How to spur innovation using Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow, the psychologist from Brooklyn who is famous for his 'hierarchy of human needs' has contributed more to the discipline of marketing than he ever would have probably imagined. Mind you, Maslow probably spent little if any time contemplating marketing so he likely would have been ambivalent towards his contribution.

Regardless of Maslow's intentions when he devised his famed hierarchy of needs, his pyramid provides us with some extremely powerful innovation exercises for business, particularly with respect to products & marketing.

One such exercise that I run through frequently is to explore how I might inject one or more of Maslow's needs into an existing product or service to help differentiate it. For example, meditating on the esteem need begs the question of how I might make my customers feel extra special, important, and worthwhile.

With respect to the need for self-actualization, which is strongly associated with giving to others, I am led to think about giving a share of profits to charities selected by my customers. As a purely hypothetical example, let's say for every $100 car insurance premium paid by a customer, $2 will be given to a charity of the customer's choice, which she gets to select while paying her premium online.

In using Maslow's hierarchy as a potential playing field for innovation, it is critical to first identify the core benefits provided by the product you're looking to innovate around - whether it be security, guidance, hope, pleasure, saving time or money, etc. Only once you have a clear grasp of the core benefit of your product will certain needs within the hierarchy begin to resonate, and will opportunities for innovation in your marketing or the product itself begin to "pop".

More to come on innovating around Maslow's hierarchy in future posts - I have some neat frameworks & tools for you to use which will beef-up your Maslow-muscle. As always, feel free to contact me with any of your questions, comments or thoughts.

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Other posts on Maslow:

• Injecting some Maslow into your marketing