SC Johnson innovative launch with WC Duck Fresh Discs

My life has been upside down this year with the arrival of my baby boy. A very joyous arrival of course but also, with two little ones at home there are very few moments for myself by the computer. So it has unfortunately resulted in very few blog posts this year. Not because I haven't had anything on my mind to write about. But rather the opposite given how much time I spend in the supermarkets these days...

So, with a few seconds to spare I wanted to share with you my latest favourite of FMCG innovations. This time it may not appeal to all based on it being a solution for a rather dirty problem. It is the launch of WC Duck Fresh Discs by SC Johnson. I haven't tried this product myself yet but I am familiar with the problem that is being highlighted in what I view as an effective and well-executed TV commercial. This launch demonstrates that SC Johnson look for real insigts to develop new and innovative ways to provide consumer friendly solutions to common problems. I have been involved in similar research in the past and I can tell you from my own experience that it can quite an eye-opening experience to understand how other people clean their loos...

Hence I find this a great launch that I believe is based on consumer insight into the wonderful world of toilet cleaning... But I need to try the product before I'm convinced that it will be a lasting concept that will have an impact on the category. The TV-commercial can be seen here. The one on air in Sweden may be cut a bit different from this one.

Philadelphia cream cheese with Cadbury chocolate - a launch with potential?

Today I heard about this interesting co-branding launch by Kraft Foods. It has been two years since Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury, and now Kraft Foods is joining two of its most famous brands together by marrying Britain’s most famous chocolate brand with Philadelpia cream cheese. And Kraft has high hopes for the new launch targeting £10m in sales in the first year alone.

In the UK this product will be launched in February 2012. And it will be merchandised next to the other chilled cheese spreads and the plain Philadelphia. It will be sold in a 160g tub and a 120g four-pack of mini tubs (both rsp: £1.62). The launch will be supported with a £3.2m marketing budget.

In Germany and Italy Kraft already offers chocolate variants of Philadelphia through the Milka chocolate brand. And in those markets they focus on the breakfast occasion. The interesting thing here is that in these markets consumers are already used to using chocolate spread - Nutella is very popular in both Germany and Italy. I now look forward to see how the Brits and the country of Marmite respond to the idea of sweet rather than savoury on their toasts..

And in the UK Kraft has understood that they cannot position the Philadelphia Cadbury spread against the same occasion as in those markets. Instead consumer research has identified Philadelphia with Cadbury as a snack, rather than as a breakfast spread. The question is if the 'snack' occasion will be big and interesting enough to pursue in the longer term... Time will tell...

Abba Middagsklart - clever and credible addition to the Abba brand portfolio

One of the hard things for established FMCG companies is to find new growth and credible brand extension opportunities in the market. There are different reasons why this is so hard. One difficult thing is of course to decide in which direction to go -  to identify market and brand potential and to prioritise between different the different growth opportunities in the market.
Another issue is also the difficulty of breaking into new territory by overcoming the challenges of the current production capabilities and potential. All the above represent just some of the challenges any big FMCG company will face when considering entering new market space.

That's also why this new launch by Abba Seafood grabbed my attention in the supermarket today. Abba has successfully innovated within the current realms of their production and category capabilities. They've worked themselves higher up in the value and margin hierarchy, and they've added some interesting and relevant brand extensions. But with the launch of Abba Middagsklart they demonstrate a commitment to do even more. The Abba Middagsklart concept is a range of casseroles and sauces especially developed to cater for the convenience seeker and cleverly linked to the growing interest in eating seafood, and the incredible growth in fresh and frozen salmon sales.

I really like this launch. A casserole ended up in my shopping basket straight away, and the product delivered to my expectations as well. I will definetely try more of these products, and I congratulate Abba on entering new territory where they cater to a very clear convenience and 'I wanna eat more seafood but I don't know how to cook those dishes' need with a very credible brand offer.

Tesco moves beyond private label with venture brand Chocablok

I read something today that I found really fascinating. And this is why I want to share these news with you. Earlier this year Tesco unveiled their plans to develop global product brands, that are different to traditional retailer private label. For a start, these Tesco brands are no longer talked of as private label, but instead they are seen as brands in their own right, and there is no mention of the Tesco parent brand on the packaging.

The first of these brands to hit the shelves was a luxury ice-cream brand called Chocablok. Chocablok is claimed to be made by an “expert team of master cremeliers’ with more than 100 years experience between them. It is a luxury ice cream made from what is said to be a blend of the finest ingredients including real chocolate, whole milk, double cream and free- range eggs. Sounds all good to me! I can't wait to try this one...

