Co-creating with customers could be on the agenda for social enterprise Thankyou Group, according to co-founder Daniel Flynn. Here, he shares his wisdom with FDB.
Q If you were to launch a new startup today, what would you do differently?
I'd dare to be different. When we first pitched to the retailers, we put some brave flavours on the table including fig & pear flavoured muesli. We liked it, we’d researched it and we felt it was on trend, but we were told it was too niche, and that it wouldn't work, so they ranged more traditional flavours instead. A year later, our Fig & Pear Clusters did get ranged and they are now our number one seller. If we had our time again, we wouldn’t be afraid to be different, which as a startup is challenging because you believe in things that others don’t.
If you look at Ubër and Airbnb – they were bold enough to be different and do it quickly and now they've disrupted two of the biggest global industries.
Q Name one emerging market trend that is currently on your radar.
The major trends we see are around convenience and health. There’s a lot of talk about healthy confectionery, but there is not a lot out there. This is the space we are focused on with our new individual impulse bars, which launched a few months ago and are already seeing a great sales response.
Another broader trend we see is customer involvement in creation. Consumers want to co-create and be involved with the brands they're purchasing. We get lots of feedback from customers about what they love about our products and also valuable insights on what they'd like to see in the future, and we use this information when creating.
Q Which part of your business is next in line for transformation?
We’re creating a new product range that we hope will be a game changer. We can't say too much about it yet, but it's a new place for us and will take the Thankyou brand to the next level. We have some big goals around the lives we want to impact globally, and we need to keep inventing and exploring big growth opportunities to get there.
To hear more from Daniel Flynn, head to the LIVE Disruptive Innovation industry forum, powered by Food & Drink Business and PKN, on Thursday 13 August at Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney. To book your tickets, click here now.
