Well, we’ve all heard it a million times, so here goes a million and one…“There’s an App for that!” And consumer appetite for apps seems to be unquenchable. As a food marketer, if you’re not leveraging this, you’re way behind the times. Retail brands, food manufacturers, retail stores, restaurants, and everyone in between are developing consumer apps that; help consumers prepare meals or assist in dining out, gather deals, provide product and nutritional information, educate, or simply make mealtime quicker, easier, and less stressful.

Recipe Apps Are What’s Hot in the Kitchen

Kraft was one of the first brand manufacturers to get on the app craze, with their iFood Assistant App. It’s a great app for consumers that allows them to browse thousands of recipes, that BTW, use Kraft products. Automate shopping lists for any recipe you select. Cooking how-to videos, store locators, and hundreds of other features. It’s a huge hit with consumers, and a very profitable endeavor for Kraft.

Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef,, promotes better eating with his app 20 Minutes Meals. It’s a collection of recipes for consumers, with great photography, step-by-step instructions, videos, helpful tips, and a shopping list.
Epicurious has one of the top 10 iPhone apps, which is no small accomplishment, with a half-million plus apps out there. The Epicurious’s App is an ongoing collection of nearly 30,000 recipes. The recipes come from food magazines like Bon Appétit and Gourmet, cookbooks, and popular chefs. Millions of consumers use this everyday, and could be using your products more frequently.

Coo-Coo for Coupons

The consumer coupon craze is showing no signs of slowing down. Consumers are cashing in on great deals and manufacturers and brands are building consumer loyalty, gaining product trial, driving brand awareness, increasing product consumption and distribution, through effective couponing. Apps can play a key role in your promotional strategy.

Coupon Sherpa is one of the hottest coupon apps on the market. It provides in-store coupons and exclusive coupons that you won’t find outside of the app. You can search for coupons by store name or category and online coupons are updated daily.

Another popular couponing app is The Coupons App. It not only compiles online coupons but it also enables you to compare prices at other stores by scanning barcodes.

And of course, the ever-popular Groupon and Pushpins, among the other thousands of coupon apps.

Opting to Eat Out?

If you’re out on the town and decide you want to take in a meal, OpenTable can find the perfect dining spot, in a flash, that has open tables available, NOW.

Foursquare is making it fun to check-in at restaurants, and just about any other location, by bringing value to patrons by offering deals or discounts for checking-in. Brands and businesses are cashing in on the Foursquare craze.

Retailers Reaching Consumers with Apps

Whole Foods Market has gone organic with their app. Customers can search more than 2,000 recipes, enter ingredients or products and receive meal recommendations. It also groups recipes by dietary preferences, such as gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, or low-fat.

Giant has developed an app that syncs with its customer BonusCards to allow access for shoppers to check point totals and view savings offers. With Giant’s app shoppers can also view a shopping list, download circulars, and locate stores.

The Age of App Intelligence

Pushpins, in addition to being one of the most popular coupon apps, is an amazing resource for nutritional information, something near and dear to consumers.
Consumers can get their daily nutrition analysis, count calories, review nutrient content of products, including complete nutritional fact information from a dynamic database of products from companies such as: Campbell’s Soup, Coca-Cola, ConAgra, General Mills, Hershey Foods, Kraft Foods, Nabisco, Nestle, and thousands of others.

The Bottom Line

Mobile apps are serious business, and in demand by consumers. Today, your brand consumers are looking for quick and easy access to products and information, help to get organized, ways to cut down their grocery shopping time, save money, explore new recipes and products, and apps are one major way they are doing it. Get in tune with your consumers and “get an app for that”!

Over the past two years of economic turbulence we’ve seen significant changes in how consumers shop. And, as the economy begins to regain strength, some of these purchasing patterns look like they may be around for a while.

One tried and true method marketers are seeing gain greater and greater momentum is couponing. In fact, in the past year almost all consumers (94 percent) say they have used consumer package goods (CPG) coupons at least once, and 77 percent with regularity, according to the 2010 Coupon Facts Report recently released by NCH Marketing Services Inc.

