News Release<\/p>\n
Report reveals the DNA of the most successful product launches in Europe in the last two years \u2013 showing that innovation is a science, not down to luck<\/p>\n
London, 3 December 2014. Nivea, Robinsons, Strongbow, Vanish and Volvic are among a select group of brands to have successfully launched products classed as \u2018breakthrough innovation winners\u2019 this year \u2013 according to Nielsen\u2019s 2015 Breakthrough Innovation Report, which analysed 8,650 FMCG product launches \u2013 nearly 24,500 new SKUs \u2013 across Western Europe.
\nTo be classed a breakthrough innovation winner, product launches had to meet three criteria: deliver a new proposition (not just a refinement); generate at least \u00a310\/\u20ac10 million sales in their first year of trading; and maintain at least 90% of their sales in the second year. Only 18 product launches did.<\/p>\n
The Breakthrough Innovation Winners for 2015 are:<\/p>\n
\u201cThree out of four new SKUs fail to generate even \u00a3100,000 sales in their first year of trading and are often delisted by retailers,\u201d explains Marcin Penconek, VP of Nielsen\u2019s innovation practice in Europe, and co-author of the report. \u201cBreakthrough innovation is extremely rare but, despite perceptions amongst some, it\u2019s neither random, nor down to luck, nor magic. There are clear patterns behind why consumers pull some products and not others into their lives.\u201d<\/em> \u201cBreakthrough innovations are products that solve these issues in a distinctive and compelling way. They communicate it to consumers in a simple way, allowing them to make a clear link between their need and the new product \u2013 winners can easily explain their solution to an eight-year old child.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Mark Schulzig, responsible for innovation management at Beiersdorf \u2013 the maker of Nivea\u2019s winning launch – explains: \u201cThe \u2018magic\u2019 behind big innovations lays firstly in strong insight: find it, activate it and don\u2019t change it. Secondly, you need to deliver a perceivable benefit with the product and not just a story. Thirdly, focus on fewer innovations and sustainably support them for a longer period to finally make them big – no innovation is born big. Lastly, the people behind the innovations make the real difference \u2013 with us, innovation always starts and ends with the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n The report explains why launches succeed or fail, using an approach called \u201cJobs Theory\u201d \u2013 the idea that what causes a person to consume something is not related to that consumer\u2019s identifiable qualities \u2013 such as demographics \u2013 nor the product attributes, but to the specific circumstances around the job to be done.<\/em>
\n Penconek explains Jobs Theory: \u201cIt\u2019s the idea that people don\u2019t so much buy products as hire them to perform jobs in their lives. Successful innovators display empathy \u2013 they clearly identify the circumstance where consumers struggle or have unmet aspirations and innovate around these.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\nRobinsons Squash\u2019D identified a massive growth opportunity by changing consumer habits around the mature squash category, producing a new portable format so people could flavour their water out of the home. It generated over \u00a311 million sales in 2014.<\/li>\n