But, it doesn't come cheap... Each pack retails at £3.99 per 500ml, a pricing that clearly emphasises its premium positioning amongst the likes of Ben & Jerry’s, Haägen Dazs, and Mövenpick.

What does Tesco say about this then? “Our venture brands are very different to own-label,” said Tesco brand developer, Sidonie Kingsmill to Marketing Magazine, “they will never be "me-too" products. We look at where the customer opportunities are, where brands are not succeeding and what we can do in addition to brands. We’re in a unique position as the biggest retailer, with access to the best suppliers worldwide.”

This development made me reflect on the limitations of private label. Private label has developed a lot since its early days as a discount and often rather boring offer. Today we can find PL goods across the whole range of categories and the British retailers are phenomenal at this. However, this Tesco example might also demonstrate some of the limitations of PL. Clearly Tesco isn't just doing this for fun. No, instead they've carefully analysed the situation and realised that they can make even more money if they also develop brands that are 'freed' from the motherbrand, and thus able to compete against other brands with no danger of being held back by the mother brand associations i.e. in this case Tesco.
Well, that is just one reflection, I guess there must be more reasons why Tesco is venturing into this arena. And maybe some of the other simple reasons are: plenty of cash, retailer power and distribution network. They simply can!

Knorr - Bag of Taste, clever new concept by Unilever

Just saw the Knorr 'Bag of Taste' ad on the telly and just had to write a short note to say that I love this new concept by Knorr. During recent years we've already seen a couple of good launches by Knorr and they appear to be on the perfect path to growth.

I also believe that Unilever has done a good job revitalising the Knorr brand and I see the 'Bag of Taste' as yet another evidence that they have great new concepts in the pipeline, concepts with benefits that are built on real consumer insights and that will help the Knorr brand to climb on the value ladder.

Rejuvenating a stagnated brand the P&G way - Old Spice

Today I had the great privilege of attending the DLF event 'Innovation & Successful Product Launches' held at Rival hotel in Stockholm. I must say that I was very impressed by the quality and variety of the presentations held during the day - so great work DLF team!

One particular fun part was the 'Old Spice' story told by Tony Durham of P&G. So why not sharing it with you? For me it's a fantastic story of how to use insights to rejuvenate a rather stale and boring old brand, that many consumers had forgotten about. P&G follow a first class innovation process of identifying great insights, and then acting on those. In the case of 'Old Spice' their insight was that "women buy female scented shower gels for their husbands" i.e. most guys walk around smelling of female fragrance... This insight was utilised as a startpoint for a new brand and communication platform for 'Old Spice' and the result was this creative communication featuring the 'Old Spice man'.


The focus on the communication was viral. Apparently the ad was placed on Youtube and via twitter and youtube it was spread with a speed that is nothing but incredibly impressive. I'm not sure I believe this figures myself... but Tony did say that the ad had 23m views within 26hours, and 200m views today on Youtube. Incredible! I'm an awe.... Of course the activities were linked to an Old Spice website and instore activities.

The 'Old Spice Man' since became a real cult and a persona was developed who interacts with its followers. A fun way of interacting was by creating 'Personal adverts' to respond to consumer questions or requests. A particularly fun request was the 'Marriage Proposal' request that Tony also shared during his speech. See this one below as well.


This P&G example is a creative and innovative way of breaking the rules and using insight to rejuvenate a brand that has somewhat become stale been forgotten. I hope you enjoyed this story.

AXA launches new concept - AXA Great

I quite like the look of the new concept AXA Great and I think the push of instant oatmeal porridge is a really good one in Sweden, a country where people love eating oatmeal porridge. The big difficulty will be to convice Swedes that porridge can also be eaten as an in-between meal or as a light lunch or evening snack. This is how porridge is eaten in many of our neighbouring countries but it will be something new for Swedes. The other challenge will be to build awareness and distribution for a product that is 'new' to consumers and retailers alike. Whilst being an old product in many ways this new and more convenient way of enjoying porridge will still be a challenge. Where are we e.g. going to find this product in supermarkets? 

Whilst there will be challenges I think the AXA Great concept is a modern and fresh concept for today's current porridge consumers. And if AXA builds awareness I think it might also have the potential to attract new or light users to the category. Now porridge doesn't have to be dull and boring. Instead it can be fresh, innovative and yummy looking!

Swedish classic Kexchoklad launches its first big 'flavour' extension Kexchoklad Blåbär

Kexchoklad is for Sweden what Kit Kat is for the UK:  a classic chocolate biscuit brand that most people are emotionally attached to in one way or another. This attachment is often related to strong, positive and emotionally charged childhood memories.

