New product concept test

The Client
Our client, a major blue chip company with offices and production plants worldwide, is a specialist in the FMCG arena.

The Challenge
Client objective was to develop and validate a business model that enabled them to achieve mass appeal for an innovative new product. As part of its growth strategy the client had created a task team to focus on innovative new products, calling on R&D, sales and marketing as part of the team mix. An opportunity had been identified to improve its market positioning in emerging markets with a new product concept. This new concept would expand the existing brand portfolio and offer a powerful brand extension.

The Solution
A survey design was required to meet the cultural differences of the two test markets, one in Southern Africa and one in Central Europe. The key issue was to design a programme of research that would identify the need for such a concept, understand the reasons for rejection and evaluate consumer acceptance to a number of prototypes. Consumer understanding was generally low for this product so the standard approach of Qualitative exploration followed by Quantitative definition would not apply. The survey design needed to be taken back to basics and redeveloped in order understand concept appeal, identify market need, and most importantly gauge propensity to purchase and subsequent level of adoption. A multi – country study, involving concept testing, product testing and Qualitative focus groups in several languages and all to a tight deadline.

MASMI Research designed an innovative and cost affective approach which included a doorstep (face to face in-home) concept evaluation with over 1,700 respondents, followed by initial doorstep trial with those accepting the concept, and if the product was accepted, recruitment to a two-week home trial. Respondents who rejected either the concept or the product after a single trial were invited to participate in a series of focus groups to fully understand their reasons for rejection. A subset of respondents were also invited to take part in a series of qualitative interviews following the extended home trial.

The Business Result
The client was able to understand the finer points of concept acceptance and rejection and make modifications to the product delivery and brand association. The product has now been successfully launched and made an immediate impact to our client’s business.