Extending the brand portfolio

Challenge:

XYZ, a premium heart health brand in India was commanded a strong position on value share but facing stagnation as far as category is concerned. Even though the health consciousness was on rise the “Healthy Oil” brand XYZ was not able to grow substantial volumes. The business had to grow and hence the only option left was to extend the category.

Background:

As an Advertising agency, the role of the strategic planning department our brief was limited to the consumer understating, insights & branding & communication.

We first looked at the mother brand XYZ and got on to understanding consumer disposition towards the category and associations and perceptions for the brand XYZ, the methodology for Quantitative research in metros + midsized towns.

While this was syndicated by the agency way back, it was evident and clear from the study that XYZ had very strong cues and the benefits of “Heart health” were deeply entrenched into the brand.

Way forward

Post this we initiated the study on different spaces in “health” space that could be occupied by the brand. This was done based on the following.

A.      Consumption time

B.      Consumption type

Through a desk research and studied the Indian eating habits, Role of the home maker and looked at the spectrum of eating habits where at one end we looked “health” & at the other end guilt and mapped the consumption time.  

And within each consumption time we grouped consumption types. To validate the hypothesis we then initiated a qualitative research (FGD & DI) among home makers & working women.

Based on this research it was clear that. 1. At breakfast consumer seeks maximum rich food as he is preparing for the day and even wife doesn’t mind giving him tasty food as it is the first meal of the day. 2. However, for evening snack there’s maximum amount of guilt and hence wife offers healthy options to avoid junk.

Client looked at various economic indicators and need gap and looked at the size of the market. And identified that,

1.       While, breakfast market was still too small in India, due to traditional home made option and with Kellogg’s struggling for years. Oats had a great potential and can be an option

2.       We also looked at the evening snacks market which was growing at a very fast pace with new entrants from MNC to local players, and success of Kurkure, baked finger snacks was considered as an evening snack option

3.       Other than this there were other options like Healthy rice and healthy flour

 

Post this we got into product concept testing through qualitative research on 3 accounts

1.       Acceptance of the option from XYZ

2.       Association with health

3.       Fitment with the brand

 

The winning concept was than developed & we did product placement which gave us the final direction to go ahead.

 

The first test launch was of XYZ Snacks & XYZ Rice. We tested the products in media isolated markets like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra through a 360 degree communication. We did a post test to identify the response.

The post test suggested that:

1.       The snack is associated with indulgence, hence the moment it was associated with XYZ it was not a snack but a “Healthy Alternative” which is forced and not opted.

2.       Rice had favorable results since it was part of the main meal and health and hygiene were the essential ingredients.

 

Further, there’s a shopper audit that was done during the test period to know how the product mving is. What are the likes and dislikes about the product, which placement works best and what is on the pack that pulls the shopper’s attention.

 

I have used a case to suggest various steps while approaching an ideal brand launch and the extension.

There are a lot of agencies that help you do this some of the examples are listed here

 

Qualitative:

Consumer insights, Social codes and its interpretation: Quantum, Ipsos (Synovate)

Needscope: TNS

 

Quantitaive

AC Nielson

IPSOS

 

 These steps will help you understand different types of research requirements at what stage of product launch and brand building. There’s more to all this, will update it in my next blog