WE are PURPOSE-driven INNOVATIon catalysts.
The Innovation Agenda is an independent collective of strategic innovation practitioners who help to grow food, beverage and wellness businesses via meaningful innovation programs and projects. We're not academics, theorisers, psychologists or researchers. We're actual innovation practitioners that have direct experience in building brands and businesses through innovation for some of the world's largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisations.
Our innovation experience:
Innovation initiatives and NPD projects (excluding ‘renovation’)
Incremental net revenue (including multiple $20M+ ventures)
Success rate for all innovation (vs. industry average at 17%)
PURPOSE-DRIVEN INNOVATION
Moving from “what’s in it for us?” to “how can we help?”
Short-sighted businesses drive short-lived innovation most of the time. The incredible focus that is given to short-term share and cost-cutting initiatives hardly accounts for the future or for external factors that will influence that future. When innovation is simply viewed as a tool to close budget gaps, or as a quick and easy method to boost sales, the risks of failure are elevated. Not only this, but ‘short-termism’ also leaves a business prone to disruption, decline and possible future obsolescence.
Progressive businesses, on the other hand, those that approach innovation with a strategic, foresight-led mentality are the organisations that will win the future. Dedicated focus towards innovative ventures that are designed to solve problems for people and the planet will be most valued among consumers, generating demand and business growth. These ventures don’t need to be entirely selfless. It’s been shown time and time-again, that profit and purpose often correlate.
The need for innovation has never been greater
WHAT WE DO
We help businesses do better kinds of innovation, and be better at it.
We work with food, beverage and wellness organisations of all sizes and types, from large established incumbents through to emerging startups, small businesses and contract manufacturers. Acting as ‘venture catalysts’, we help to initiate mutually-beneficial innovation projects end programs by facilitating powerful connections between businesses and suppliers.
We believe that the future growth model is about win-win-win collaborations that drive innovation that not only results in profitable growth but also contributes to the betterment of people and our world. This means rethinking how we approach innovation and new product development.
CREATION OF NEW VENTURES
Facilitating new innovation projects and ventures between branded businesses and/or suppliers.
STRATEGIC CONSULTING
Advice and guidance on innovation strategy, innovation structures, specific projects and business model options.
INNOVATION AUDITING
Independent review of existing innovation strategy, functional processes and pipeline of NPD projects.
BUSINESS INTRODUCTIONS
Create and support collaboration between businesses, suppliers and agency partners to drive better outcomes.
WE help you OVERCOME the factors that suffocate innovation
Confusion and ambiguity surrounding innovation.
Ad-hoc approaches and tired, conventional processes.
High failure rates for innovation (75-85% of new ventures fail)
Starting with solutions without understanding problems.
Comfort, complacency, short-sightedness and linear thinking.
Perceptions that creativity means not being commercial.
Selfish innovation programs that are solely based on profit.
...BY OXYGENATING YOUR INNOVATION EFFORTS
CONSCIOUSNESS
An appreciation for ‘purpose-led innovation’.
CONSISTENCY
Strong foundations for innovation process and philosophy.
CODE-BREAKING
Curiosity that anchors innovation in problem-solving.
CREATIVITY
Applying more value to insight, foresight and lateral thinking.
CONFIDENCE
Applying open-minded rigour to drive greater success rates.
COMMERCIALITY
Building ventures that are financially-robust.
CARE
Using innovation as means to do better by people and the planet.
WHO WE
As corporate innovation practitioners, entrepreneurs and small business owners, we understand that the challenges faced by businesses may look very different, depending on the size, maturity and nature of a particular organisation.
Our aim is to help you out with these challenges, addressing them in a way that is complementary to your existing capabilities and competencies. Here’s just some of the ways we help food and beverage-associated businesses:
START-UPS
Networking and introductions, strategic marketing and product development advice, contract manufacturing search, innovation tools and processes.
SMALL BUSINESSES
Networking and introductions, strategic advice on scaling and growth pathways, marketing and product development guidance, innovation pipeline auditing, contract manufacturing search, innovation tools and processes, distribution and retailer meeting support.
ESTABLISHED BUSINESSES
Networking and collaboration opportunities, brokering new ventures (with start-ups, small businesses and/or contract manufacturers), assets capability and utilisation improvements, strategic innovation and research support, innovation tools and processes, innovation pipeline auditing and disruption risk profiling.
CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS
Networking and business development, innovation-driven improvements in asset utilisation, innovation project advice, new ventures creation (with start-ups, small businesses and/or large established organisations).
BUSINESS SUPPLIERS
Assist in commercialising or scaling intellectual property, catalyse new ventures with business partners, innovation strategy development.
PEOPLE
The Innovation Agenda is led by innovation practitioners who collectively have more than 30 years’ experience driving business growth through innovative solutions, including new products, services and business models.
ADAM HAMILTON
Founder & Managing Director
Adam is an entrepreneur, brand marketer and innovation practitioner with over 15 years’ worth of experience working for some of the world’s largest consumer food and beverage businesses such as Mars, Kirin-owned Lion Co., Kraft-Heinz, Mondelez, Devondale Murray Goulburn (now Saputo) and Glanbia. He has first-hand experience with ‘turning big ships’, influencing global-level change and building innovation functions and strategies from scratch. Adam’s development of breakthrough innovation programs and new product initiatives have generated more than $120 million in incremental net revenue.
Adam has a Bachelor of Commerce (marketing management and e-commerce) from Murdoch University, is a scholar of The Marketing Academy and is a qualified nutritionist.
ALASTAIR KENVYN
Partner
Alastair has 17 years’ worth of sales, marketing and innovation experience in some of the largest and most successful consumer goods organisations around the world including Unilever and AB Inbev. He was previously a partner at ZX Ventures, AB-InBev’s global disruptive innovation unit based in New York, where he led the design and creation of Zxlerator, an organic innovation engine which is rolling out globally. Alastair has experience working across the full spectrum of innovation, from traditional new product development inside big business, through to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) and partnering with start-ups.
Alastair has a Bachelor of Marketing and is an MBA graduate at the Australian Graduate School of Management.
AS INNOVATION PRACTITIONERS, WE'VE DRIVEN SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION PROGRAMS & PROJECTS FOR THESE ORGANISATIONS:
