Looking for Insights in all the Wrong Places
Marketer: Grace Foods
Marketing challenge: Validate and optimize potential for new product
Scope of work - progressive research: beginning with U&A and bullseye audience identification, concept test, price sensitivity, positioning, package design and, finally taste test/sensory
Outcome - relevance invites and creative excites: in addition to 'go' recommendation, surprising insight from a surprising source leads to succinct and compelling creative spearheading a successful and ongoing product launch
The story:
Launching a new product is an exciting but complex research, analytics and creative challenge and I’ve had the opportunity to work on a couple of them with Grace Foods, an established Caribbean company rapidly expanding in N America and around the world.
Food innovation research and consulting often involves multiple components: for example, usage and attitude to gauge the market, concept test to determine potential, price sensitivity, package validation, sensory and creative testing.
When Grace decided to investigate the potential for launching a West Indies staple, Frozen Jamaican Style Patties, along the eastern seaboard of USA, the cautious and thorough team led by Nimal Amitirigala (product) and Angeline Gillings (insights and planning) decided on a comprehensive research and validation process.
The patties experience taught me to expect the unexpected and look for it in future.
Food marketing can be cumbersome, including taste (all important but to all competitors) often leading to a litany of ingredients and claims, health attributes, textures, serving occasions, family members the shopper can please and so on. As a result, not only did the Grace team want to know whether to talk about patties, a launch go or no go decision, but how to talk about it if go.
Good news for the initiative came early and often:
- there was already a sizeable patties market, certainly with Caribbean diaspora but also with Hispanic households and the general population
- price sensitivity research and current in-market pricing suggested competitiveness and profitability
- package design was very appealing and as good as or better than competition in planogram research
But perhaps the best news of all was that concept testing validated the idea of Grace Frozen Jamaican Patties – they would be welcomed and considered for purchase.
Analysis of messaging content also provided clues about communication: of all the things we could have talked about, two mattered most to the target audience:
Impact of USDA approved
The USDA statement provided confidence that
ingredients were safe and healthy
Impact of Established History
The statement that Grace was established in
1922 and in Kingston, Jamaica provided
authenticity that helped drive product appeal
Grace is introducing their newest product available at your local grocer, Grace Frozen Jamaican Style Patties.
Made from USDA approved ingredients of the highest quality standards, Grace Frozen Jamaican Style Patties come in 3 flavors:
- Spicy Beef
- Mild Beef
- Curry Chicken
Grace Foods, established in 1922, is a trusted and well-known Jamaican food brand, headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica.
The company has a wide range of canned meats, sauces, seasonings and spices and tropical beverages sold all over the globe.
Competitively priced, Grace Frozen Jamaican Style Patties are packaged two per box with each patty individually wrapped.
Ready to serve hot as quickly as 2 minutes and suitable for both microwave or toaster oven, Grace Frozen Jamaican Sryle Patties are ideal for lunch, dinner and snack at home or office or even on the go.
Grace Frozen Jamaican Style Patties: a delicious, quick and easy break from the everyday taste of the Caribbean.
All the good news and analysis about patties potential led to final due diligence, taste testing: does the product live up to the promise?
I was so intrigued with the idea of ‘authenticity’ from concept testing that I suggested it be included in sensory testing right alongside flavor, aroma, texture, appearance and other product attributes considered most important in food marketing. Even though an unusual idea, the Grace team and Contract Testing Inc., retained to administer the central local test, agreed.
The sensory test proved the product and interestingly also proved the power of authenticity in communication, correlating highly with overall product score:
Featuring corporate and product authenticity in creative, Grace launched frozen patties into the US with tremendous success. And I’ve looking for consumer insight in unexpected places ever since.