Consumers willing to pay 16% more for eco-friendly packaging
16%: that’s how much more consumers are willing to pay for a product whose packaging is partly paper-made. This is one of the surprising results of a research published in 2023 that reveals consumers’ bias towards eco-friendly packaging. I summarize the results in this article and propose some practical business implications. Contact the marketing research firm IntoTheMinds Eco-responsible packaging: the results in a...
Ricola: a pop-up store to celebrate the rebranding
Ricola installed a pop-up store in Paris in March 2023. Its visit allows us to approach some interesting aspects of branding, observable in particular through the visual elements put forward in the sales outlet. But it’s also an opportunity to discuss marketing strategy since Ricola is diversifying. Follow me to the Swiss mountains to meet these friendly herbal candies ?. What can you find in the Ricola pop-up store? As you...
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The contribution of a pop-up store to the marketing strategy [Analysis]
The pop-up store launched by Pulco in Paris is an excellent example of how an ephemeral store is an exciting marketing strategy for a brand. Pulco faces particular challenges (awareness, image) to which this pop-up store aims to provide solutions. It becomes an essential element of the marketing mix because it allows reinforcing specific messages to consumers. In this article, we analyze 3 strategic and tactical objectives to which...
Omie: a brand that advocates total price transparency
Does the Covid crisis sound the awakening of consciences and the dawn of a new day in responsible consumption? In any case, I had the sensation of awakening after seeing the receipt of the online sales platform Omie, a ticket on which are displayed in all transparency the margin, the price paid to the producer, the cost of raw materials. In this article, I first question the global context in which this platform operates. Then I...
19 Crimes: a stroke of marketing genius … often poorly imitated
In 2018 the Australian group Treasury Wine Estates revolutionized the marketing of “mass market” wines. By introducing augmented reality with its “19 Crimes” wine, they turned the customer experience upside down, and sales of “19 Crimes” went from 4 million to 18 million bottles in just 18 months. A stroke of marketing genius that remains, despite many imitations, unmatched and wildly misunderstood...
Jérôme Grimonpon, a French chocolate specialist, is an entrepreneur like no other
In this episode of “The Business World with Pierre-Raffaele“, our star presenter (10 years old at the time of the shooting) receives a very talented French chocolate specialist: Jérôme Grimonpon. Jérôme Grimonpon has been elected chocolatier of the year by the Gault&Millau guide and as such has seen his popularity skyrocket. Of French origin, he has made Belgium his new home. Passionate, daily he does what he loves,...
FMCG: consumers’ purchase behaviors are increasingly different
In our last article, we showed how new tools, based on “data”, allow large FMCG groups to keep up with market developments and consumer expectations. In today’s article, we reveal the effects of the evolution of the FMCG (“Fast-Moving Consumer Goods”) market on consumers’ purchasing habits. A recent study (August 2019) by the University of Chicago unveils an unexpected phenomenon: the rise of niche...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018 : examples of co-branding in the food sector
In addition to the new products we detected at the SIAL 2018 food show, we also identified some original collaborations between different brands. This is called co-branding. In this article, we briefly present 3 interesting examples that make a standard product a collector’s item, or even a luxury item. Olive oils are particularly suitable for this kind of exercise as we can see with the example of Galateo & Friends. Galateo...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #4: Clean Food
The trend in the food market that we have called “clean food” includes various directions ranging from healthy snacking (see on this subject Eat Real products), vegetable alternatives such as those proposed by Pedon, the expansion of organic food that manufacturers can now no longer ignore. The innovations presented at SIAL generally follow several trends (the examples mentioned above bear witness to this since we have...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #3: Veggie alternatives
Consumers who are vegan enthusiasts represent only 1% of the population and vegetarians only 2%. These are niche markets on which some companies are still trying to focus. A much larger niche is the flexitarians, that part of the population (estimated at 40%) that reduces its meat consumption in favour of vegetable alternatives without completely abandoning the meat diet. Read also SIAL Paris 2018: What are the trends in the food...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #2: Easy Snacking
Pleasure remains one of the significant areas of innovation in the field of food and the SIAL Paris 2018 world food exhibition allowed us to identify some exciting products that are following this trend. To understand all the market trends, don’t hesitate to consult our other articles (superfoods, clean foods, vegetarian alternatives, sensational foods) as well as all our tips for visiting SIAL effectively and an overview of the...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #1: Super Food
Our market research on the food market conducted at SIAL Paris 2018 has enabled us to identify some key trends that we will share with you in a series of articles on this blog. If you would like more information about the new products we have discovered and tested, please do not hesitate to contact us. The first article in this series concerns superfoods, a trend that has already been well established for many years but which seems to...
