GoPro CEO Nick Woodman and his college friends loved to surf. It was a passion. As GoPro Vice President of Brand Integrity, Justin Wilkenfeld, explains, “We would run down to the beach to surf every day, trying to balance that with going to classes.” The passion turned into a great new product idea when Woodman was surfing in Australia and wanted to capture the experience but couldn’t get photographers close enough to obtain good photos. The result was the first GoPro camera which attached to a wrist strap. “The idea was that you could capture that experience hands-free and really focus on enjoying your passion as opposed to worrying about what’s on the other side of a screen,”

Wilkenfeld says.

Chances are that you’ve viewed some of the millions of videos created by surfers, snowboarders, rock stars, hockey players, parents, sky divers, scuba divers, pilots, and just about anyone with a passion for their life. In fact, GoPro estimates that more than 1 billion minutes of GoPro video are viewed each year, just on YouTube! Woodman and his friends call it “The GoPro Movement.”

“Joining the GoPro movement is all about joining the GoPro community around the world,” says Wilkenfeld. “This is a group of passionate people that live a big life and love to experience things.”

GoPro’s success at attracting customers from around the world is supported by its commitment to developing new products that meet their needs. According to Wilkenfeld, “One of the biggest challenges of developing technology is getting ahead of the consumer and developing things that you think they are going to need.”

1 What are the points of difference, or unique attributes, for GoPro products?
2 What are GoPro’s primary target markets? How does content marketing influence these markets?
3 Describe the new-product development process used at GoPro. What are the similarities and differences to the process described in Figure 9-4 ?
4 Which of the eight reasons for new-product failure did GoPro avoid to ensure the success of its products?
5 Identify one new-product idea you would suggest that GoPro evaluate.