What is REALYST™?

What constitutes a "better" idea? And can "better" ideas be correctly and consistently identified using a rigorous, objective and repeatable process?

REALYST, an idea evaluation and realization tool offered by Applied Marketing Science, enables innovation teams to identify with confidence the most promising ideas for further testing and development. The REALYST methodology helps users reliably evaluate hundreds of ideas using a "Truth Serum" scoring formula, developed by MIT professor Dražen Prelec. This methodology considers not only how highly an individual values an idea, but also how well that individual predicts how others will value the idea. By assigning more weight to those who understand how others think, REALYST can identify the best ideas to pursue, even when the consensus is wrong! REALYST can be applied to ideas generated during an IDEALYST® game, or by any other idea generation methods already in place, such as a suggestion box, traditional brainstorming session, an innovation submissions database, product feedback forms, or others.

After a REALYST study, your team can follow up with a Concept Test project to further assess the viability of the winning ideas. Or, you can start a new idea generation session via IDEALYST to further pursue each idea, taking the development process to the next level. Either way, REALYST will position your team for success, enabling you to select the best ideas, or best course of action, with confidence.

WHY IS REALYST BETTER?

REALYST relies on empirically-proven and repeatable best practices to identify the best ideas, offering a number of key advantages compared to traditional evaluation processes:

  • Provides a rigorous and repeatable process: While other approaches, such as inventor ratings, or simple voting are unsubstantiated by research, REALYST is based on empirical evidence.
     
  • Removes politics from the evaluation process: AMS will objectively recommend the best evaluation team, scoring methodology and Truth Serum criteria based on your specific goals.
     
  • Limits the impact of more vocal participants: By guiding the evaluation process and administering REALYST, AMS can balance the input received from all participants, regardless of how vocal they are.
     
  • Fosters innovative thinking: By introducing a new approach to the decision process, which requires evaluators to reverse roles and judge how others will value an idea, evaluation teams are challenged to think "out of the box" even during the evaluation phase
     
  • Generates superior decisions: REALYST aggregates private judgments to form a collective decision that is more reliable, alleviating the potential impact of individual biases

For more information on REALYST and how it can support your innovation, NPD, marketing, product management or strategy initiatives, please contact us.