SIAL Paris 2018: What are the trends in the food market?
SIAL Paris, the leading trade fair for innovation in the food sector, takes place every 2 years in the Exhibition Centre, Villepinte, in the north of Paris. It is generally said that 3000 new products are presented during the 5 days of the show. These 3000 new products are estimated to represent 10% of the annual global innovation (estimated at 30,000 products). You can therefore easily see that SIAL is a playground and is ideal for...
Market research: how and why Cognac exports reached all-time high
The market for Cognac is booming. Never before have so many Cognac bottles been produced and exported. The 200-million-bottle milestone was reached for the first time this year. In today’s article we’d like to deliver you some market research insights that we compiled from different sources, including a quite unusual one: a study by French customs. The latter proves that market research can (and should) be done using...
“What else” : do you remember where it comes from ?
“What Else” has become Nespresso’s tagline. But do you remember where it comes from ? When a friend of mine asked me this question, I couldn’t. Watch this 2006 video and you’ll remember quickly … Image : Rob d /...
Chewing gum market in crisis
The chewing gum market is in crisis. Revenues generated from chewing gum sales have been decreasing steadily since 2008. The slowdown even reached 3% in 2015. As a consequence Mars-Wrigley (Freedent, Skittles, …) and Mondelez (Stimorol, Malabar, Hollywood) have started a market share war. Why is the chewing gum market in crisis ? The reason is simple : demand is plunging. What is less obvious to understand is why the...
Marcolini creates super nice packaging
We missed this wonderful packaging created by Pierre Marcolini … our thanks to Florence Frans (editor of RTBF Trends website) for drawing our attention to it. This very creative packaging was created in collaboration with Kitsuné. Kitsuné means “Fox” in Japanese and this name was chosen in 2002 to launch a clothes brand. The packaging is extremely qualitative (thick cardboard). The opening of the box creates an interesting...
Brands are developping their own distribution channels
This is an emerging trend which remains still unknown. More and more brands, previously distributed in supermarkets, are trying to interact directly with consumers. Mono-brand stores are therefore popping up, for a specified period or, more rarely, for an indefinite period. I was well aware of the opening of ephemeral shops in Paris (for instance the Magnum ice cream popup store which opened up this summer) but in Barcelona I...
Examples of vertical integration and definitions
Vertical integration is a relatively rare business strategy these days. Few companies still practise it because the time has come to reduce structural costs and cut costs. Among the large groups that continue to practice it, we could mention Samsung, Swatch. Still, these dinosaurs are on the verge of extinction (whereas vertical integration can be a competitive advantage). The DNVB (Digital Native Vertical Brands) have brought this...
When innovation fuels other parties’ innovation potential
When innovation fuels other parties’ innovation potential I met at the SIAL 2012 fair with Emmanuelle Bernhardt, the marketing responsible of Groix et Nature, a company based in Groix (Brittany) which specializes in canned sea-food. As many SMEs in the sector, Groix et Nature claims a local positioning, sourcing exclusively local products and branding their geographical origin. This is a common strategy among SMEs and a...
Niche markets are sometimes larger than you expect. The case of Pedon.
Pedon is one of those brands that has a solid market share but is not known very well, even in Italy, its home country. A manufacturer of dozens of private labels product, Pedon has also its own lines of products, one of which deserves special attention. Pedon has developed a line of gluten-free products which Luca Zocca, the marketing manager, saw as a natural extension of traditional product lines. Especially interesting was the...
Comtesse du Barry bets on Foie Gras in limited editions
Comtesse du Barry, the famous French brand of southeastern gastronomical products, got an award this year for its foie gras and chocolate recipe. The product was launched in limited edition for Easter 2012 and can still be found in small quantities in some stores according to Stéphane Masson, a responsible for French distribution. Besides the fact that the limited edition in itself has become very common, we found that the packaging...
Andresy bets on customer experience … in the marmalades business
I met at SIAL 2012 with Laure Cassan, the energetic CEO of Andresy Confitures, a 50-employee family SME located east of Paris. Laure was kind enough to give me an overview of her products, one of which had been awarded a SIAL innovation prize. I was especially interested in the gourmet marmelades that were launched under the brand “instants gourmands” (“gourmet moments”). In this product category consumers are used to shop by taste...
A fine example of location-based marketing: the sardines of Comptoir de Belle-Ile-en-Mer
One of the good surprises of the SIAL was the Comptoir de Belle-Ile-en-Mer, a small producer of canned sea-food products. Rather than the products themselves, what attracted us was actually the marketing around the young brand. We noticed two interesting features. First, the packaging is very homogeneous in terms of design and follows the current trend that we could call “funny labels”. Monoprix kind of launched that trend on a...
