New Product Research - Packaged Goods Client Decides Against a New Dessert Product Despite Intense Pressure from Stakeholders

A packaged goods client had to decide which new product concepts would be flagged for development, of which a pudding chocolate bar was designated high priority.

Management, however, was unsure whether the pudding chocolate bar would be successful, despite intense lobbying from both their sales reps and ad agency.

Further focus group research yielded no clear direction, so they asked we assess the viability of this concept.

Over 2 weeks, we:

 - Followed up with each of the 12 focus group participants to determine what doubts they had.

 - Identified a shared concern: confusion whether product is a dessert or confectionery.

 - Interviewed grocery category buyers who echoed a similar concern.

 - Visited food outlets selling discontinued products & discovered a pudding chocolate bar.

 - Followed up with the manufacturer of the discontinued puddign bar, who explained why the product had failed, confirming the issues we uncovered.

 - Advised our client not to proceed.

The client decided not to go ahead thereby avoiding wasting resources and risking harm to their company image