Finding the LYNX Effect

Our recent and successful “Watch Kids Think” research revealed what I thought was an incredible observation.

Boys aged 10-12 around the world have been throwing LYNX into their trolley when given the freedom to choose any personal care product.

And I mean any product.

This may mortify the LYNX branding team the world over given their sexually-laden ads and very clear positioning. But there must also be an element of delight to think they have nabbed 10 year old kids who are developing a love for their brand at such a young age.

Maybe the purchase motivation is because Dad uses it.

Maybe it’s because there is just nothing else on offer.

But maybe what LYNX is inadvertently doing is creating a cradle to grave brand.

I know if I was in the business of trying to sell a new juice to a 10 year I would most definitely be jumping the fence and exploring just what LYNX is doing.

Which is why, having been in the business of selling trends to FMCG clients for at least half of my working career, I am still amazed at how little cross category examination is done by category and brand owners.

I get it that a brand and category manager needs to know everything there is about their category, their consumers and the competitors.

But it’s one thing to leave no stone unturned when it comes to knowing your category. It’s another to be a little tunnel visioned and never look at success factors of brands and products outside of your aisle.

If you are in the beverage category and about to launch a new product targeting kids, it’s imperative to look at competing kids beverages but why not take a look at brands outside of your category that are nailing it with kids?

This might mean taking yourself down the path to frozen desserts or heaven forbid a non food category such as toothpaste.

The point is that some of the best learnings and greatest insights comes from cross category peering.

How do I know this?

I have been responsible for the creation and delivery of one to many offerings in the way of market research for many years.

Being in the syndicated research space means creating a one-to-many business model which enables the delivery of big trends and insights, which is then supported with specific ad-hoc and customised projects.

The objective of a syndicated research is to help with the discovery and explorative stage of new business creation.

It’s our job at watch Me Think as trend and research suppliers to pull out and deliver what we think is worth seeing regardless of the category.

So from now I am going to call this Finding the LYNX Effect.

Jo Pye
Watch Me Think’s Global Head Of Insights