Insights
Consumer-driven product innovation
An agile approach to new product development
THE CHALLENGE:
As a young food brand in a highly competitive industry, Plum Organics is on a mission to deliver premium products that are both tasty and nutritious. While the brand is well known for its organic baby food products, the company was eager to expand its offering and target audience. Purpose Generation was tasked with developing an innovative new product concept geared towards 4-12 year olds that would resonate with health-conscious parents and their kids.
OUR APPROACH:
Starting with the consumer, we kicked off with a series of in-depth interviews with millennial moms and dads - to identify pain points and priorities when it comes to purchasing and preparing food for kids. Once we outlined "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves", we worked with culinary experts on several rounds of rapid prototyping to develop a minimum viable product (MVP). The prototype was used to conduct virtual and in-person focus groups to gather feedback on the general product concept, preferred flavors, and willingness to pay. Based on the feedback from our target market, we developed a comprehensive business case and accompanying recommendations on how to position the product and what the potential market opportunity might look like.
What We Did
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In-depth Interviews
Conducted a series of in-depth interviews with parents to identify pain points, understand key purchasing criteria when shopping for kids food, and capture general attitudes towards relevant food trends.
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Product co-creation
Collaborated with a team of culinary experts to develop working prototypes that met the requirements for nutrition, while delivering on taste, texture and overall appearance.
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Focus Groups
Conducted online and in-person focus groups with more than 150 target consumers (both parents and children) to validate our assumptions around the product’s value proposition and resulting demand, as well as consumer willingness to pay.
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Competitive benchmarking
Developed a business case and strategic recommendations for brand positioning based on competitive landscape analysis and existing market data.
The Results
This engagement provided the client with invaluable insight into the purchasing habits and preferences of their target audience, while significantly reducing the typical product innovation cycle as a result of our agile approach. The product will be part of Plum Organics 2017 launch pipeline.
Prototypes of new flavor varieties
Consumer interviews
In-person focus groups
