Innovation & NPD
Innovation & NPD
Mustard’s Popcorn innovation process is designed to help clients develop new products and services through 3 easy steps. “Harvest” – we use our ethnographic and online qualitative tools to dig deeper and spot opportunities. “Pop” – we deliver cross-functional workshops to generate ideas for new services, products and communications, grounded in insight. “Serve” – new solutions co-created, tested and ready to make a difference.
Why use Popcorn?
Popcorn is Mustard’s proven 3-stage innovation process.
We have used the approach to help clients develop new product and service opportunities in consumer and B2B markets. The proven process uses exploratory qualitative methods (like ethnography and communities), co-creation workshops and benchmarking surveys.

We use creative techniques (like ethnography, observations and online communities) to provide an intricate understanding of lives and experiences of key audiences – gathering and collecting clues by understanding their behaviours, motivations, unmet needs, frustrations and coping mechanisms. Our expert researchers interpret insights alongside our understanding of cross-sector trends to present priorities and opportunities – i.e. what needs fixing.
Facilitated workshops with cross-functional teams, partners and customers. Teams share ideas for fixing problems in an energetic off-site session. We guarantee you will be amazed by the volume and quality of new ideas and solutions emanating from the workshops using the classic “funnel” approach. All ideas on brand, on strategy and commercially viable.

Determining and deciding which are the winning ideas to take forward for further development and road-mapping. We re-engage with qualitative research participants to help make things real by discussing ideas in the contexts where the needs and frustrations occur and exploring and “laddering” the rational and emotional benefits associated with each. We use surveys to measure and test appeal, consideration / likelihood to buy and price sensitivity, understanding the impact on attitudes, brand perceptions and behaviours.
How Mustard helped GE Healthcare
We used innovative qual techniques to understand the needs and frustrations of cellular biologists. We used workshops to identify new opportunities then developed and tested these using qualitative and quantitative methods.
Discover how innovation and NPD can make a difference to your business
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Our people
Our people are our business. The Mustard team is an eclectic mix of skilled, passionate researchers and strategists. We’re all in the job to make a difference, and love nothing more than seeing our clients win.