Innovation at its best at SIAL 2012 food and drink fair
As every two years we visited the SIAL 2012, which took place in Paris from Oct 21st until Oct 25th, the largest fair for professionals in the food and drink industry. With almost 6000 exhibitors this fair is one of (if not the) largest in the world and obviously one day was not enough to visit everything. We are to strictly keep our deadlines and made prior arrangements with all companies which were awarded a SIAL innovation prize....
From ready-to-eat to ready-to-prepare, a new product experience
An important aspect of the work of a marketing agency is that we must detect, track and follow nascent trends in a broad range of industries. This knowledge is required by our clients who expects from us that we have deep knowledge in as many sectors as possible, so that they can benefit from innovating concept and future trends across industries. We track these trends through qualitative analyses, through following up many different...
Bonne Maman so obviously copied by the competition
When we give trainings on marketing or on market research we love to discuss examples of products which have failed and of products which have succeeded. One of my favorites “business cases” is Bonne Maman, a French company which has been known for decades for jam and which has successfully diversified into biscuits. I love to let people analyze Bonne Maman’s packaging during our training sessions. It’s an easy example but it’s also a...
Dandoy, a Belgian “Love Brand”
Saatchi & Saatchi has a word for brands they want to be turn into successful stories. They call them “love brands”. I have also my love brand, and it’s a Belgian one. Its name is Dandoy. The famous Brussels-based family-owned company, which will in 2012 open a store in Japan, opened us its door for a visit of its workshop located in the trendy Dansaert area. The street smells after speculoos, the century-long specialty of Dandoy....
Carambar wants to co-create
After my post on Galak a few weeks ago, now it’s Carambar‘s turn to look for co-creation opportunities. I remain not convinced and here’s why. Carambar are categorized under sweets and are items which are typically purchased by habit. The purchase decision is made by the unconscious mind rather than by the conscious one. While trying to communicate with children with a message printed on a board at 2 meters (6 feet)...
Marcolini revisits Magnum ice creams
Here’s a good evidence of Marcolini’s marketing skills. Not only does he propose top notch products but he also has talent for marketing. See also our other articles on Marcolini’s products. My take: Quality is not enough for a product to succeed. You must add a touch of emotion and marketing and Marcolini’s marketing team is good at...
Visit to the Dandoy “factory”
We just visited the Dandoy “factory” (actually it’s more a traditionnal craftsmanship-based manufacture) and we were amazed. We heard beautiful stories, met wonderful and passionate people and took a lot of pictures. We’ll prepare a thorough post on our experience that we will publish soon to share our love for Dandoy.
We love Dandoy
We had a meeting last week with Dandoy, one of the most iconic company of Brussels and an international symbol of success for Belgium entrepreneurship. I’m a Dandoy-addict and went to one of their stores last weekend. Back home I realized that their products not only tasted great but we also particularly photogenic. I took some pictures just to realize that one of Dandoy’s cornerstones for success was at my fingertips. Do...
Everybody has a limited edition … even Galak
Surprise in my Delhaize supermarket last week: a set of four “limited edition” Galak chocolate confections was promoted. My take: It’s a little bit silly I think … there’s no seasonnality in the product (unlike Tropicana’s limited editions) and I don’t understand the claim. This is empty of any concrete marketing...
Sara Lee vs. Nespresso : missed target
When I attended the “stratégie clients” show in Paris two weeks ago, I heard Julien Morel, the COO of Nespresso, explain how Nespresso was able to keep its market share in spite of new players like Maison du Café (Sara Lee) and Casino. While in France I went to a supermarket to test the Sara Lee capsules by myself and I’ve got an explanation. Sara Lee’s coffee is simply not as good as Nespresso’s. From a pure hedonic viewpoint the...
Nostalgia …. once again
I talked about it more than enough on this blog. Nostalgia is a major trend in marketing. All brands are using it and it becomes to be too much. If brands keep using the same trick again and again consumers will eventually want something else. My short visit to SIAL 2010 in October was a good opportunity to confirm that nostalgia can be spotted everywhere. A few examples : I just stooped counting the brands of biscuits using nostalgia...
Authenticity : an upcoming and rewarding marketing trend
In a world where everything moves at the speed of light, where we are constantly subject to a ton of stimuli, new trends emerge which are exploited by marketers. In a previous post I was talking about Dirk Smeesters’ researches on nostalgic products and numerous companies (Converse, VW, …) adopted it. Another way to follow those trends consists in betting on authenticity because it is eventually related to nostalgia. Firms in the...
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