Kexchoklad is also a brand with a strong following and relevance. With a high brand awareness and lack of relevant competitition sales stay high year after year without major investments. I think we can all agree that it must be a fairly good position to be in?

So why they launch of a flavoured line extension - and one that's not just a limited edition? Well, that's a good question. The answer may relate back to a number of reasons. This may be a serious attempt to add a new permanent member to the family. Another reason might be that the current heavy users of Kexchoklad are conservative, and that the brand through this extension wants to attract new, more novelty seeking users to the brand. Whatever the reason, it will be an interesting launch to follow. Will Kexchoklad Blåbär attract consumers, and will it be a permanent addition to the chocolate fixture? Will Kexchoklad Blåbär damage or add new vigour to the Kexchoklad brand?

Love the design by this Kiwi based company - The Collective Dairy

I absolutely love the communication and packaging design by The Collective Dairy, a New Zeeland based dairy company that one of my reader's suggested me to take a look at. You can't but adore their fresh take on dairy goods packaging design and their witty unique way of talking about themselves and their dairy products.  I can't wait to check out their products on my next visit to Aeteroa! Check out their website

NA - Nature Addict concept spotted in France

As promised follows the first product spotting from the France trip. The first I'll give you is Nature Addict or N.A. as the name it goes by on the eye catching packaging. N.A. is an all fruit snack concept that's nothing but 100% dried fruit in flavoursome and fun formats. A great snack for adults but also, as I soon noticed, for toddlers. My little one and a half year old insisted on chewing down a few little chewy fruit bits too. Much to the dismay of her mother who wanted all bits for herself...

So what's so brilliant about this concept then? Well, what I like about it is that's it's not only a great tasting all fruit snack but that it's also packaged and conceptualiased in such an appealing way. It's energetic, fresh and fun - nothing like the dreary 'health' snacks look that you often see on shelf. No, this snack is speaking the language of confectionary retail and shopping - but it's still a very healthy, all natural alternative to more sugar loaded confectionary alternatives. My guess is that the bulls eye target group are health oriented women aged approx 18-35 but I actually think it can appeal to all adults, men and women alike. The packaging is eye catching, fun and perfect size to easily fit into small handbags or pockets. And you feel really good after having your one a day fruit portions in a tasty format too.

So, if you ever spot it on shelf - go ahead, have one too! I'm sure we will see much more of this brand outside France.

Fresh brand extension from WASA - 4 crisp mix

I've recently noted the brand extension of Wasa into the Muesli category and, since I find this a pretty wise move I wanted to tell you about it too. Wasa is the crisp bread specialist and a crisp bread institution. For years the Wasa brand has pretty successfully developed and grown the crisp bread category far beyond it's origins. But, to be fair, crispbread is a rather limiting category and it may be very hard to recruit more crisp bread eaters beyond the current base. So, what to do? Well, the recent launch of cereal is an interesting example of how to utilise brand strenght in crisp bread to sell another category i.e. cereal. I haven't tried the '4 crisp mix' cereal yet and can but hope that the product delivers on consumer needs in the cereal category. But I do believe that Wasa stands a fair chance to succeed as an innovator in the rather dull and Kellogg's dominated cereal category. Go Wasa!

However, Wasa needs to do a better job at ensuring bloggers get hold of the link to the '4 crisp mix' ad - unfortunately it's nowhere to be seen online.... And, it's also impossible to find good images of the recent product launch. Some more work needed there guys!

Cloetta Good - great chocolate, right identity?

I came across a newly launched fair trade chocolate yesterday. It is Swedish Cloetta who have embarked on the fair trade journey with the launch of Cloetta Good, a two product range launch based on the simple motto of ‘feel good/better when you eat good tasting chocolate’.
The good thing about the Cloetta Good milk chocolate that I bought and tried is that it does taste awesome. Far better than average bulk milk chocolate. Cloetta has understood the importance of laddering up their benefits and ensuring that the emotional benefit of ‘feel good about your chocolate eating’ is supported by a strong and equally powerful functional benefit of ‘superb chocolate taste’. So, I certainly give the product benefits a thumbs up!
What’s even more important though is a well-executed differentiated positioning and consumer relevant identity visible via packaging, design and communication. Could the Cloetta Good perhaps have benefited from a more bare, classy and stylish positioning and identity rather than the more mid-range look and feel that they’ve embarked on. That’s the question that I’m left with as I munch on my last piece of milk chocolate…

Santa Maria shows off new concept called 'A more spicy Africa'

Well, I've been quiet for a while but now I'm back again...

