Robo-Innovation

As Brand Manager for WowWee, Andrew Yanofsky is in an interesting position to push innovation forward. The world of consumer robotics is about as fast paced as they come with new technologies, form factors and consumer behaviours emerging constantly. Having one great property that can be slightly tweaked each year is not enough. WowWee stays on the cusp of innovation by partnering with independent inventors and funding coordinated robotics programs in universities around the world. This innovative approach has positioned WowWee as one of the most exciting toy brands in the market.

6 Questions with Andrew

1. What makes an innovative culture? How do you create a culture of innovation?

I would call it a subset of culture that really craves innovation. You have people who are naturally disposed to uncovering new and those disposed to not wanting change. A perfect example is Apple's iWatch. Certain pockets will say 'I need to have that'. They buy it on the promise of tomorrow. Others don’t see the need for it quite yet and hold on to their classic watches instead. At WowWee we constantly seek out the new. Naturally, As a technology driven toy company, we always have to reinvent ourselves each year. What our customers come to expect of WowWee is to bring in the new, so when we see new technologies we're chomping at the bit.

2. Do you have specific rituals for re-setting your team to be creative? How does your team generate new ideas?

Around summer time each year, we start to position ourselves for the following year. That means assessing all this new technology we see, and asking ourselves if various form factors would complement and augment it. If we see potential, we’ll make a Proof of Concept (POC). What's really cool about WowWee is that we can then take the POC and get feedback from the market to see if our assumptions are in check. With this feedback loop from all of our different stakeholders we can get smart as to whether we put an item out or not.

3. What is the biggest challenge you face when innovating?

The speed in which we have to do it. For us, each year we’re under the gun to come out with the next best, coolest piece. It has to be culturally relevant, and the price/value relationship has to be on point, amongst a lot of other variables like market conditions and competitive landscape. Keeping up with that innovation curve is challenging.

4.What gaps have you identified with your innovation process?

On the grander scheme I would call it Production Lag. For example, we'll start talking this summer about next year's products. If it makes it through the vetting process it becomes a question of whether or not we can make it to market in time. A common challenge is sampling. Once we decide we like an item enough to make it, the question becomes “can we get enough samples out to our international representatives, distributors and to our retail accounts?”. This proves to the market that we can deliver this item on time, and is one of the bigger challenges we face.

5. In what ways are you looking to enhance your innovation process?

We're always looking for different licenses. We'll have independent inventors come in all the time who think they have the next great play on an existing product category. And, if we can piggy back on some of their development and bring that great engineering into our manufacturing world, we're pretty good at stripping its costs down to its most basic payoffs. So in essence, one of the ways we stay innovative is by increasing our bandwidth. More partners, more universities, more access.

6. Looking to the future, how is WowWee going to remain a leader Innovation?

By pushing the frontiers of what people see and expect out of consumer robotics. Right now we're marrying fantastic play patterns, app connectivity and tons of fun to our robots. As we continue to innovate and push the envelope we'll look to dive even deeper into products that are perhaps more utilitarian. One of our goals is to put a robot in every home. Something affordable and accessible, that's not necessarily a toy but one that interacts in your everyday live. One that is additive to the experiences brought on by all of our other connected devices.