Even more compelling is the number of consumers who are pre-planning what they intend to purchase at the grocery store. Two years ago, marketers could tout that the majority of purchase decisions were made by impulse, in-store. Today, it’s the exact opposite. According to IRI data, 86% of consumers are making CPG decisions, BEFORE entering the store. Consumers are using mailers, store fliers, coupons, and of course their brand preferences, to make their shopping list.

Both of these statistics tell us that it is highly beneficial to reach consumers prior to them entering the grocery store. Below we examine some strategies and tactics that can achieve this.

Go Home!

Imagine reaching 70 million households weekly? Shared mail pieces, Co-op FSI, Run of Press, and Targeted Newspaper Inserts are just a few tactics that place your message in up to 9 out of 10 households and directly into the hands of your target consumers – an audience that can be 3 times larger than the latest leading TV program, such as American Idol®.

Given that more consumers are planning their shopping lists around the coupons they receive, and that 39% of consumers make one or more purchases from in-home marketing efforts, these tactics are assuredly some of the most effective ways to reach your target market.

Although many magazines, as well as print in general, have dramatically decreased, some “Foody” and “Comfort” style publications, such as Rachael Ray, Food Network, and Real Simple, are actually growing in circulation and impressions. These types of publications are powerful tools in building food brands and driving trial.

The benefits of in-home marketing include:

• Powerful, cost effective advertising
• Ability to target by market and demographic
• High consumer engagement and receptivity
• Activate audience with coupons
• Reliable ROI

Get Online

Just as the economy has changed over the past two years and effected how Americans shop, the Internet has changed consumers’ behavior as well. Entertainment, news, communications between friends and family: it’s all happening on the Internet. Increasingly, shoppers are seeking out and sharing online values in order to save when shopping.

A very effective online tool can be to develop a “Community” or “Club” section on your website. You can incentivize consumers to “Join”, with a simple coupon and the promise to deliver continual value. Once they opt-in, many of these consumers develop an affinity with your brand and become loyal purchasers. You now have a dynamic database of consumers, that can be utilized to gather insight and preference on your brand, promote new products, and drive sales.

Online couponing, in general, is a highly effective way to increase your product’s awareness, drive trial, and create an online destination. As an online destination, in addition to coupons and money saving offers, you can offer consumers advice and insight, and become a valuable resource to them.

The benefits of online couponing include:

• Increased visibility–value coupons have a tendency to go viral
• Capture customer information for future contact and promotions
• Active engagement with your customers
• Create a two way dialogue
• More timely communications regarding offers and promotions

Some online avenues for driving coupon trial:

• Your website is the number one place that you want to drive consumers for coupons
• Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs
• Food websites such as marthastewart.com, foodnetwork.com, ivillage.com, allrecipes.com, epicurean.com, epicurious.com, and rachaelray.com

Part 2 New Product Launch

Product Launch

A successful new product launch must have a well thought out marketing plan in place. Regardless of research, market demand, and all the work put into perfecting your product, failure is probable if the right launch plan and strategy are not properly implemented.

Launching a product in foodservice is significantly different than retail products. Sales, distributors, operators, and consumers are all keys to success.

Strategy

Here are the building blocks for a sound strategy to launch new products:

• Market Review
• Operator Insight
• Channel/Segment Analysis
• Competitive Review
• Goals and Objectives
• Growth Goals
• Budget
• Timeline
• Marketing Planning
• Positioning
• Product
• Pricing
• Distribution
• Target Audience
• Media Plan
• Creative Development
• Branding
• Creative Tactics
• Marketing Execution
• Measure, Analyze, Optimize

Sales Engagement

Marketers often forget that ultimately, your field sales, direct sales team and broker partners, are a key resource to help develop a successful program. After all, they are on the street selling the products, and typically have their finger on the pulse of customers–so they bring value and insight to the planning process. Additionally, they must feel a sense of ownership in the program and fully understand the product, and all the key marketing and communication components. Competent, effective sales people don’t want to be simply told what to do–after the program has been developed–they want to be part of the process. Begin by engaging your sales team early in planning and strategy, they have terrific insights and are highly vested in the outcome. Once your plan is complete, sales team and broker training are critical for success.

