This month’s Times & Trends Executive Summary 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 Food and Beverage benefits driving new growth.

Next month’s issue will provide an in-depth review of consumer shopper’s “wellness” spending patterns. We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to hearing your feedback.

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

Taste & Wellness Benefits Coming Together.
For several years, taste and convenience benefits have been driving new product impact and food and beverage growth. Consumers have responded to flavor-specific beverages and restaurant or café quality meal solutions and names. Portability or hand-held options proliferate the food aisles. The latest trend in New Product Pacesetter benefits reveals that brands combining taste benefits with wellness or “better for you” benefits are on the rise. Added-benefit waters, beverages and snack bars touting healthier consumption are making a run. Weight-loss positionings are seeing strong results.

Flavored Beverages dominate taste-focused introductions.
Distinctive flavors, textures and recipes are critical to nearly 90% of all successful food and beverage Pacesetters. Providing a simple twist or change of pace to category taste expectations has proven successful for soft drinks – lemon, lemon-lime, cherry, vanilla flavors are gaining trial and sales.

Cooking prep conveniences are raising the quality expectations of new meal solutions, particularly dinner.
Effectively providing time-consuming “restaurant quality” preparation steps – pealing, chopping, cutting, marinating and more complex recipe preparation – is more differentiating and more stimulating to the “do-it-for-me” demands of time-thirsty shoppers.

New brands transitioning from national restaurant outlets continue to succeed.
Tacking on restaurant heritage makes frozen or shelf stable meal solutions seem like upgrades (Boston Market, Wolfgang Puck, California Pizza, Mrs. Field’s, etc.).

Focus shifting away from reduced fat to other “wellness” benefits.
Consumers never responded as hoped to “less fat” benefits. But mature “better-for-you” brands that present less fat along with weight-loss and dieting benefits are growing. All of the aggressive publicity on the negatives of obesity or the positives of consuming fewer calories will have a powerful influence on consumption and new benefit activity. Wellness benefit activity is coming back, but this time linked to fewer calories than to less fat.

Single serve waters plus health benefits on the rise.
Added vitamins, fiber, mineral supplements and soy as a “better beverage for you” benefit is on the increase – 18% of all food & beverage Pacesetters presented added health benefits, up from 9% in 2001.

Snack bars positioned as portable nutrition or energy are taking off.
Snacks with strong nutrition or added energy benefits are filling the gap for time-crunched consumers who regularly skip sit-down meals. “Better for you” snack bars have flooded the marketplace, changing the way consumers think about meal preparation and consumption.

Variety is a critical success factor for many Pacesetters.
Nearly two-thirds offer multiple flavors or recipes to meet different consumer taste preferences, to create competitive shelf impact and to encourage consumer repeat. A broad presentation of current recipes is an effective way to totally revitalize a brand equity.

New brand extensions with “innovative” benefits yield +62% higher year-one sales results than those with “me-too” benefits.
It pays to invest in developing competitively superior benefits throughout the developmental process. While typically only one or two of ten new product launches are “innovative,” the investment is worth it.