June 2004 Times & Trends Executive Summary:
NEW PRODUCT PACESETTERS
Benefit Trends of New Non-Food Brands Launched
in 2003-03

Times&Trends reviews new developments and critical events across all major CPG categories, key channels and all consumer groups, providing powerful benchmarking insights to help guide strategic decisions.

This month’s subject is part of Times&Trends series on New Product Trends. The brief addresses trends in new product benefits from New Product Pacesetters, an exclusive IRI report on many of the factors driving the more successful new products. The focus of this report is on the benefits driving new non-food product growth.

Here’s a summary from the brief:

The majority of New Product Pacesetters are extensions of existing CPG brand equities, although there are some very successful new names introduced to the CPG industry crossing over from the Rx or Prescription Drug industry including Claritin, Alavert and Prilosec OTC brands. When a new brand extension or name achieved 30% distribution we began counting off 52 weeks of sales. We limited our study to those new products that exceeded a minimum level of $7.5 million in sales, so we could concentrate on the real Pacesetters, those that are setting the trend. There are 137 Non-Food New Product Pacesetters in this report.

Each Pacesetter’s benefits are determined from a personal review of packaging aided by freestanding insert advertising, other ads, and manufacturer information off their Internet sites or the product itself.
Benefits are then compiled and averaged as well as trended over seven years of Pacesetter benefit reports.

This free summary is also accessible via the GMA Web site  at http://www.gmabrands.com/publications/gmairi.cfm

New Technologies Raise Performance Expectations

The most successful new non-food Pacesetters launched in 2002-03 responded to consumers’ desires to more effectively and efficiently command the tasks of dealing with personal hygiene, appearance and health or aging issues as well as minimizing housework chores. Many new technologies and design benefits raised the bar of performance to new levels in a number of categories.

New conveniences are behind several new self-care products. Advances – including teeth-whitening systems that used to be only available from a professional dentist – are creating do-it-yourself “luxury” tools at affordable prices. New beauty care products target our appearance and our imaginations – including men’s as well as aging boomers’ – with enhanced expectations on results. New health care products often depend on dramatically enhanced relief expectations – Claritin for example brought prescription strength results to OTC allergy medication, providing affordable and significantly stronger relief. Non-food health care companies are starting to connect with the low-carb craze, introducing low-carb supplements, diet aids and weight-loss shakes. The obesity, weight-loss issue is not just a food or beverage company opportunity.
 

New functional designs give consumers the control – and even the portability & disposability – they desire.

New designs, functionality, systems or looks that support more effective control, expectations and life styles are growing in importance – over 60% of all non-food Pacesetters in the latest report presented some kind of “design” upgrade with related benefits.

New razors lather and shave in one step. New teeth-whitening strips take off 14 years of stains in 7 days and new whitening-gels work at night while we sleep. New shampoos for men thicken hair. New floor cleaning cloths and new dish cleaning cloths do the job and then get tossed – germs and all. New bleaching pens enable us to control the task at hand, sans spills or soakers. New diaper designs are more like training pants than disposable diapers. New paper plates look like china, good enough to serve company, but dispose of when the dinner is over.

Clever designs that bring portability and disposability to consumers provide performance and convenience that fits consumers’ need to gain control of life, particularly the fast-track, on-the-run lifestyles many of us lead. Portable mouthwash strips fit in our pocket. Air-activated heating wraps give us relief wherever we go – no outlets required. Portable and disposable cameras now are able to connect with email and digital processing. Food we prepare and carryout from home can go in secure containers we can dispose of at work. Air fresheners attach to our car dashboards.
 

New brands with innovative benefits reap stronger sales results than those with “me-too” benefits. The vast majority (74%) of 2002-03’s non-food Pacesetters offered “me-too” benefits, rather than new features that raise the bar. IRI’s data show, however, that manufacturers who invest in developing truly innovative consumer benefits are well rewarded with substantially higher year one sales. Over the past eight annual reports, innovative Pacesetters have achieved +66% higher year one sales results.

The challenge is to develop consumer benefits that take well-known equities to stimulating and appealing new expectations – to raise the bar of shopper expectations for each category based on benefits that have never been experienced before in that category.

The report recaps ten consumer benefit factors that are felt to be especially relevant to new product success in recent years.
 

Source: IRI's Times & Trends Reports
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