Our Work » Growth Platform Development

Developing a Growth Strategy

Mastering a new market segment

Challenge

A nonprofit association in the U.S. that boasts over 40 million members was shocked to find that 70% of its membership admitted to helping their adult children financially. Furthermore, it found that its members were struggling with serious money issues themselves. The nonprofit, which manages a range of services from tax preparation and workplace training to health care and health insurance initiatives, realized that something had to change, and that people needed to learn how to make sound financial decisions before it was too late.

Using triple-bottom-line principles of social innovation, the client initiated an ambitious program aimed at helping the Gen-Y segment become more financially independent, so that its association membership would become less burdened. But with limited market research and no process for disruptive innovation, the client needed outside expertise to develop and drive a customer-centered process that could help turn the association’s goals into a robust new growth platform.

Approach

Using client-generated research data on the Gen-Y market, Motiv leadership began by facilitating a two-day workshop with a diverse team of experts in finance, marketing, Web 2.0, and design. The team developed a set of preliminary concepts for Gen-Y-specific offerings, which were then tested using co-creation and service prototyping methods with dozens of members of identified behavioral segments to better understand priorities and barriers. After refining the models, an integrated concept was prototyped and conveyed to a digital agency for wireframe development and alpha and beta testing using a social media platform, where it was further polished and ready for market.

Results

An innovative platform concept emerged from the effort that differentiated the client’s offering from mainstream financial services companies. Our client launched the final product, “Lifetuner.org,” in October of 2009 and it has since become one of the fastest-growing financial management sites online. In 2010, Motiv’s work was recognized with a Gold Award for Strategy by the Industrial Design Society of America, beating out thousands of candidates worldwide for the honor. Lifetuner.org continues to add members, capabilities, and a bridge to the larger set of members in the association that brought this innovative community platform to life.

Case Studies

Becoming More Innovative	Creating Citizen-Centered Experiences
Getting Design to Thrive	Improving the Grantee Experience
Finding the White Space	Building an Innovative Pipeline
Mastering a New Market Segment	Aligning for Success