"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" - Henry Ford. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new" - Steve Jobs. A couple of quotes that translate my perspective on the impact that consumer planning and market research have on innovation. Planning should ideally focus on exploring what drives society and cultural transformation, early detection of trends, using consumer knowledge to impact creation, understanding performance of innovation to impact creation and transformation and more focus on thinking vs. less focus groups. Finally.... LESS POWERPOINT AND MORE POWERBRAIN