MORE THAN 110 YEARS HELPING CONSUMERS GET MORE OUT OF LIFE
OVERVIEW
Great design is a competitive
advantage. It’s an exclusive tier
of companies that recognize
and endorse its impact.
We are leveraging the power of our Growth Game
Plan strategy to enhance and build a more robust
innovation pipeline to drive accelerated growth.
Driven by Michael Polk, Chief Executive Officer, and
Newell Rubbermaid’s Executive Leadership Team,
strategy defines structure.
Newell Rubbermaid is on a journey to become the
pre-eminent consumer durables company in the
world. We are creating a brand- and innovation-led
company that is famous for design and product
performance.
As a global marketer of consumer and commercial
products, Newell Rubbermaid has a strong portfolio of leading brands, including Rubbermaid®,
Sharpie®, Graco®, Irwin® and Paper Mate®. With
sales in more than 100 countries, our products
help consumers get the most out of life where they
live, learn, work and play – all over the world.
BENEFITS
OF DESIGN
Better by design.
Design and Innovation are an integral part of
Newell Rubbermaid’s Growth Game Plan strategy,
building brands that win at the point of decision
through excellence in performance, design and
innovation.
After utilizing design thinking since Newell Rubbermaid was founded in 1903, Design and R&D was
designated as one of Newell Rubbermaid’s four
winning capabilities in 2013 as a turning point
enabling us to transform our culture, truly deliver
products that surprise, delight, and please our
consumers, and help strengthen our position as a
leader in innovation. Our vision is made a reality
with each of our more than 115 designers working
at our new state-of-the-art Design Center in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A.
BETTER.
Products that look better, work
better and are made better.
DIFFERENT.
Products that stand out,
surprise and delight.
We are making products that are better, different
and worth it. Design and Innovative thinking is
embedded into everything we do. We operate from
‘art to part’ with multi-disciplinary teams including
Innovation, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Color
& Trend, Usability and Interaction Design, Planning
& Strategy, and Virtual & Physical Prototyping.
WORTH IT.
Our consumers deserve
value for their money.
Approved
Discover Brief
PLANNING
WHAT TYPE
OF PROJECT?
Product Brief
Approved
DISCOVER
DEVELOP
DELIVER
IMMERSE
POV
IDEATE
REFINE
RESEARCH
DEFINE
DESIGN
RESEARCH
REFINE
ENGINEER
TEST
RFQ
ALIGN
TOOLING
DEBUG
VALIDATE
PILOT
PRODUCE
“ART-TO-PART”
A brand- and innovation-led
company that is famous for
design and product
performance.
We are focused on ‘Fewer, Bigger, Better,’ building
a robust innovation pipeline while creating a foundation to win with Design & Technology and opportunity for our talent.
Design is embedded into our strategy as one of
four winning capabilities alongside Marketing and
Insights, Customer Development and Supply
Chain.
Design is led by Chuck Jones, Newell Rubbermaid’s
Chief Design and R&D Officer, endorsed by peers
on Newell Rubbermaid’s Executive Leadership
Team. The Design Leadership team consists of
Philip Thompson, Vice President of Global Design,
and directors dedicated to individual design functions, working across business segments.
We are building a world-class Design and R&D
organization, turning size into scale.
We are on a journey to establish ‘Design as a
Culture’ at Newell Rubbermaid.
PROCESS
INSIGHTS
CREATE
ACTIVATE
MONITOR
Strategic organization of the process, from start to finish.
It takes a team to build a company famous for design.
Design puts the user in usability.
Throughout the planning and development process we have prioritization meetings:
Design at Newell Rubbermaid involves art to part. We have a clear and consistent approach to design across
all of our businesses and it is embedded into everything we do. Design is a team sport, and that includes
collaboration between Consumer Insights and Marketing, Supply Chain and Customer Development.
