Pre and Post Launch Consumer Reviews

Qualitative pre and post launch consumer reviews deliver consumer-led innovation and sustainable commercial success with an ROI that large quantitative studies just can’t do. 

If you keyword search worst product launches in any given year, you will find a plethora of highly entertaining examples of products from around the world that should never have seen the light of day — like this stunning example, launched in the U.S. in 2016. 

While such examples of innovation or marketing gone wrong might seem extreme… you know, WE would never do something like that in our business… I always feel a twinge of recognition when I read about these launches, remembering the days when I was working in Research & Development roles in global FMCG. Let’s face it, we’re all guilty of letting a project go on a little too long before we consider the consumer who is meant to ultimately buy it. And more importantly, keep buying it. And then it’s too late.

I am pretty familiar with the many factors that result in a pre or post-launch consumer review being omitted from the stage-gate process. Not every project has enough budget to do final validation testing before launch. And very few project teams have the time, budget or brain space to conduct a post launch review once the first round of shopper data comes in and things haven’t gone to plan. Just move on to the next project.

While those factors are very real, so too are the consequences of failing to build an opportunity to learn what does and doesn’t work for consumers into your launch process.

That’s why I was genuinely stoked to be tasked with co-creating with some of our FMCG clients viable solutions that could be embedded in the innovation process.  I knew if we were successful, beyond the opportunity to learn, there would also be immediate commercial benefits as the outputs could be used to help proactively engage retailers during range reviews or defend deletion when the retailers are distracted by what they can replace you with.

Thanks to the generous contribution from some of our largest and smallest global clients over much of 2019, we are delighted to have evolved cost-effective solutions that can achieve all of the above. And are affordable for any size business or project budget.

Slowly but surely these lean solutions are becoming a standard part of a more-consumer centric stage gate process for those clients that seek that. We are happy to share the outputs from any of the case studies below to bring to life what I’m talking about.

White Claw – UK (Pre-launch)
Primo Balanced Blend Sausage with 25% Vegetables – Australia (Post launch)
Tim Tam Slam Biscuits- Australia (Post launch)
Nivea Bio-degradable Wipes – UK (Post launch)
Corners Pop crisps – UK (Post launch)
Hostess Bakery Petites – US (Post launch)