Rashida
About 40 years ago, Dyson was not a relevant name.
Soon, it became associated with the top premium vacuums
Now, we have fans, hand dryers, the Supersonic Hair Dryer, and the Airwrap Styler. We have a brand associated with quality, innovation, and status, one that every lifestyle influencer I watch touts a product from.
How did they go from door-to-door sales to premium hairdryers and a household name?
Learn from Failures
One of the biggest lessons we can learn from Sr. James Dyson follows a well-known quote, “Fall seven times, get up eight.” If you think Dyson’s first invention was a hit, you’re very wrong. His first invention, a “ball barrow” (wheelbarrow with a single molded wheel) was released in 1974 and flopped. Funnily enough, the single wheel is now iconic in many Dyson products, but nonetheless…
Dyson’s products weren’t always a success. His first takeoff invention, the bagless vacuum cleaner went through 5,127 modifications! Instead of throwing in the towel when a product tanked, they learned from it, becoming better and better throughout the process. In a BBC interview, Dyson said “my inspiration to invent and redesign is fed through frustration.”
Incremental Innovation
Dyson marries design and engineering, clarifying that at Dyson an engineer and designer are one and the same. Dyson’s process for creating new products has been incremental design and then prototyping. Along the way, he’d make several incremental improvements and thoroughly test them until he produced a high-quality product that made an earthquake market disruption. For Dyson, extensive R&D and prototyping are central to innovation and production, and it shows in the quality of their products.
Disruption
Dyson has disrupted several markets. Once they found a process that worked for household vacuums, they repeated the strategy for other markets. In 2006, they reimagined the fan, with new-age hand dryers and an Air Multiplier fan. The technology is not so different from what they use in the Supersonic Hairdryer and Airwrap. Once they create a revolutionary technology, they expand it to new industries to create something that is novel and disruptive.
Dyson is now a household name, with products in many different categories. Through their rigorous design and engineering process, they’ve upheld a standard of quality. Dyson learns from mistakes and focuses on incremental changes to create revolutionary products. The name Dyson is now synonymous with quality and prestige, which has been crucial for their success in new markets. But it didn’t happen overnight or by accident. Dyson learned from failures, committed to design and engineering, and constantly pushed the envelope of innovation to create products that speak for themselves.
