One of the challenges facing many FMCG marketers today is the LAPD of NPD

The issue is that too many new products or services are being “caught” by the LAPD…

• Launch (in a blaze of glory and if you’re lucky some A&P in year 1)
• Abandon (budgets get cut, focus shifts to next big thing and so sales drop)
• Panic (ensues)
• (Retailers’) Delist

The reality of increasing product portfolios, continual pressure for new news and increasing media costs, means that the old models of innovation need to be reviewed

Our experience suggests that there needs to more focus in the development stage on

• The development of clearer, simpler and stronger propositions and their supporting reasons to believe coupled with the use of more initial idea screening
• The role and development of the pack -the silent salesmen – which must work harder and often is the most important communication vehicle the new product will have. This in turn leads to more Packcept or Pack focused research – rather than full concept testing.  The rationale being that the consumer won’t get to see or hear all the “words” there are on a standard concept – or the communication that would have done this role – so a truer test is to focus on the pack

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of articles suggesting the unthinkable; that the sheen might finally be wearing off the Apple brand.  (5 Truths That Explain Our Love-Hate Affair With Apple from Fast Company is probably our favourite).

Before I get lynched by my Apple-loving colleagues for suggesting such heresy perhaps we should engage in a little market research to see what consumers really think?

It feels like a good time to re-enact the much told story of how Innocent’s founders tested out their smoothies at a London music festival, with bins marked ‘yes’ or ‘no’ depending on whether punters thought they should ditch their day jobs to make the drinks full-time.  Replace bins with piles of t-shirts and we could have a little fun:

The pile that runs out fastest wins…

In the connected retail environment developing in the UK the trend for social, location based and mobile forms of exchange are on the increase. Fuelled by growth in smartphones and data networks the integration of the digital world with the in store shopping experience is on the rise. Two thirds of smartphone users in the US say they use them while in store, with 9% using them for coupon redemption. The latter point highlights that it’s not only technological shifts driving the behaviour; economic conditions are also leading shoppers to make smarter decisions using whatever platform they have at their disposal.

I’ve seen recently that shopper marketing departments are growing and the focus of many is to understand how digital integration can support and enhance the shopper experience. It’s a noble quest and one I’m sure will pay dividends in the future. If shopper marketing planning fails to recognise that a great deal of shoppers research and planning is affected digitally and via social media, even for in-store purchases, then they could be missing out.

Key to understanding the role of integrated media for brands in the shopping environment is as follows:

• Forget AIDA – what does the journey now look like and where can/does digital play a role?

• Get SoLoMo – Bring shoppers the right content, media or offers at the right time using their smartphones as the intermediary.

• There is no single answer – research how the role of digital integration can function most effectively in your category and for your shoppers.

At the Value Engineers our Digital Strategy Team can help with all three.

Further to Anna’s blog of last week about dual-screening (http://www.thevalueengineers.com/2013/03/08/first-there-was-one-then-two-then-three-and-then-one-again/) for me this is just one manifestation of the underlying trend of Continuous Partial Attention (CPA). It is one that impacts on not just ITC categories but will have major implications for everything from advertising to education to family interactions.

How often have you heard parents talking about not understanding how their children can be listening to music, texting, writing an essay, watching a box set of the latest TV series and shouting at their younger siblings all at once? This is the new reality. This is continuous partial attention and its how many of us use our attention today. In fact many people reading this won’t be giving it their full attention. I’m delighted that we got at least some of yours. Grabbing 100% of someone’s attention and holding for 1, 5, 10 mins is something that was always hard but is now increasingly difficult.

And if you are still with me and wondering if CPA isn’t just another word for multi-tasking, there is  a difference

When we multi-task, we are usually trying to be more productive. We’re often doing things that are automatic; that require very little cognitive processing. It’s used to describe a situation where someone is doing two or more things at once before moving onto something else they want to do. To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention — CONTINUOUSLY. It is a new constant, it driven by the desire not to miss anything - to be connected, to be recognized, and to matter.

When talking to consumers in their 20’s we are finding that the more digitally savvy are moving to no longer paying for TV licenses - streaming content from their laptops instead.

They dislike and see no need for a TV schedule, preferring to watch programmes as they become available; and when they do are happy to binge watch a whole series.

‘House of Cards’ is the first show made specifically for Netflix to be downloaded and watched in one sitting. Rather than introducing one episode a week, as distributors have done since the days of black-and-white TVs, all 13 episodes will be streamed at the same time with the goal of shutting down a portion of America for a whole day.