Push-Push, Pull Model?

All of us should be familiar with the classic Push-Pull Marketing Model; push through to the trade channels, pull through to consumers. Well, it’s slightly modified in foodservice; you must push programs through both Distributor networks and direct to Operators and then pull through to Consumers (restaurant patrons)

Distributors

Distributors are key to getting your product to market. When effectively partnered with, your distributors can be a powerful extension of your sales team. They are the gatekeepers to operators and mass distribution. Yes, you can and should target operators directly. And, yes, you can force distribution. However, without strong distributor buy-in, your product launch will only have limited success.

• Reach out to and incentivize both your power distributors and independents
• Develop and implement distributor training for your new product, equipping them with the knowledge and tools for success
• Schedule market blitzes with your distributors and sales team

Operators

Develop a program to incentivize operators to menu your new product. Incentivize them with an operator rebate, coupon or prizes. Effective ways to market directly to operators include:

• Database Marketing
• Digital and Print Ads
• eBlasts
• Programs through Food Service Rewards or Group Buying Edge

Consumers

Provide operators with the tools to sell through on consumer level.

• Wait Staff Promotion
• Menu Promotions
• Flare for Wait Staff
• POS Material
• Coasters (with QR code with social media component)
• Table Tents
• Menu Clips
• Zone Posters

Consumers can also connect with restaurant for special offers via Social Media Programs, Apps, and CMP Programs.

Conclusion

Successful new product development takes time, resources, and the fortitude and commitment to stick with it and see it through to success. Your organization must ultimately develop a philosophy as to what product development means to your overall success in the marketplace.

New products can serve as the tip of the spear for new business development, building excitement in the trade, and paving the way to sell-in additional products. Good luck.

Part 1 New Product Development

New product development is a major key to success in the foodservice industry. Providing creative food experiences is the life-blood for restaurants and chains, and how they fulfill customer expectations will determine their success or failure. This is where you can become a valuable foodservice partner, providing insight and resources.

Every year, tens of thousands of new products are introduced into foodservice, most of which fail. Why? If consumers want new and exciting products and flavors, why do most fail? I would offer up that the answer lies somewhere within product development and the launch cycle. There’s a simple, yet systematic process for new product success in the foodservice industry.

First off, not everything works for everybody. And there is no sure-fire silver bullet when it comes to new product success. However, the pathway outlined below, will give you the highest likelihood of success on your next new product.

Market Research

Stick with the facts. Is your new product development process based on what your sales team thinks you should be selling? Your CEO or president’s latest idea? What your competitors are doing? What customers are asking for? Or worst of all, what your operations say they can and should produce? All of the above can be great resources to tap along the way, but if used as the driving force or epicenter for new products, it’s a formula for failure before you even get started.

Proper research will help you identify market trends and opportunities, consumer demand and preference, product rationale and gaps in your current product offering, and much more.

Product Ideation

When searching for creative food ideas and solutions, it is important to consider all possible resources; chefs, operators, consumers, R&D teams, consultants, employees, business partners, sales teams, and any other resources you may have available. Regular brainstorming sessions with marketing, sales, production and product development are essential in keeping the creative process flowing when it comes to keeping new product ideas in the pipeline.

Have both formal and informal, open creative sessions for new product development. No ideas are bad ideas in the early stages of product ideation.

Evaluation

Screen and evaluate all of the new product ideas and identify which ones should be moved into concept testing. Questions need to be asked which will qualify products to move to the next stage, table, or kill; How does it align with the research conducted? What’s the market potential and growth opportunity for this product? Is the product a fit for your organization? What’s the cost of entry (staffing, development, marketing, technology, equipment)? How does this fit with our sales models? Distribution?

