What Real People Think About Innovation Right Now (And Why That Matters)

Every few weeks at System1, we do something simple but powerful. 

We take real innovation and put it in front of real people so we can keep learning and share those learnings with our clients. 

No overthinking. No polished narratives. Just instinctive, emotional reactions in the kind of low-attention, real-world context where decisions actually happen. 

Because that’s where innovation lives or dies. 

Using our Test Your Innovation tool, we recently evaluated 10 new product ideas. Not just to understand what people say, but how they feel and whether those feelings translate into action. 

And the results tell a beautifully clear story: 

• The winners spark emotion immediately 

• The rest have opportunity to optimize 

Where Innovation Wins: Emotional, Effortless, Irresistible

At the top of the rankings, a few ideas didn’t just perform well, they lit up. 

These are exceptional ideas by System1 standards. And they all share the same magic trick: 

They feel instantly right. 

No decoding. No effort. Just an immediate, almost automatic response: 

“That looks good. I want that.” 

This is what we call fluent innovation. And it follows a surprisingly simple formula: 

80% familiar. 20% new. 

• Carte D’or builds on trusted indulgence, then adds a fresh, playful format 

• KitKat Cookie Dough blends a beloved brand with a culturally relevant flavor 

• Aero Caramel Bubbles leans into texture and sensory appeal with just enough twist 

Emotionally, these ideas balance Happiness and Surprise. That combination is rocket fuel for our Emotion-into-Action™ metric, which predicts real-world sales potential. 

This is a core principle we see repeatedly in System1’s database of 60,000+ tested ideas: 

You don’t win by being radically different.
You win by being immediately desirable with a hint of newness. 

Strong Ideas Still Have Headroom

It’s tempting to think anything below the very top is “middle ground.” 

It’s not. 

Ideas like: 

are still firmly in top-performing territory. (Remember, anything above 3.0★ is “good,” and 5.0★+ is exceptional.) 

These ideas are already doing the hardest part: they’re creating emotional engagement. 

But even here, System1’s data reveals something important: 

At the top end, growth doesn’t come from big changes.
It comes from removing tiny moments of friction. 

A slight pause.
A flicker of “I’ve seen this before.”
A moment where the idea isn’t quite as clear or distinctive as it could be. 

That’s where optimization matters most. 

With the right tweaks, clearer benefit, sharper distinctiveness, stronger emotional cues, these ideas can climb even higher. 

And this is exactly where System1 excels as an innovation partner: not just identifying top scores, but making them stronger before they hit the shelf. 

Where Innovation Needs Attention

At the lower end of the results, we see a different story. Not failure, but untapped potential. 

These ideas aren’t immediately connecting emotionally. And when emotion struggles to come to the forefront, action is lacking. 

Across these concepts, two patterns show up repeatedly: 

1. Too Familiar to Notice

In categories like water or cereal, consumers aren’t exploring. They’re autopiloting. 

They reach for what’s: 

• easy to recognize 

• easy to understand 

• easy to justify 

If your innovation looks like everything else, it doesn’t get rejected. 

It gets ignored. 

This is where System1’s work on brand fluency and distinctive assets becomes critical. If people can’t instantly recognize who you are and why you’re different, you simply don’t enter the decision. 

In crowded categories, subtlety is invisible. 

Content is the New Product 2. Too Different to Embrace…yet

Then there are ideas like Water Junkie’s mushroom drink. 

Here, the challenge flips. 

Instead of “I’ve seen this before,” the reaction becomes: 

“Wait… what is this?” 

Novelty without familiarity creates hesitation. And hesitation can damage momentum. 

Consumers frequently don’t have the time or energy to figure it out. 

Which brings us back to the rule: 

80% familiar. 20% new. 

Push too far in either direction, and the emotional response breaks. 

The Real Role of Innovation Testing

This is why innovation shouldn’t be a guessing game. 

The difference between a 1★ idea and a 5★ idea isn’t luck. It’s understanding how people feel in those first few seconds and knowing exactly how to improve it. 

That’s what Test Your Innovation is built for. 

• It shows what people feel, not just what they say 

• It identifies where ideas lose momentum 

• It gives clear direction on how to optimize before launch 

Because the goal isn’t just to find the next big hit. 

It’s to build a pipeline where: 

• strong ideas get stronger 

• weaker ideas get sharper 

• and every launch has the best possible chance of success 

The Bottom Line

The pattern is simple, but powerful: 

• The best ideas create instant emotional excitement 

• The rest need clearer signals and sharper balance 

• And the difference between the two is measurable and fixable 

Innovation doesn’t need to be louder.
Or bigger.
Or more complicated. 

It just needs to feel right, right away. 

And with System1, you can have that confidence.