It doesn't take the Marx brothers. Innovation and revolution is simply not predictable or provable. Well, it's predictable that something "new" will come along, but not what it will be, nor how the audience will respond. I like to use Sears as an example, because they were such a powerful brand and retail leader. But they did not view Walmart as a threat. And they decided to abandon their mail-order business in 1993, a mere 1 YEAR before Amazon.com would be founded and become the undisputed king of the mail-order business, although it looks radically different from the catalogs of old. Coke researched the heck out of New Coke, and their customers still rejected it. That wasn't because they were stupid. Look at the outrage over the alleged statement by executives at the first vendor meeting about the inclusion of female characters in TFA product. They brought data to say don't do it, and the marketplace reacted differently. That hurt Disney and its brand. As Parentof4 said, sometimes it is more art than science. And if you fail to include the possibility that art knows better, you will continue to be blindsided. Yes, do all the data mining, but remain mindful that at some point you might have to said, "this does or doesn't feel right regardless of what the numbers say today."
