Events • Jun 10, 2025 9:57:08 AM • Written by: Bri Carlone
Informa’s Front End of Innovation (FEI) wasn’t your typical innovation conference. It was fast, hands-on, and rooted in action—true to its theme, Harvesting Innovation: Sowing the Seeds of Future Growth. For over two decades, FEI has gathered innovation leaders to spark progress through real-world problem solving. From the need for speed and cross-functional collaboration to using social media as a behavioral lab, here’s what stood out and what we’re bringing back to the Orchard table.
1. Speed Is the New Strategy
Welch’s and Clorox stressed the idea of: Build something every 90 days.
That includes personas, business models, and fake websites to test product-market fit—fast. At Orchard, we’re inspired to think in sprints: small, focused teams tackling one bold idea at a time. The faster we learn, the smarter we grow.
2. Emotion Wins
FEI reminded us that the best ideas don’t just solve problems—they make people feel something.
From Lagunitas’ live taproom tests to Gallo’s exploration of “unclaimed emotional territory,” it’s clear that innovation must go beyond function. Make something people want, not just something they need.
3. AI Isn’t the Future—It’s the Co-Founder
Everywhere we turned, AI was leading the conversation. Not as a bolt-on tool, but as a creative partner.
Brands like PepsiCo and Visa show how they are using AI to prototype and test new concepts. If you’re not designing your innovation workflows with AI in mind, you’re already behind. But the magic still lies in human input—prompt design is everything.
4. Cross-Functional is Non-Negotiable
Innovation isn’t a department. It’s a shared mindset.
Companies winning in innovation – like Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Hospital - are those who bring together product, data, R&D, marketing, and leadership from the start.
5. The “Say-Do Gap” is Real (and Closing It is Gold)
Consumers say they want healthy, but buy comfort. They claim they’ll use your app, but drop off on day two. Visa nailed this insight: behavioral data beats survey data.
In our session with Sarah Snudden from JDE Peet’s, we showed how the brand avoided costly missteps by testing early concepts on platforms where consumers actually spend their time—and money. Closing the “say-do-gap" is possible by using social media as a real-word behavioral research lab.
What’s Next at Orchard?
Innovation isn’t a side project at Orchard; it’s how we operate.
We’re doubling down on experimentation, collaboration, and behavioral insights to shape the future of market research. Catch us next at Greenbook’s IIEX Europe Conference in Amsterdam, June 17-18, where we’ll be bringing our strategies for closing the “say-do-gap" to the EU. See you there.
