May 2004 Times & Trends Executive Summary:
NEW PRODUCT PACESETTERS
Benefit Trends of Successful New Food & Beverage Brands Launched in 2002-03

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 Food and Beverage product growth. 

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

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 restaurant industry, including Starbucks, Boston Market and TGI Friday’s. 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 165 Food & Beverage 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.
 

Innovation Turns To Low-Carb To Generate Sales.

Taste benefits dominated the focus of 2002-03 food & beverage Pacesetters. But wellness benefits – notably low-carb, reduced calorie benefits – are on the rise as shoppers flock to try new “carb” options. Whether on the Atkins or South Beach diet or simply aware of the positives of reduced carbohydrate levels, consumers are very interested in low-carb products.

In rank order, these are the most frequently observed benefits:

Cooking Prep & Portability Conveniences Make Living Easier.

The number of new food products where a convenience benefit is critical to the uniqueness or competitive positioning has been increasing – it started with ready-to-serve salad and lunch kits and has extended to all sorts of portable or hand held options.

Dinner solution, cooking-prep advances and food & beverage portability conveniences appeal to consumers’ interest in “do-it-for-me” benefits. Portable soup, drinkable yogurt, squeezable peanut butter, pre-cooked bacon and new Starbucks-style instant coffee lattes introduced in 2002-03 make our lives easier and interesting.

Portability is a huge benefit. Many core categories need to think “out-of-the-kitchen” and reach true portability. Drinkable yogurts are here. Hand-held soups are here. What’s next? – “better-for-you” meat snack options are a sure bet with on-the-go low-carb consumers. Grocers are starting to put together ready-to-take & eat salads in portable salad bowls that include low-carb dressings and poultry or cheese. And there are many more convenient-plus-nutritious foods on the way with trans-fat labeling becoming mandatory as of January 2006.

The time has come for wellness benefits to take center stage. With the national media focus on obesity and cardiovascular diseases as well as the overnight popularity of the low-carb diet, attention to what we eat and drink and challenge to watch levels of sugar or calorie or carbohydrate consumption, America is ready for new nutritional benefits that make it easier to lose or maintain weight and live healthier longer.

The jury is still out on low-carb. Research is showing this diet is working for lots of people. And whether on the diet or simply more aware than ever of the positives of reduced carbohydrate levels, consumers are trying low-carb products or eating more naturally low in carb products. Eggs are +23% in the latest year, refrigerated meat & poultry brands +10% and dried meat snacks +16%. Atkins and Michelob Ultra are $250 million dollar brands overnight.

CPG manufacturers and retailers should work together in step with the changing nutritional findings, connect with shoppers’ growing interest and awareness of wellness benefits and enhance their shopping experience, resulting in favorable attitudes and increased sales. The low-carb revolution is just the tip of a major opportunity for the CPG industry when it comes to consumer wellness benefits, healthier eating and healthier drinking.
 

Source: IRI's Times & Trends Reports
Information Resources, Inc is a leading provider of UPC scanner-based business solutions to the consumer packaged goods industry.