If the decision is made to move to the next step, it’s time for concept development and testing.

Concept Development and Testing

Prior to having an R&D chef actually develop the products, it’s always a better use of resources to simply test the concept or idea among consumers and chefs. Preliminary concepts for testing can include the development of one or more of the following: the brand name, a written description of product, product prototype, and mock photographs of product.

Product concepts are presented to customers and consumers, via one or more quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Online surveys are typically the most effective and cost-effective.

The product ideas are then assessed based on consumer input and evaluated against trends, similar products in the marketplace, and feasibility. Final product/products are decided upon for development.

Why is concept testing so important? The answer is simple; consider what it takes to bring a new product to market! Launching a new product involves R&D, manufacturing, distribution, packaging, marketing and advertising, sales, and the list goes on. These costs can run into the millions and multi-millions. New product launches take time and resources, so it just makes good business sense to do your due diligence on the front end instead of finding out the hard way that you may be off-base on this one.

A recent survey from AC Nielsen said that as high as 90% of new product launches fail. Why? One of the key reasons is not going through proper research and testing. Don’t be one of those guys.

Product Development

The concept(s) that test out the strongest are now ready to be developed by your R&D chef into prototypes and/or small batch runs for trial use and sensory testing.

Typically multiple rounds or prototypes are developed internally, tweaking flavor profiles, ingredients, etc., prior to outside testing. If you are a manufacturer much of this process is facilitated in-house, if you are not, now is the time to select a manufacturer or co-packer to partner with.

Simultaneously, you should be working on packaging options, labeling requirements, ingredients, nutritional facts, and a preliminary checklist in preparation for USDA approval. Many of these factors typically change as the product evolves.

Consumer Research

Focus groups, individual sensory taste testing, sensory panel analysis, in-restaurant and menu testing, pilot programs, preference mapping, as well as other research tools can be utilized at this stage.

Research results are utilized to revise, improve, and optimize the product.

Product Finalization

After adjustments are made to the product, you are now ready to finalize all label requirements and submit for USDA approval.

Upon approval, you can move into plant scale-up production size batches. Many times slight revisions and modifications must be made at this point due to the varying kinetics of various-sized equipment and the need to adjust processing procedures due to batch size and ingredient incorporation. Once this plant scale product is satisfactory, specifications must be finalized and employees trained in product production techniques to assure consistency. If process changes impact the taste, texture, or other aspects of the product, you may need to re-test the final product.

This concludes the product development stages, and we now move into market launch planning.  Look for this follow-up article in the coming weeks.

Remember, successful new product development takes time, resources, and the intestinal fortitude to stick with it and see it through. Your organization must ultimately develop a philosophy as to what product development is and what it means to your overall success in the marketplace.

New product development is not for the faint at heart. Good luck!

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone it is highly improbable that he anticipated just how dramatically telecommunications would evolve, much less the revolution smartphones. In the past five years, since the launch of Apples iPhone, Blackberry, and Android, the use of mobile phones has changed exponentially. In addition to altering how people stay connected to each other, smartphones have changed how consumers shop for food products. In essence, it’s become their in-store GPS, and you may or may not be entered into their trip destination.

Smartphones are providing food brands with a viable tool to stay connected to their consumers while creating an even stronger consumer-to-brand bond, than ever before. Food brands such as Nestle, Campbell’s, Kraft and Kellogg’s have launched apps for smartphones that provide coupons, nutritional information, recipes, tips, tools, entertainment, all at their consumers’ fingertips. The apps provide the convenience and information consumers are seeking, while incorporating a specific product, or products, into the solution provided.

For instance, both Campbell’s Kitchen and Kraft’s iFood Assistant are apps that not only guide, but also enhance a consumer’s shopping experience. Key benefits among these apps, beyond the daily and weekly couponing, depending upon the brand, include the ability to comprise a shopping list based on budget, ingredient, prep time or cuisine, provide directions to the store, locate the item on the store’s shelves, and play video step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the recipe.

