Introduction
Nestlé stands as the world's largest food and beverage company, a position earned through decades of market-defining innovation. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company has consistently shaped global food and drink markets with breakthrough products that transform consumer behavior. Perhaps no example illustrates this better than Nespresso—a brand that didn't just launch a product but created an entirely new category that has become one of the most profitable segments in the hot beverage industry.
The Challenge
Nestlé identified a critical challenge within its MAGGI fix&frisch product line, a popular range of easy seasoning products that had been a kitchen staple for years. Nestlé's traditional innovation strategy had centered on expanding flavor variety. For years, this approach delivered results. Launching new flavors kept the product line fresh and gave consumers reasons to stay engaged with the brand.
However, the category was stagnating because consumer preferences were shifting towards fresh products and away from processed convenience solutions. This wasn't just a minor trend—it represented a fundamental change in how people thought about cooking and meal preparation.
The market dynamics were changing in ways that traditional product development couldn't address quickly enough. Incremental improvements to an existing formula wouldn't address these deeper shifts. More fundamental innovation was needed, and it needed to come quickly.
A New Approach to Innovation
Nestlé made a strategic decision to embrace Open Innovation, partnering with Crowdworx to build a comprehensive innovation program. Rather than relying solely on internal R&D teams, the company would tap into external creativity, consumer insights, and fresh perspectives from a broader innovation community.
This represented a significant shift in approach—moving from a closed, linear product development process to an open, collaborative model that could generate and evaluate ideas at a pace that matched market dynamics.
The Nestlé Open Innovation Hub
At the center of the program was a custom Nestlé-branded platform powered by Crowdworx technology. This wasn't just a suggestion box—it was a sophisticated innovation ecosystem designed to engage participants, capture ideas, and rapidly assess their potential.
Purpose-Built Features
The platform incorporated several key capabilities specifically chosen to maximize participation and idea quality:
Mobile-First Submission – Recognizing that great ideas can come at any moment, Nestlé deployed easy-to-use mobile submission forms that allowed participants to capture and share ideas on the go, removing barriers to contribution.
Engaging User Experience – Personal user dashboards with attractive visuals made participation rewarding and kept contributors engaged throughout the innovation process. Participants could track their submissions, see how their ideas were progressing, and understand their impact on the innovation pipeline.
Advanced Gamification – The platform utilized Crowdworx's proprietary Pairwise Voting tool, a unique gamification mechanism that made idea evaluation both engaging and statistically robust. This is the most precise voting mechanism that generates more nuanced and reliable signals about idea quality—and it exists only at Crowdworx.
Built-In Market Assessment – Perhaps most critically, the platform included sophisticated concept evaluation and forecasting tools that could assess the potential market impact of an idea, including possible cannibalization effects on existing products. This capability, powered by Crowdworx's Social Forecasting™ Technology, enabled Nestlé to make data-driven decisions that would maximize bottom-line results rather than just generating innovation for its own sake.
The Results
The impact of Nestlé's Open Innovation program exceeded expectations across multiple dimensions.
Financial Impact
The average bottom-line impact per Open Innovation Challenge reached €16 million. This wasn't projected impact—it was measured value delivered to Nestlé's business results. The platform didn't just generate ideas; it generated profitable innovation that moved the needle on company performance.
Speed and Volume
Each idea challenge on the Nestlé Open Innovation Hub ran for an average of just two weeks—a remarkably short timeframe for gathering meaningful input. Despite this compressed schedule, each challenge generated hundreds of fresh ideas from the innovation community.
The velocity didn't stop with idea collection. Using Crowdworx's powerful Pairwise Voting and Social Forecasting tools, all submitted ideas could be evaluated in just 1-3 days. This rapid assessment process meant that the best concepts could move quickly into concept refinement and piloting without the typical delays associated with traditional evaluation committees and research processes.
Strategic Transformation
Beyond the immediate financial and operational metrics, the program created what Nestlé characterized as a "new engine of innovation." The Open Innovation approach significantly boosted the company's innovation pipeline, ensuring a steady flow of market-relevant concepts that addressed real consumer needs.
Perhaps most importantly, the program strengthened Nestlé's long-term strategic innovation standing. In a rapidly changing market where consumer preferences can shift quickly, having the infrastructure to continuously capture, evaluate, and implement fresh ideas has become a sustainable competitive advantage.
Looking Forward
Nestlé's experience with Crowdworx demonstrates that even the world's largest food and beverage companies can dramatically accelerate their innovation cycles by embracing Open Innovation methodologies and the right technology infrastructure. The combination of broad participation, sophisticated evaluation tools, and rapid execution created an innovation capability that matched the pace of market change.
