1

•To - Day´s consumers and new products

• Facilitating the innovation process

PRODUCT-BRAND

DEVELOPMENT

2

BRAND DEVELOPMENT

• Consumers are gradually changing their expectations towards new

products. After having developed within a relatively blameless

consumer culture, where experimentalism was thoroughly enjoyed as

an optimistic way to obtain more benefits of all kinds (convenience,

emotion, pleasure), consumers are now expressing increasingly

complex requirements and needs.

• The economic crisis, the growing environmental and health concerns,

generate numerous trade offs in assessing and evaluating brands in

purchasing and consuming products. Moreover, the lack of coherence

of an abundant media information on major issues contribute to a

growing attention on the real “Value” of brands, and on how they can

solve consumers problems in terms of long term customer satisfation,

as opposed to fullfilling inmediate hedonistic needs.

I - TO - DAY´S CONSUMERS AND NEW

PRODUCTS

• Customers / Consumers facing new products expect to be

understood, informed, reassured, more than “Delighted” and seduced.

They focus on product functions, i.e. Quality of ingredients and

substances, functionality, quality of the manufacturing, of packagings

(environment - friendly, reliable) and, above all, on VALUE (price -

quality).

• The stronger the brand is in terms of authority and superior capacity

to deliver such products, the more credible it is in communicating

effective quality and value, the faster it will achieve a status of

“Corporate” brand, legitimate for further successful innovation and

extension.

3

BRAND DEVELOPMENT

4

II - FACILITATING THE INNOVATION

PROCESS

As a key consumer expert, RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL can

facilitate COMPANIES objectives to strenghthen innovation and

speed up product and communication developments.

1. Catching early warning signals

A strong innovation strategy involves a continuous consumer intelligence program, i.e. Assessing and tracking consumers´ needs, problems, psychological, social, and cultural trends. In this context, it is of utmost importance to catch and understand “early warning” signals before competitors. These, combined with technological excellence, will provide the leading edge to strong brands.

“Early warnings” signals can be detected through experts (the Company´s ones, as well as various market / consumer specialists).

RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL has developed a wide experience in working with experts and opinions leaders, either on anad hoc basis, or, as it would be preferable in the present case, in running “expert panels” consulted on a regular basis.

“Early warning” signals can also be obtained from retailers, and, evidently, from consumers themselves though quantitative and qualitative trackings, preferably at an international level.

2. A faster roll out of new products

When a specific development strategy has been developed, qualitative developmental research, involving consumers to trigger and optimize innovation, can be extremely efficient, and provide a faster development of new products.

5

II - FACILITATING THE INNOVATION PROCESS

6

The “CONCEPT FACTORY”

The “CONCEPT FACTORY” approach is based on two fundamental pre-

requisites:

– The development objectives must be clear, focused, and clearly

identifiable.

– The “problem owner”, i.e. Generally a marketing executive responsible

for the brand development, must set up a development task force,

invoving various specialists and experts (R&D, consumer research,

marketing, other experts and consumers)

A) Generating ideas: Interactive Innovation

RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL acts as a facilitator, enriching the idea

generation work trough various techniques aimed at encouraging

lateral (or divergent thinking), and turning these ideas into solutions

and concepts.

B) Piloting concept development: the Video Clinic

After ideas have been generated, this developmental research approach

implies involving consumers and taking their reactions inmediately into

account while developing concept wordings, propositions, and their

eventual visualisation. This approach consists in one-day sessions,

where the development task force members can optimise concepts

through an interactive process with consumers, by the means of

sequential individual interviews and analysis completed “on line” by

RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL Qualitative researchers.

7

Basic Approach and Techniques:

– The current evolution of consumers´¨ expectations leads to a complexity of

requirements where the new products functions, quality and value are the

growing focus of attention. As a corallary, the process of spontaneous

attraction towards new products and brand selection will gradually be

replaced by an approach based on product and brand knowledge.

– Early warning signals, from experts, and from consumers, detected and

understood before competitors, can provide a leading edge in new product

development. A systematic procedure of detection and tracking of market

changes is a key to sucess.

– Innovation and creative delelopment can be facilitated and speeded up

through the set up of efficient task forces, with given objetives, who will

generate ideas, develop products and concepts in a coherent and

harmonised way.

• RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL QUALITATIF has implemented an extensive

program to train and strengthen its key specialists into stimulating idea

generation and concept development, taking consumer needs and reaction

inmediately into account.

8

In conclusion

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

VIDEO

DIAGNOSTIC

MICROTEST

1

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Developmental research

NOT A TEST

28

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

INVOLVES INVOLVES INVOLVES

CONSUMER

NOT TAKEN

INTO ACCOUNT

POTENTIAL

MISUNDERSTANDING WITH

CONSUMERS´ CODES

29

CONSUMERS

IMMEDIATELY TAKEN

INTO ACCOUNT

30

31

32

Original concept

formulation

Consumer

reactions

New concept

formulation

33

Original concept

formulation

Consumer

reactions

New concept

formulation

34

35

36

37

38

39