QR codes are becoming more and more mainstream, being utilized on print advertising, in-store POS material and displays, merchandisers, packaging, TV, outdoor, and many other forms of media. During the last six months of 2010 QR code scanning increased 1,200 percent across North America, according to a report from mobile payments and marketing company, Mobio Identity Systems Inc.

Many contemporary retailers are even using Bluetooth technology to talk to shoppers in their stores!

Smartphones are navigating consumers to coupons, downloads, video content, website or microsite, promotional or informational information, connecting to social media or other electronic platforms.

Think about the potential for your brand with the ability to guide the consumer via a smartphone from home, through the aisles of the store and to the table. Just as having a website was crucial to business in the mid-nineties, utilizing smartphone technology is essential for food marketers to remain relevant and effective.

Consumers are in-route. Are you plugged into their GPS?

As a food marketer you don’t have to go to Disney World to hear the “It’s a Small World” song inside your head. All you have to do is walk through the aisle of your local supermarket.

More and more, over the past few years, when one looks at the shelves of the grocery store, it’s obvious a mainstreaming of ethnic food brands and flavors is occurring. In the frozen foods section at Wegmans, under their proprietary label, offerings of Indian and Thai cuisine take up an entire freezer case and aisle are dedicated to Kosher and Mexican cuisine. In the suppermarket there are no ethnic boundaries, only booming sales.

In a recent article on Brandchanel.com they noted that in the US “$1 out of every $7 is spent on groceries toward ethnic foods.” And it’s a trend that continues to grow due to the popularity of celebrity chefs embracing ethnic flavors, a more adventurous, sophisticated consumer, and the belief, though not always true, that ethnic cuisines are somehow healthier.

However, beyond the fashionable reasoning for the spread of ethnic foods gaining popularity, there is also a practical one. Statistics. If your brand is struggling with diversifying your flavor profile and expanding your product line, especially in this economy, consider these numbers from the US Census Bureau:

• Hispanics and Asians are the fastest growing segment of the US population
• In the past ten years each segment has grown about one-third
• In the next forty years, the Asian population is projected to grow faster than the Hispanic population

Yes, diversity is a key contributor, but not the only factor in the popularity of ethnic foods. Mainstream consumers are abundantly exposed to ethnic ingredients, the experience that consumers can now have at the myriad of ethnic restaurants is unprecedented, and the increase in world travel, have all contributed to this radical shift in the American pallet.

The growing success of brands like Goya, Sabra Go Mediterranean!, and Cosmos Food, just to name a few, have all experienced tremendous growth over the past several years.

In order to compete in the growing success of ethnic brands, US food marketers need to not only spice up their dishes, but also actually feed their customer’s craving for ethnic flavors through packaging, knowledge of their growing customer base, and overall advertising. Because while it may be a small world, shouldn’t you be a big brand?

What do Gap, Tropicana, and Pepsi all have in common? That’s right; they have all received branding “face lifts” over the past two years. Well, that was their goal at least. As we have been in the long process of redesigning and launching the new packaging for Hatfield Quality Meats, I immediately thought of these larger companies and the backlash they have been receiving over their re-branding.

Gap announced just 4 days after confirming its new logo was indeed legit that it would be going back to their classic blue box logo. Thanks to social media vehicles like Facebook, Gap was able to receive the response and critiques of the new logo from their more than 720,000 fans. Once they deemed the new logo a fail, they were able to pull the plug hopefully before any damage was done. So what part of the logo was not well received? Why were consumers not feeling it? According to Advertising Age via an article written in Huffington Post, “they chose the new design because it was more contemporary and current. It honored the heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward.” While Gap might have felt this way, their fans dubbed the logo as bland and boring.

In 2009 when Tropicana dumped their “straw in the orange” brand-icon for a simpler packaging design that focused more on words, the company’s line sales plunged almost 20% post re-branding. Not surprising. People know and recognize Tropicana as “the straw in the orange” orange juice brand. It would be like taking Trix the Rabbit off of the Trix cereal box. As a consumer, I didn’t associate the new packaging to Tropicana partly because (looking back now) the brand name was so small and therefore I did not buy. That was the day I tried out the Simply Orange brand and have been pretty loyal to them ever since.