The Design Center features a Usability lab that ensures that the user is in mind at every stage of the product
development process. This is an expanded capability for Newell Rubbermaid with three disciplines:
1.
2.
3.
Gate Keeping Meeting: Executivelevel principal gate-keeping forum
Brand Development Meetings:
Monthly, operational, project driven
meeting about the funnel with ability
to talk live on the marketplace
iGate Keeping Meeting: In-store
visibility gatekeeping meeting.
Drives funnel related to promotions,
color changes, language and case
pack changes.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.
3.
Monthly Productivity Forum:
Prioritization
Quarterly connection between
Executive Leadership Team and
Business Segment Presidents
Growth Planning Summit: Delivery
of new products and marketing to
Customer Development Organization
RESOURCES
Forty thousand square feet of
space designed with intention,
designed to inspire.
Our people have a unique opportunity to work on
more than 40 leading global brands in the exciting
environment of a consultancy with the resources
of a corporation. We offer meaningful, rich experiences and professional development. A designer
who is working in Writing can walk 50 steps and be
immersed in Tools – this is an incredible sandbox
for designers to play in.
Human factors/usability focused on
making products easier for consumers
to use from a cognitive and physical
standpoint.
Interaction design, which is the
practice of designing interactive
products.
Craftsmanship, which includes comparing Newell Rubbermaid products
to measure and improve product
quality for fit, finish, sound and feel.
Space designed
for collaboration
Prototyping &
usability labs
Huge immersion
rooms
Open office
arrangement
Extensive
materials library
40,000 square
feet of space
A new state-of-the-art 40,000 square foot Design
Center features cutting-edge spaces, huge immersion rooms, prototyping and usability labs and
crisp, white, open-office space. Six immersion labs
dedicated to Newell Rubbermaid’s business
segments enable design and marketing teams
to evaluate product prototypes and imagine the
possibilities of future product roadmaps. It’s the
ultimate space for designers to collaborate with
marketing and R&D on great innovation.
Every detail in place to specifically meet the needs
of our brands and our people, Newell Rubbermaid’s
Design Center is where the future product
roadmaps of our brands will become reality.
Our people are our strongest
advantage.
The Design Center brings together world-class
design talent and establishes new core
competencies to increase collaboration
across different design capabilities and our
businesses. We have designers across six
disciplines including Industrial Design, Graphic
Design, Usability, Color & Trend, Planning &
Strategy and Prototyping.
Talent is drawn from near and far and our prolific
designers bring with them a diversity of perspective
and experience. Our talent has more than 300
design awards and patents, speak more than 12
languages and represent 16 countries including
Germany, Belgium, China, Japan, Brazil and across
the United States.
To make bigger, more strategic, global investments
in design consultancies, Newell Rubbermaid has
consolidated more than 245 agency partners
worldwide to less than 20 partners to strengthen
strategic relationships and focus the investment.
EXPERTISE
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN // GRAPHIC DESIGN // USABILITY & INTERACTION DESIGN // COLOR & TREND // PLANNING & STRATEGY // VIRTUAL & PHYSICAL PROTOTYPING
COMMERCIAL
OUTCOME
Growing our people, brands
and Newell Rubbermaid
through design.
We see the benefits of design at Newell Rubbermaid endless for our consumers, for our retail partners, for our investors and for the talent who call
our Design Center home. We have conversations
with millions of consumers through our products
every day, and through great design and innovation
we will elevate these conversations to a new level.
We are leveraging design expertise at the table to
partner with our retail customers to create mutual
growth for our categories and for our brands. And
for our people, opportunity. A designer can be
immersed in more than 40 brands, 6 disciplines and
an organization that is embracing Design and Innovative thinking to build careers for its people. The
Design Center enables collaboration to differentiate our products from the competitive set and
delivers the promise of sustainably growing our
people, our brands and Newell Rubbermaid.
design.newellrubbermaid.com
NEWELL RUBBERMAID | LARGE COMPANY | USA