Ideas
Explore the world's #1 largest database of ideas and innovations, with 460,503 inspiring examples.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,240 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 321,097 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Consumer Insights
Uncover major shifts and emerging opportunities with our exclusive PRO research.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,240 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 321,097 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Trend Reports
Get fast, customized trend reports, presentations and deep dives 20x faster than traditional research.
Plans
Get started today with a free consultation, our self-serve tools, or a dedicated program.
Articles & Magazine
Get inspired with our 4,210 innovation strategy articles, keynote, videos and innovation tools.
Innovation Awards
Trend Hunter’s Innovation Strategy Awards recognize the best innovation tactics gathered from our interviews with some of the world's most notable business leaders, authors and change makers.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Innovation Assessment
Enhance your innovation potential with a deeper understanding of your unique innovation archetype and how your organization benchmarks.
FuturistU
Prepare for the years ahead with 100+ lessons, tactics, tools and frameworks with our full learning database.
Innovation Books
Join 20,000,000 people getting better and faster with our New York Times Bestselling books and keynote videos.
Jeremy Gutsche
Ignite your event or virtual event with our CEO, a NY Times Bestselling Author and one of the top innovation keynote speakers.
Our Team of Speakers & Virtual Presenters
Inspire your group with our most popular speakers on innovation, trends, change and futurism.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Custom Masterclasses
Join the world's leading brands who leverage our custom programs to accelerate innovation.
FuturistU 5-Day Program
Become a Futurist with our immersive 5-Day program at Future Festival World Summit.
Online eLearning
Learn the fundamentals of futurism and trends with 100+ online courses about innovation.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Contact
Get in touch to learn more, ask a question or submit a tip.
About Us
Learn more about Trend Hunter and how we accelerate innovation.
Follow-Us
Join our 3,500,000 social media followers, on the cutting edge.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
FAQ
Get answers to common questions about Trend Hunter.
Community
Stay on the cutting-edge with the help of the Trend Hunter community.
Team
Meet the team trusted by hundreds of leading businesses worldwide.
Jobs
Find opportunities to accelerate your career with the #1 Trend Firm.
News
Catch up on noteworthy Trend Hunter news and media mentions.
Join
Build a portfolio and put your trend-spotting abilities to the test.
Advertising
Supercharge your marketing by partnering with Trend Hunter.
Portfolio
Visit your public portfolio and browse your past articles.
Add a Trend
Write up an article and showcase your trend-spotting skills.
My Trends
Edit your articles and see how they stack up on the leaderboards.
Settings
Edit your profile, connect your social media accounts, and more.
Add a trend, customize your dashboard, or track topics.
Future Festival
Innovation Events
Join the world's top innovators at our in person events.
Free Webinars
Learn to innovate through chaos, navigate the new normal and maintain work culture from home.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Search our database of 460,503 cutting edge ideas.

The Art of Process-Driven Innovation (INTERVIEW)

Darren Serrao, VP, Innovation at Campbell's Soup
Taylor Keefe
March 5th, 2013
With a storied history spanning more than 140 year, Campbell's is no stranger to innovation. However, recent declines in sales hinted at a lag in creativity and new product development, sending consumers sifting through the shelves for competitor products. In 2011, President and CEO Denise Morrison instilled a renewed sense of pride in Campbell’s innovation capabilities, and charged Darren Serrao with bringing innovation back to the forefront of the company. In a recent interview, Serrao gives us his perspective on how breakthroughs are made via insights, culture and process-driven innovation.

1. Ideation and insights are important aspects of front-end innovation. How do you motivate your team to come up with great ideas?

There's no single way to motivate people, it definitely varies. We have a dedicated team here accountable for innovation, so motivation is built in to their role intrinsically. Their job is to be leaders in conceptual thinking, and when your job is to be creative, it can be quite motivating. They're also cross-functional and collaborative, which brings out the competitive nature to succeed.

2. How significant is the topic of trend spotting to Campbell’s?

It's more important on the front-end of innovation but not exclusive to it. Trends, if anything, provide a path. It's all about the process, and the challenges that go in to refining them. For us it's about understanding our consumers -- what they eat, where they live. We spend time better understanding their pain and pleasure points.

3. Innovating is not an easy task. What are some of the obstacles you face when innovating?

There are two aspects to this question: technical and cultural.

TECHNICAL - The reason why innovation is so important right now, the reason why everyone is talking about it is because it's difficult. The probability of success is really low. It's difficult to know early on whether you have a success or a failure on your hands. Another technical aspect is the consumer reads -- the insights. They can be flawed. Then you have things like new technologies, new practices. We're trying to make the process of innovating as smooth and efficient as possible, to reduce these obstacles.

CULTURAL - Human beings don't like change: that is the truth of every culture. It's important to make sure that you have the right people with clarity and good definition. Those are the people who tend to be more aggressive and take an aversive approach. They like to minimize risk, they're intellectually curious and they're willing to experiment. Those are the kinds of people who accept change and strengthen your culture.

4. What can be said about the culture at Campbell’s? How do you create a culture of innovation?

There’s a lot of things at play when creating an innovative culture. Skill building, cross-functionality, collaboration, and then refining those skills over and over again. We have a CEO who's made a commitment to innovation. From the very beginning, Denise Morrison has understood the importance of innovation and how it will be an important factor in transforming the company. It's about creating a desire to innovate within the organization. The approach to creativity has to be crucial and made reliable for the culture to grow.
References: linkedin, campbellsoup