SCAMPER is a beautiful innovation framework. I say it is beautiful because I have almost made it my second nature. SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, and Put to a different use, Eliminate and Reduce. From the face of it, SCAMPER may seem like an easy tool. But it all depends on whether you are able to spot the parts, services, or components that you are going to substitute, modify, or innovate. Let’s look at some examples for better clarity.
Substitue –
As I mentioned in my post, ‘From 3 pitches a month to couple of pitches a day’ the ad industry is a cutthroat red ocean market. In order to grow in such a space, I substituted its traditional ‘Wine&Dine’ sales model with the SaaS industry’s ‘Account Based Selling’. And it worked, leading to exponential revenue growth within six months. Refrigerators today use R-134a (HFC) or R-600a (isobutane). a substitution for Freo from the past, which was more harmful to the ozone layer.
Combine –
At the launch event of my book ‘Tricade: The Decades of Harmony and Mayhem’, I created 90’s themed confectionaries by combining flavors that were popular in the 90’s with the popular chocolate varities of today. This includes
- Jeera Mittai Milky Bar: white chocolate bars with traditional colorful fennel mouth-freshener candies called Balli Mitti or Jeera Mittai.
- Polo Bournville: dark chocolate bars with crunchy pieces of polo mint candies
McDonald’s Happy Meal is an example of combining food, beverage, and toys to create an offering appealing to families.
Adapt –
For my art titled ‘Shabbat Shalom’ in the Sangam Poems series, I adapted the traditional Tanjore painting style to showcase the plot twist from an ancient Tamil epic, Kundalakesi. The title for the art again is a Hebrew greeting adapted to create a pun or a punchline for the epic’s twist. In the industrial world, the often cited example for this is how Henry Ford, inspired by the production from the butchery industry, adapted it to suit his automobile production units.
Modify –
When I was a perfumer, I modified my pocket perfumes to suit the gifting market better. First, I designed the fragrances based on the life story and scent preferences of the gift receiver. Then I modified the product labels to include a picture or image of the person in the front and a small custom note on the backside. All the products around us are an example of continuous modifications. Mobile phone OS are modified often, leaving it redundant to use after a couple of years. Consumer durables are modified to become faster, cheaper, and more efficient with a tradeoff in their shelflife; things aren’t as durable as they were before.
Put to different use:
Whenever I am in a foreign country, I use Instagram more (if available in that country) to search for things to do, what to shop, cafes or restaurant’s to explore, etc. Here I am putting to use the social media site as a search engine. Similarly, as I wrote in my post, ‘The Hidden Gem’ when in a new city, I put to use the local newspaper or radio as an account book (client list) to start prospecting and selling. Mostly accidental discoveries are put to some innovative use or the other. Like sticky notes that come from adhesives that did not stick well or Viagra that was intended to dilate blood vessels in the heart but instead the drug dilated blood vessels in the penis.
Eliminate:
I hate potatoes in my Sambar! So how to improve it? I just eliminated it! Now please read the example again with careful observation. We think of elimination only when things are negative—when we cannot or hate to consume a particular ingredient, when a particular raw material is costly, when a spare part is more hazardous, and so on. The point is to see how elimination can be applied positively even when things are excellent without compromising on quality or experience. Here is an example: Just Spices, a spice blend company from Germany. The brand eliminated fancy naming conventions for their products as well as for themselves. They are ‘Just Spices’! And their product names go like ‘Egg Topping’, ‘Vegetable Allrounder’, and so on. Another example is Red Bull, which eliminated the need for soft drinks or energy drinks to taste good.
Reverse:
I started loving to code, all thanks to my first Guru, Jigar Shah. Where usually technical trainings start with the ABCDs and end with a project, Jigar literally reversed the traditional approach. As students, we began the learning process by first choosing a real-world project. The first step was to understand the structure of the project; only after that did we begin learning the ABCDs. This way, learning was faster and more pragmatic because one understood the application of theory in a better way. Most of our eco-friendly products are reversals of past habits. Once upon a time, people used paper bags and metal bottles to carry food or water. Then plastic became the vogue, and plastic bags and bottles filled not only the market but also the oceans. Now we are reversing things back to paper and metal. But again, we do it due to a negative thing—pollution. Is there a positive example of reversal? Yes, a tastier one in nature! Mangoes have seed inside and fruit pulp outside. Strawberries evolved reversing this, with seeds on the outside and fruit pulp inside.
What next?
Think on how you can use SCAMPER to improve your life. How it can benefit your life, livelihood, and lifestyle. If you are in creative professions or you are an entrepreneur, think about how SCAMPER can help you innovate your products, services, or processes. It can work well with any existing process you may have, say, design thinking or agile. If you can spot SCAMPER in your day-to-day life, then it means you have it! Once you have it, as with any innovation, see if SCAMPER helps you make things more appealing, faster, cheaper, or more efficient. If it does, then it works; it is for you. If not, don’t worry; I would be sharing more. Ways are infinite, but the goal is one: to innovate!