In order to maintain consumer interest and excitement in one of the company’s leading brands, the client had identified that it would be crucial to develop a pipeline of new limited edition flavour variants that could be launched over successive seasonal periods.
A raft of different flavour variants had already been tested, and upon consumer feedback optimised in terms of taste profile. Armed with the final product, the client was looking to understand which of these should be the next one to launch in summer 2006, and whether if successful, the limited edition could become a permanent addition to the range in the longer term.
With retail space at a premium, it was crucial to understand whether an extra SKU could indeed add incremental reach, or whether an existing variant would have to be replaced in order to optimise the assortment.
In order to address these key questions, Nunwood’s global insight department and market analytics department worked together to deploy a combination of in depth consumer product testing and sophisticated range optimisation modelling.
Insight from the product testing enabled key flavour learnings to be gathered, whilst brand attribute analysis helped to identify which variants generated the most interest and excitement. Genetic algorithms were then used to search intelligently for the optimal SKU assortment based on the current variants and the new limited edition variants.
From the insight generated, the client has ultimately been able to decide on a priority order for launching the limited editions, as well as put together a case for the trade to show that the limited editions can be sustainable in the long term and extend reach.
Clear learnings were generated in terms of flavour profiles to avoid, in going forwards, along with a confirmation of variants in the existing portfolio, to keep on the basis that no new flavour variants could beat these in terms of overall reach.
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