Within the Pamplin School of Business lies an array of electives that cover a variety of topics that are relevant in today’s business world. One of the newest classes to be added to this already impressive list is Product Development (BUS 491) taught by Dr. Ian Parkman. Geared towards Marketing and Entrepreneurship majors, this seminar style class is taught in the context of a semester long project where each student works directly with Adidas North America throughout the term.
This project challenges students to create a new product, anything ranging from a new kind of soccer bag to an innovative running glove, for the Adidas brand. Of course, this task takes much more work than drafting up a few sketches. Dr. Parkman guides students through the process of developing a new product while keeping the consumer’s complex needs in mind. By collaborating directly with design coaches at Adidas, students such as Christian Borris, a senior marketing major, learned what it means to empathize with potential customers. Christian took a less paved route when he decided to develop a glove made specifically for tennis players. As wearing a glove in tennis goes against the norm, it only made sense that Christian’s project stood out to the design coaches at Adidas.
After making trips down to visit the materials lab, and meeting directly with the design coaches at the Adidas headquarters, Christian had developed his final product which he titled the “Adidas True Feel Tennis Glove”. Christian explains that this glove allows tennis players living in cooler climates to continue playing the sport that they love without losing the sense of touch that is necessary to have a true grip on the tennis racquet. At the end of the class, Christian felt that he had gained a deeper understanding of what it truly means to develop a successful product. He explained it in the sense that “ nothing is just the way it is because it is- everything that has been designed has been thought about very heavily.”
As a student who has also taken this course, I can easily say that this class gave me the opportunity to expand my design thinking. I was challenged to address customer needs with real world constraints. Through the mentoring that both Dr. Parkman and the design coaches offered me and the entire class throughout the semester, I felt well prepared to pitch my own product to a panel of current Adidas employees.
One of the design coaches, Travis Nanchy, stated that “ [he] was surprised to see the level of innovation the students brought to their projects as a direct result of insights they gleaned from the consumer. In our industry, the consumer comes first, and the students in Dr. Parkman’s class realize that the success of their product relies on what it is able to bring to the consumer.” With remarks such as these becoming more and more prevalent, it will be exciting to see where the direction of this course is headed.
If you are interested in product development, or are looking for an elective that will challenge your creative thinking, sign up for BUS 491- Product Development!