According to Everett Rogers, the originator of the diffusion of innovations theory, adopters of any new innovation or idea can be categorised as innovators (2.5 percent), early adopters (13.5 percent), early majority (34 percent), late majority (34 percent) and laggards (16 percent).

People fall into different categories in relation to various innovations. It is innovators and early adopters who can guarantee an innovation’s successful future: if they like a new product 1-2 years later the majority will also follow and this is the point where the cost of innovation can return. This is just the reason why instead of working with representative samples or average consumers we have started doing innovation market research using groups of Opinion Leaders. These are innovator or early adopter consumers who are influential as well because they share their experiences with others. What is more, Opinion Leaders are emotionally attached to the product (or category) in one way or another. International experience is that max. 15 percent of consumers belong to this category – which can also be broken down into various segments. This approach is more and more widely used in the product innovation process (co-creation studies). From now on average consumers’ opinion only matters when already using the new product or when asked about ads…