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:
Global scan of trends around vegetable usage and innovations
Scan of new trends and technologies within the US
In-depth qualitative research to understand the why behind the trends
Qualitative and quantitative validation of concept
Quantitative validation of package re-size
Naming exploration
Packaging qualitative and quantitative validation
Quantitative advertising validation
Quantitative in-home use testing