Case Study: Rewrote the marketing playbook for frozen vegetables, creating a $400 million new category

The Problem:

In 2005 Birdseye branded frozen vegetables were rapidly losing market share to private label brands.

  • The prevailing belief was that if the vegetables tasted better consumers would buy more.

  • The new product pipeline was focused on sauced and flavored products delivered in conventional packaging.

Perceive:

Consumer research revealed that friction in the preparation process was a greater barrier to increased purchases than flavor:

  • Guilt: Vegetables were included in the meal because consumers felt compelled for health reasons to include them. The main course got the attention, vegetables were often poorly prepared.

  • Poor First Impression: Vegetables looked unappealing coming out of the bag and had no aroma.

  • Freezer Annoyance: A single bag should equal a single meal. Small unused portions became freezer burned and even less appealing.

A global scan of trends revealed a European trend of cooking food in its package.

  • I identified a US packaging technology that enabled a user to microwave an unopened bag of vegetables, creating a “steam in bag” effect.

  • The material could run on exiting equipment with minimal conversion costs.

Prescribe:

  • The team developed a concept of a 12 ounce steam-in-bag product line to address these friction points and commercialize this new-to-the world concept in a way that consumers would understand and embrace.

  • Perceptions of the quality of the vegetables increased because they only saw an aromatic, colorful, cooked product.

  • Consumers appreciated that it was foolproof and did not overcook if neglected for a moment.

  • The name SteamFresh conveyed the benefit of the unique cooking method.

  • It was necessary to show a microwave on the package to illustrate the radical concept of a cook-in package.

  • Reducing to a 12ounce serving size was seen as a benefit, not a price increase.

Perform:

IRI named SteamFresh the #2 most successful new brand in 2007 with reported sales of $87 million. They reported that less than 5% of new CPG brands reach $50 million in year-one sales.

The frozen side dish category posted several years of double digit growth with steam-in-bag products cited as the driver.

Steam-in-bag products were launched by most national brands following Birdseye’s success. Total steam-in-bag sales estimated at $400 million across brands.

1. March 10 2008 Supermarket News, IRI Announces Most Successful Brands of 2007
2. February 1 2010 Supermarket News, Heat and Veg

Methodology:

  1. Global scan of trends around vegetable usage and innovations

  2. Scan of new trends and technologies within the US

  3. In-depth qualitative research to understand the why behind the trends

  4. Qualitative and quantitative validation of concept

  5. Quantitative validation of package re-size

  6. Naming exploration

  7. Packaging qualitative and quantitative validation

  8. Quantitative advertising validation

  9. Quantitative in-home use testing

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