Luckily, the web allows consumers to be vicious criticizers, and in return allows big brands the ability to receive and react with adequate timing. Just because a design is new and innovative doesn’t make it good and doesn’t mean it will be perceived well by a loyal consumer base.

Published by: Lindsay Reasner, Media Director

By Kevin Schluth

The title of this entry is a quote attributed to David Ogilvy. When guys my age (mid 30’s) think of Old Spice, we usually think of the aftershave that our dad kept in his medicine cabinet. My dad was an Old Spice guy. So when I was a kid and I wanted to pretend I was a grown up, I would go to my parent’s bathroom and splash on some Old Spice. Shortly afterward I would do the Macauly Culkin scream a la Home Alone.

Nowadays, it seems the only thing ‘old’ about Old Spice is everyone’s perception of the brand. With their recent ‘Your Man’ campaign they have completely transformed many peoples perception of the brand. They certainly changed mine.

Showing that they were not satisfied with the positive responses they got from TV and YouTube ads, Old Spice took it up 10 notches with their recent ‘Your Man Responses’ endeavor that included producing 186 virtually real time video responses to online users questions.

Who’d a thought that Old Spice would be getting compared to, and competing with, the hippest, youngest and most popular male fragrance/body wash brand out there – AXE?

I have yet to buy Old Spice or AXE, which is ultimately what marketing and advertising is supposed to achieve, but that’s more because I’m married then it is a reflection on the brands. Married men like me usually wear cologne our wives like, or buy for us, or none at all. But these brands are mostly going after single men, still looking for that special someone. If I were single, I’m sure I’d be after one of these 2 brands.

I’d say AXE is more likely to attract young single men, while Old Spice will attract older single men, or those that are divorced. Which unfortunately is also a pretty big demo. So I foresee both brands being successful with their marketing efforts. But how much is all this attention affecting sales?

According to an article in AdAge: the thing Old Spice, Gillette and Nivea have in common isn’t Mr. Mustafa (the ‘Your Man’ actor), but rather multiple national drops of high-value coupons. They included buy-one, get-one-free offers from both P&G brands and up to $4 off a single bottle of Nivea Men from Beiersdorf, reflecting unprecedented levels of promotional intensity in the category.

While the sales figures may be tough to attribute to one thing over the other, one thing that can’t be denied is the amount of awareness and buzz this campaign has generated. Mr. Mustafa, the actor used in the campaign has broken through all previous viral-video records and achieved pop-icon status. As of July 18, Old Spice, with 94 million views, had become the No. 1 all-time most-viewed sponsored channel on YouTube. Old Spice had eight of the top 11 most-popular videos on YouTube on July 16. In the six days following the start of Mr. Mustafa’s personalized videos, he reached more than 100 million followers.

The effort sent Old Spice to more than 80,000 Twitter followers (finally ahead of Mr. Mustafa’s own follower base of 30,000) and its Facebook fan base to 630,000. Facebook fan interaction jumped 800% since the launch of the personalized videos.

The effort also bumped traffic to OldSpice.com to 300%, inspired a fan to create a website (oldspicevoicemails.com) where people can download voicemail messages that sound like Mr. Mustafa, and many more spin-offs and parodies.

These kinds of results are what all brands that want to be social networking and viral players dream about. It may not directly tie into sales, but they’ve already won when it comes to bringing their ‘old’ brand back into the ‘new’. So while ‘old’ fashioned coupons may still rule the day as far as sales, you can’t put a price on awesome creative execution.

So while the venerable Mr. Ogilvy’s quote does hold true, in this competitive age of ‘social networking’ and ‘infotainment’, I think even he’d be impressed with the brand awareness this campaign has generated and the creativity that made it happen.

Link to AdAge Article: http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096