Building a Better Apple: What SweeTango Can Teach Us About Value Creation

This post was written by Colleen Murray, Vice President of Strategy and Head of Talent at Jump. Follow her on Twitter @colleenmurray, or get in touch with her by commenting on this post.

There’s an apple taking the world by storm. And no, it’s not a personal computer.

This apple — the fruit, not the company — is called the SweeTango apple. It’s a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar! varieties. But SweeTango is more than just an apple. It’s a tale of the relationship a single product can have with an entire B2C ecosystem. The SweeTango apple has its own consortium. It has exclusivity clauses. It has its own website (which proudly cites a review calling it the “best apple ever!”), a Twitter profile, and a Facebook page with over 13,000 likes. There’s a lot of buzz around SweeTango’ branding strategy — but take a closer look and you’ll see a deeper story around how to challenge an otherwise stagnant ecosystem and create value at each end of the chain.

In case you haven’t heard of SweeTango, here’s a quick overview. The University of Minnesota — which was also responsible for the Honeycrisp apple — worked with apple breeders to create new genetic apple combinations, ultimately selecting the SweeTango variety as the next big thing.

But rather than let just anyone plant a SweeTango tree and sell apples of the SweeTango variety, UofM trademarked and patented the apple, licensing it only to a small group of growers in a club called the Next Big Thing cooperative. Growers in the club must pay a license to grow the tree, and after growing must also pay a royalty for the apples they sell. The growers can’t just sell to any supermarket, either. Instead, they have to sell them back to the consortium, which markets the SweeTango apple and ultimately controls quality and distribution.

SweeTango’s ecosystem tells us a lot about how to create value for all players in an ecosystem. Let’s take a look at some of the key players:

• The Next Big Thing: The Next Big Thing cooperative controls the SweeTango apple. Operating under this model rather than one in which anyone can grow a new apple variety gives The Next Big Thing much more control. They have full control over the quality of apples, they control the number and distribution of apples available, and they market the apple, ultimately giving SweeTango its own unique (long-lasting) brand.
• Growers: While they have to pay licensing fees and royalties, growers in the club win because they have a consistent buyer in the Next Big Thing cooperative. By joining the club and growing SweeTango apples, growers essentially guarantee that their apples will sell and turn a profit at the end of the season.
• Consumers: Consumers win because they get access to high-quality, tasty apples at a fairly consistent price. Consumers do pay more for these apples, but many do because of SweeTango’s high quality.

The SweeTango story is a great example of how business doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. In fact, using empathy to identify and create value for each player brings bigger wins. Most people realize that this principle applies to B2C brands, but it’s just as true for B2B brands. By showing empathy for each player in your ecosystem and unlocking what they really need, you will create success where others have failed.

Take for example Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer. Steelcase spent millions of dollars on customer segmentation in order to understand why some facility managers buy Steelcase furniture and others don’t. When Jump came in to help, we spent hours with facility managers to discover their implicit needs, motivations, and drivers. We realized that Steelcase salespeople understand managers’ love of design, and instead of selling furniture based on features alone, they appeal to managers’ sense of design.

Today’s modern healthcare system is going through a massive shift. In this evolving ecosystem, patients, caregivers, hospitals, and insurers all want high-quality, accessible care. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always feel like all the players are on the same team. In a recent post, we detailed common failures of the healthcare industry to empower the patient. There are massive opportunities for companies to engage patients, and deliver value throughout the ecosystem, by uncovering and meeting the needs of others.

No matter what type of business you’re in, in order to succeed, you must develop empathy for your end consumer and for the other players in your ecosystem. SweeTango is so successful because while it accounts for its consumers’ needs — high-quality apples — it also answers to the needs of growers to have consistent buyers and quality products. It only helps that SweeTango also controls its brand and marketing.

Follow SweeTango’s lead. Start by identifying not just what’s in it for you, but what’s in it for your partners. You may not be trying to build a better apple, but understanding the needs of everyone in your value chain, even in a business to business context, can help you realize your full potential and create true value.

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photo credit: Pat_Duffy via photopin cc

Originally published at www.jumpassociates.com.