Altavia is working every day to help brands and retailers to create a long-lasting and sustainable link with clients. In this perspective, the group recently forged a partnership with the startup Braineet, founded 4 years ago by Jonathan Livescault and Pierre Gourlaouen. Its speciality: supporting companies with collaborative innovation.
“And if…”
Braineet supports companies with collaborative innovation, focusing on two key themes:
– Co-creation involving customers and the company;
– Co-innovation within a company, this time making use of ideas put forward by the staff.
“The users have access to a platform on which they can share ideas, based on a sentence which always begins with “And if…”, which is our hallmark” explains Maximilien Costet, Key Account Manager.
“And if McDonald’s introduced a home delivery service?” asks Alexia. “And if there was a free WiFi service in the Paris Metro?” suggests Virginie. The company concerned can then reply or issue an evaluation label to show where the idea currently stands within the innovation cycle: “Idea being studied, in the process of being implemented or already implemented”.
“And if Auchan added a section at the entrance to the stores containing all the products nearing their expiry dates?” suggested a consumer who was then immediately supported by hundreds of others.
Two weeks later, the supermarket chain implemented this idea in its stores. The result: millions of euros saved and far less waste.
“A year ago we had five clients and today we have more than 50”, states Maximilien Costet. “We deal with the SNCF, Crédit Agricole, Michelin, La Française des Jeux, Renault and many more. All of these companies need collaborative intelligence to innovate more effectively”.
Creating a long-lasting and sustainable link with clients
The benefits for the store chains and brands are many and varied:
- Innovating more quickly, and with less risk;
- Forging a strong link with clients and gaining their loyalty: “It’s a very positive thing for a company if it’s able to project the image of a business which listens, an innovative business, keen to co-create services which improve the customer experience” explains Maximilien Costet. For internal use, it makes staff feel valued and builds loyalty”
- Gathering user data: “When a private individual registers on Braineet, he enters his age, his gender, his profession and his location”… adds Maximilien Costet. “Combined with intelligence derived from the ideas themselves, this information enables us to provide companies with analytical and strategic reports”.
Expansion in the United States
The startup raised 1 million euros in April 2016, enabling it to develop more quickly: from 5, the team has increased to 25. And the number of customers has risen too. “We firmly believe that a world leader will emerge in the collaborative innovation sector within five years”, continued Maximilien Costet. “Our goal is to make Braineet THE go-to resource for a person who has an idea he would like to share”.
As well as its idea collection platform, Braineet should also be developing activities covering “analytical and strategic reports” and “training for in-house project initiators”. However, the next step is the opening of an American office in the autumn! “This new adventure will be welcomed by many of our clients”, stressed Maximilien. We deal with Unilever, Michelin, Air France and many others… who all need to gather ideas from an American audience and identify other innovation sources”.
How did the Braineet startup come about?
Several years ago, Jonathan Livescault was in an underground car park with his father. They found it impossible to find a parking space without driving endlessly up and down the rows. “It’s a shame they don’t have green and red lights above each parking space to show whether it’s free or not!” said Mr Livescault snr. The two men tried to make the idea a reality but the first was in his first year of business school and the second was a dentist, so the project was abandoned. It’s a fact that there have certainly been more dynamic entrepreneurs than these two!
4 years later, Vinci deployed this concept in its car parks.
When Jonathan Livescault found himself immobilised following a ruptured cruciate ligament, he remembered the story: 4 years had been lost between the moment the idea was mentioned for the first time and its eventual implementation by a group! Why not seek to bring together consumers with good ideas and brands seeking innovation? And so it was that Braineet was born.