INNOVATION SPRINTS

Get in, get SMART. GET THE clarity you need — and get out.

Our modular Innovation Sprints are hyper-focused, efficient, cost-effective and built for the moment you’re in

INNOVATION
MINDSET

We partner with Experience Institute to help your team develop the right tools and mindset to get to work.

  • LENGTH: 2 DAYS

    OVERVIEW: Help your team think and approach work differently, right away. In partnership with the Experience Institute, Day 1 is a workshop on exploring the innovation mindset and design thinking.  Day 2 is a short follow-up project that puts those new skills to work immediately. Your team leaves with the tools and perspective to approach innovation projects in a fresh, productive way.

    REQUIREMENTS:
    1. Your internal team is ready to think differently

    2. 8-14 hours time commitment for sessions and workstream

THE IDEA
JAM

A catalyst to dream, identify and capture new, interesting and fundable ideas.

  • LENGTH: 5 OR 10 DAYS

    OVERVIEW: A catalyst to create new, interesting and fundable ideas. If you’ve stalled out or feel stuck; or want to inject new thinking into your pipeline, this sprint is designed to to get wild and dream big. Stone Labs’ variety of diverse thinkers and doers join your team to generate concepts. From there, we narrow down to the richest ideas and vet them with your core consumer through research. You take away a bunch of golden nuggets ready to be explored further.

    *research required for this sprint

    REQUIREMENTS:
    1. Internal Staffing: Committed 2-4 internal owners
    2. 10-15hrs total for sessions and workstream
    3. An understanding of your category landscape
    4. Clarity on your strategic heading
    5. Business or manufacturing constraints
    6. Core consumer problem or landscape

CONCEPT
LAB

We help you decide which product concepts have the most promise by developing stim and pursuing research for consumer learning and insights.

  • LENGTH: 5 OR 10 DAYS

    OVERVIEW:  When you have a variety of detailed ideas and want to know which ones to develop — with confidence. This sprint will gather the evidence you need to make sure you’re on the right track. Stone Labs’ designers, strategists and insights specialists will work with you to create testable concepts aimed at your core consumer. You’ll understand through research what is meaningful to them, and why. And you’ll leave with vetted, compelling concepts and the confidence in where to invest.

    REQUIREMENTS:
    1. Internal Staffing: Committed 2-4 internal owners
    2. 12-15hrs total for sessions and workstream
    3. An understanding of your category landscape
    4. Whitespace identification
    5. Core consumer problem to solve
    6. Existing concepts to narrow down

POSITIONING
UNLOCK

We help you uncover how you might talk, show up, and position your product to gain consideration from your core consumer group.

  • LENGTH: 5 OR 10 DAYS

    OVERVIEW:You have a new product that delivers with a real point of difference — and you want to make sure the product positioning and message resonates with your core consumer. We’ll start an iterative verbal and visual process where we experiment, listen and learn from consumers through research. You’ll take away an understanding of what works, what is most important to them, and how your positioning can start to show up in the real world visually.


    *research required for this sprint

    REQUIREMENTS:

    1. Internal Staffing: Committed 2-4 internal owners
    2. 8-12hrs total for sessions and workstream
    3. A fully developed product offering
    4. An understanding of your core consumer: psychographics, ethnography, general profile

BRAND
CAMP

Build the strategic brand foundations to guide how your emerging brand will show up in the world.

  • LENGTH: 3 DAYS

    OVERVIEW: Build the foundations for your early-stage brand. Your brand is a key part of your total product offering, and this rapid sprint guides you through a focused process to uncover who you are as a brand and what you will bring to the marketplace. You leave with the key brand elements to build upon as you grow strategically: Purpose, Positioning, Personality, Core Values and Future Roadmap. 

    REQUIREMENTS:
    1. Internal Staffing: Committed 2-4 internal owners
    2. 8 hrs total for sessions and workstream
    3. Core consumer
    4. Fully developed, launch-ready product

DESIGN
PLATFORM

Before you commit to one design, this sprint allows you to explore several early creative territories to de-risk before you launch.

  • LENGTH: 5 OR 10 DAYS

    OVERVIEW: Before you commit to one design, this sprint allows you to explore several early creative territories to de-risk before launch. You’ll learn which approach resonates most with your target consumer — visually and verbally — through an iterative process supported by a mix of qualitative and quantitative learning. You leave with a recommended Design Platform to move forward with, backed by consumer feedback.

    REQUIREMENTS:
    1. Internal Staffing: Committed 2-4 internal owners
    2. 12-15hrs total for sessions and workstream
    3. A fully developed product offering
    4. An understanding of your core consumer: psychographics, ethnography, general profile

A FEW OF OUR LAB PARTNERS

  • "The team's ability to adjust to exactly what the moment needed, to get the learnings we needed, was a huge part of our success in early development." 


    Santi Strasser
    Carbe Diem Co-Founder

  • "The speed of the process felt de-risked by the methodic testing done along the way, ensuring we were staying true to the real-time consumer sentiment."

    Nicole Cardone
    Co-founder, Fruitful Brands

  • "Across the entire development life cycle from early idea to launch, the team knew the role of design. Knowing how and what to learn, then position it in the right way for it to grow through the innovation process.
"

    - G Works Brand Leader
    General Mills’ Venture Studio

  • "We had deep empathy for the consumer and experiences that we didn't have to explain because you were right there building with us."


    - Katey Alden
    Carbe Diem Co-founder

  • "The Stone Labs team understands how to mine for the true nuggets of value that are often hidden in plain sight, resulting in a rich and dynamic creative process that produces world-class results."

    Deborah Gorman
    Co-founder, Fruitful Brands