So, what's new? Well, I just spotted this new and 'spicy' spice concept by Santa Maria, an innovative swedish food and spice company. It's called 'A more spicy Africa' and includes four new spice products inspired by the african food and taste culture.

The range includes: Durban Curry, Green Harissa, Chermoula and Piri Piri. All presented with a touch of 'african cool' when it comes to product and range design. To present the range Santa Maria also use the Swedish master chef Markus Samuelsson, internationally famous with his well-known NYC restaurant Aquavit. Nice touch (albeit a bit costly?)!

What do you think? Hit or miss? I personally love the idea. The african food culture is certainly one to watch when it comes to new and trendy food flavours. The one thing I would be worried about when spending money on this launch is how swedes will be educated to use the african style and very new flavours and spices in their cooking. I hope the Santa Maria people have a clever communication plan. And I would personally love to learn more about african spices and cooking myself... so bring it on Santa Maria!

Premium crispbread by Leksands Knäcke

I spotted these three new crispbread products the other day and got attracted by the wholesome, earthy packaging design. I still haven't tried the products but I'm actually tempted to buy some crispbread... just because it did look rather mouthwatering and attractive. I do wonder if the product would actually deliver against my rather high expectations. Anyway, the new Leksand crispbreads are three premium line products with either Cardamom, Oats or Linseeds. And the on-pack storyline is that different crispbread bakers at the Leksand bakery have baked different breads based on recipes of their own personal liking. I do wonder if that is a bit of marketing bu...it though...? What do you think? Haven't they just stolen the idea from Göteborgs Kex and their Bageriets Bästa and applied it to crispbread? Not very original - but the products do look yummy. I think it is a perfect example of steal with pride and apply other companies great ideas to your own products if you think it will work! Just try to do the job really well!

Internal assessment of concepts and ideas

About a week ago I wrote about external assessment or consumer screening of concepts at an early stage of concept development. Today I want to add a few thoughts regarding the internal assessment of concepts i.e. the assessment of which concepts can actually be most profitable for the company in a short- and long-term perspective given internal capabilities and resources. I’ve added a shortlist of assessment criteria that I use but simply see these criteria as a suggestion, and have a think about if there are different criteria that you need to add given your companies specific circumstances. The criteria I often use are:
Strategic Assessment Criteria
- Is the concept in line with the vision / strategy of the company?
- Does the concept meet a large opportunity area or gap in the market?
- Is the concept strong or competitive enough to beat off the competition?
Capabilities Assessment Criteria
- Can the concept be developed given our technological platform, purchasing, production and packaging capabilities?
- Can the concept be developed given time to market demands and estimates?
- Cost of developing concept?
- Can the concept be brought to market successfully given sales and marketing capabilities?
Launch Assessment Criteria
- Is the concept strong and differentiated enough to get listed? (fmcg concept)
- Level of marketing and sales support investment?
- Estimated time before ROI?

These are just a few of the assessment criteria I would consider using. But as I mentioned above, the criteria that you use need to be discussed and finalised internally with your colleagues and with the managers who control internal resources. And there are surely specific assessment criteria that your company need to add given your market objectives and circumstances. Good luck!

Bliw soap – Great new Nordic themed brand repositioning

The Bliw soap brand is a classic Swedish brand. It was launched in 1968 as the first liquid hand soap in Sweden and today its appeal is still connected to its retro 60’s ‘bubble’ shape.

Well, I have bought Palmolive liquid soap for years but when I visited the supermarket today and saw the new Bliw look I just had to buy it. And the reason was primarily that the new packaging design stands out on shelf and looks so naturally clean, pure and fresh. Palmolive didn’t have a chance! But when I also read on the packaging I understood that the Bliw brand has been repositioned as more environmentally friendly (via Svanen, a Swedish quality mark for environmentally friendly goods) and with formulations that have been ‘inspired by the Nordic nature’. I think that this is a great direction and positioning for Bliw. The new positioning gives the brand the differentiation that is so badly needed to defend and gain market share against the likes and financial strength of Colgate-Palmolive. So, I certainly hope my new Bliw soap will live up to my high expectations! Well done Cederroth - great concept development and positioning work. Who knows, I might just turn into a loyal Bliw consumer...

Innovation and how to assess concepts - part 1

Companies spend a lot of energy and investments on bringing new concepts and products to market. But still, most of those concepts or products fail within a year after launch… Research findings vary, but I’ve seen articles that claim that as many as 90% of innovations don’t contribute to company goals i.e. they fail. The monies involved may not be linked to massive investments in production facilities or marcom. But the employee and project resource that’s required to bring a new product to market are enough to make a failure very expensive.


