targeted one-off solutions driven by a product-first mindset, the brand now focuses on building longer-term platforms that prioritise consumer needs. By deploying agile, AI-driven processes within this framework, Clorox has cut development time threefold, doubling its innovation output while reducing spending.

The company\u2019s new agile approach involves focusing clearly on consumer tensions and desired outcomes, says Tad Kittredge, VP of marketing and innovation at The Clorox Company, and asking: \u201cWhat\u2019s the fastest way to deliver against those?\u201d This has led to successes such as the Scentiva line, which Clorox developed after noticing demand for products with deep-cleaning power that didn\u2019t leave homes \u201csmelling like a cleaner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prioritising consumer needs through agile processes<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A crucial factor has been the transition from a technology-first mindset to being \u201cconsumer-driven in everything that we do\u201d. Rushing to adopt eye-catching solutions, Kittredge explains, can often mean adding features \u201cthat the consumer wasn\u2019t really asking for\u201d. In contrast, innovation meetings now often start with a TikTok video to encapsulate \u201cwho is the consumer, and what is the problem we\u2019re here to talk about?\u201d

The brand continuously tests its assumptions to assess how well it is meeting its goals. Kittredge finds it \u201creally exciting\u201d to see how quickly teams are now \u201clearning, building and pivoting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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From one-off innovations to long-term platforms<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Another critical change has been \u201cshifting from one-off innovations to bigger, stickier platforms,\u201d says Kittredge.  Clorox\u2019s Scentiva line \u2014which includes bleach, sprays, wipes and more \u2014 exemplifies how, rather than launching one product, the brand focused on addressing \u201ca bigger tension area\u201d where it could provide a meaningful difference, generating longer-term investment and driving ongoing awareness.

This allowed it to take the concept into numerous consumer segments, \u201cwhile also updating scents and improving the products in our core offering.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Support from AI tools<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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AI tools have been an important resource, providing a \u201creally good view\u201d of consumer tensions, says Kittredge, and allowing R&D to focus on \u201ctechnology unlocks\u201d that meet genuine needs. This has empowered the brand to make significant simplifications where it had previously \u201cover-engineered\u201d products or \u201cput [its] energy into the wrong place.\u201d

An AI suite of tools that Clorox refers to as Digital Core has also helped the company accelerate development by generating and ranking concepts. It means \u201cyou never start with a blank piece of paper,\u201d says Kittredge. Though human creativity is still essential to \u201cunderstand the why.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tips for innovators<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keep learning<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When adopting AI, Kittredge says a learning mindset is as important as mastering specific techniques. \u201cDon’t get comfortable with the tools, get comfortable with the ‘how’ and driving outcomes \u2013 because the tools are going to keep changing,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to keep flexing and learning and adapting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drive end-to-end thinking<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When innovating, teams should be focused on the end-to-end solution to the extent that they\u2019re \u201cfinishing each other\u2019s sentences,\u201d says Kittredge. He jokes that \u201csuccess is when you can’t tell who the marketer, the R&D person, the supply chain person or the salesperson is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Balance boldness with stability<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

While \u201cinnovation is the lifeblood of growth\u201d, it\u2019s important to balance bold steps into new technologies or categories with smaller-scale initiatives, says Kittredge: \u201cIt allows you to take the bigger leaps if you’ve got strength in your core.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Bet with your conviction<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ultimately, brands must remember that \u201cinnovation is fueled by conviction,\u201d Kittredge adds \u2014 not necessarily in a specific solution, but in the end goal.

There may be \u201c1,000 reasons why you should not do something,\u201d he says, but success often \u201ccomes down to the person who finds that signal and has full conviction behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The following Q&A originally was published on Kantar\u2019s Perspectives blog. By Dr. Nicki Morley, Global Innovation Leader, KANTAR By switching its focus from technology to the consumer \u2014 and from one-off solutions to longer-term platforms \u2014 the brand has embraced AI to cut its innovation discovery time by a third and deliver bolder ideas. Outstanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":1783015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[750],"tags":[493,1081,439,1124],"class_list":["post-1783014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company","tag-awards","tag-brands","tag-innovation","tag-recognitions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1783014"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1783076,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783014\/revisions\/1783076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1783015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1783014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1783014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecloroxcompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1783014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}