Perspective Expansion Exercise
Reframe a stalled asset from every viewpoint to uncover adjacent value
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 94%
Perspective Expansion separates an asset's underlying capability from the product category in which it is currently used. Teams first describe what the technology, process, audience, data, or distribution system actually does without using the legacy product label. They then examine that capability from the viewpoints of different industries, stakeholders, and use cases, including the opposite of the team's habitual perspective. Each adjacent application is evaluated for real demand, strategic fit, and monetization potential before being tested. The Dippin' Dots story illustrates the mechanism: a freezing process moved from cattle feed to novelty ice cream and later supplied a functional ingredient effect for plant-based meat. The framework prevents a familiar presentation from defining the full value of an asset.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain through the story of Dippin' Dots technology being repurposed and licensed.
Core principles
- 01A struggling product may contain a valuable capability hidden by its current use
- 02Historical positioning can prevent teams from seeing adjacent demand
- 03The underlying technology and the visible product are not the same asset
- 04Opposite and unfamiliar viewpoints reveal different paths forward
- 05Giving up is only one option after reframing has been exhausted
How to run it
- 1
Strip away the product label
Describe the underlying technology, process, audience, or distribution capability in functional terms. Avoid naming the category where it is currently sold.
Pro tip Ask what the asset physically or economically enables.
Watch out Legacy labels can silently constrain the opportunity search.
- 2
Inventory viewpoints
List customers, noncustomers, suppliers, adjacent industries, technical experts, and unusual users who might perceive different value in the capability.
Pro tip Include stakeholders the current team has previously dismissed.
Watch out Customer research limited to the existing category will reproduce existing answers.
- 3
Generate adjacent applications
From each viewpoint, identify a problem the capability could solve. Include opposite and counterintuitive uses rather than minor product variations.
Pro tip Use analogies from industries with similar technical constraints.
Watch out Do not confuse imaginative use cases with demonstrated demand.
- 4
Score the opportunities
Compare each application by customer pain, capability fit, defensibility, implementation cost, and revenue model. Preserve distinct options rather than blending them prematurely.
Pro tip Give strategic fit and willingness to pay separate scores.
Watch out The most novel application is not necessarily the best business.
- 5
Test outside the legacy market
Run a focused prototype, partnership, or licensing experiment with the strongest adjacent user group. Observe whether the capability produces measurable value.
Pro tip A licensing pilot can test demand without rebuilding the entire company.
Watch out Do not invest in a full pivot before validating the new application.
- 6
Reposition or license
Choose whether to expand the product, reposition the company, license the capability, or discontinue it. Base the decision on validated value rather than attachment to the original form.
Pro tip Maintain separate branding when the adjacent use could confuse existing customers.
Watch out A successful original product can still obscure a more valuable underlying asset.
In the wild
A company separates its cryogenic pellet-making technology from its identity as a novelty ice-cream brand. It recognizes that the same process can help create the appearance of fat in plant-based meat and licenses the technology to food manufacturers.
→ An underlying production capability becomes a major business beyond the original consumer product.
A marketing team discovers that a failed consumer campaign produced unusually detailed regional demand data. Instead of discarding the project, it evaluates the dataset from the perspective of retailers and licenses an aggregated insight product to them.
→ A failed campaign yields a new business asset after the team changes perspective.
Common mistakes
Equating the asset with its product
A product is only one packaging of the underlying capability and may hide more valuable applications.
Researching only current customers
Existing-category research tends to reinforce the perspective that created the stalled strategy.
Pivoting without validation
A fresh viewpoint is a source of hypotheses, not proof of a viable adjacent market.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for companies with a proven capability trapped inside a weak market, positioning choice, or legacy product definition.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when evidence shows the underlying capability itself is defective, unsafe, or economically unviable.
From the transcript
“The reason that company wasn't successful is because somebody saw it in one particular way and in the way they all had always seen it.”
“if you change your perspective on it, there's a huge opportunity ahead of you.”
“literally consider every point of view, and you are likely gonna find a new way forward that is better and differentiated.”
From the episode
Twittersode! Licensing Bored Apes, A Crazy Franchise Story and The Role of AI in Creativity