From fast food to hotels, open beta-testing enlists consumers for product development
Brands have been co-creating products and services with customers for decades. The concept is gaining fresh momentum in the form of open beta testing, with various brands ‘launching’ semi-baked products and inviting consumers to help adapt and refine.
Why now? On the one hand, it’s a transparency play from brands looking to build strong, trusting relationships with consumers. And on the other, it reflects the growing presence of generative AI, which consumers are increasingly using to (wildly) reimagine existing brand offerings however they please.
A couple of recent examples that demonstrate how brands are tapping into consumer preferences and creativity for involved iteration:
- MM:NT Berlin Lab defines itself as a beta-hotel and the world’s first and only ‘hotel laboratory’. The highly digitized property opened in July 2024 with the intention of learning more about consumer preferences and behavior over time – information it will then leverage to continually tweak and improve the guest experience both in Berlin and in future hotels it plans to open.
- KFC Philippines recently launched a campaign inviting consumers to use an AI-powered image generator to create Meta stickers of their dream KFC snacks. After gathering countless data points on consumer preferences, the brand selected 11 of the most innovative ideas and rustled them up IRL. While KFC’s snacks were just prototypes to be enjoyed by the winners, rather than consumer-facing products, the initiative reveals how gen AI is becoming a valuable testing ground for brands who are brave enough to engage with it.
Is it time to rethink your launch strategy? Whether or not you make AI part of the mix, bring consumers into your product development process by involving them in your earliest iterations.