I’ve seen first hand how companies ignore taking the precautions necessary to ensure that they get a return on innovation investment. Human factors like ignorance, incompetence or fear of failure are often at fault. So, if you don’t want your concept to fail (and if you’re responsible and competent) - what steps do you need to take in order to assess that your concept or innovation has got the power to last? Well, the least one can do is to ensure that the concept has been thoroughly assessed based on both external and internal success criteria. External criteria are related to market and consumer factors and internal criteria are related to company capabilities.


Well, I need to try to follow the KISS principle and keep things short and simple. So, today I’ll deal only with the external assessment factors at the early stages of idea or concept assessment. And if time permits I’ll focus on the latter stages of concept screening later on this week. I will also get back to the internal assessment criteria in more detail.  


Early stage concept assessment – Assessment criteria

To make a good job out of this assessment you need to involve qual research with your target consumer or customer. Focus groups, in depth interviews…, mini groups – there are different methodologies to chose from.

I would normally include the following assessment criteria at this stage:

• Insight relevance – does the insight that the concept is based upon correlate to a prevailing consumer need? Is this needstate large enough to be of importance? And do consumers recognise themselves in this needstate and in this situation? How often? When? Where?

• Uniqueness – Do consumers perceive the concept to be different to what they’ve seen in the market? Does this difference or uniqueness stand out and is it appreciated as a positive factor?

• Impact on brand – This is a relevant assessment factor if you plan to add the concept to a branded family where it may have a positive or negative impact on the mother brand and/or other brands in the portfolio. Ask consumers if this concept is something that feels natural or awkward within the branded family.

• Clarity – is the concept clear and easy to understand? Can you simplify it even further to make it more compelling and easy to grasp?

• Benefit relevance – Do consumers really appreciate the benefits that this concept offers? Are the relevant and interesting enough for consumers? Are they worth paying for?

• Price – Since this is an early stage assessment I would only add a couple of short questions to check if the project teams ambitions regarding price point and margin correspond to consumer price expectations.

• Total market potential – Based on the response to the above criteria I would then make a total summary of the concept potential.

Huh, I’ve done a serious amount of writing now. Have you fallen asleep? I hope this was helpful anyway and as promised, I will get back to the issue of later stage concept assessment as well as internal assessment. Bye!

Marabou - getting ahead in the innovation game

The Kraft owned chocolate brand Marabou is really moving ahead in the innovation game. The latest addition to the brand family is a limited edition winter version called Marabou Vinter. Marabou Vinter is a simple style block of milk chocolate flavoured with traditional winter spices like cardamom, clove, cinnamon and vanilla. I tried it today and... it is really, really good. Definitely a new favourite for a chocoholic like me.
Back to Marabou and what they are doing in terms of innovation. From my perspective I think they've really improved their creativity when it comes to innovative ways of stretching their brand. The launch of the Marabou Premium sub-brand was a first step into new territory and the new Marabou Sensation concept is a nice and natural way of extending Marabou to meet consumer needs revolving around luxurious pleasure and naughty treat without moving too much into the premium area. And the Marabou Vinter product is a wonderful way of capitalising on consumer mood and needs during this time of the year. I look forward to the next Marabou launch.

Great Tesco concept

So, back from a long weekend in London and of course I had to do some London product spotting whilst I was over there. One new concept that I like a lot is Tesco Ingredients - a premium ingredient concept that entail spices, vinegars, oils and more. The nice thing about this concept is that Tesco seems to have understood one very important thing about a large proportion of food interested consumers. Those consumers do like to show off their ingredients and the ingredients are often on show in the kitchen whilst cooking for guests. So, of course those consumers want to show off nice looking ingredients. And I love the Tesco Ingredients design. I find it sparse, clean and stylish. And you can also just imagine the flavours of the products without being too obvious about flavours and spices.

And the winner is...

So, Nielsen has announced the winner of 'Food Product of the Year 2009' and the winner is.... Procordia with Ekström Fruit Crumble!!!!
The motivation is: "Of all the new FMCG products that were launched last year Ekströms Fruit Crumble was the most successful. It is not only convenient but it also gives the consumer a sense that it's wholesomeness and honest food product. The product has fast established itself in the frozen fixture and it has created further growth to the category as a whole.
As I've said before - great work Procordia!!! You've got your consumer insights sorted with that one and I'm certainly a keen user.