bases australia top breakthrough innovations
Consumer needs and priorities are always evolving and paving the way for new innovations to achieve success. Let’s celebrate and learn from recent innovations that got it right and take those lessons to uncover new opportunities amidst the COVID-19 impacted landscape and the emerging new normal. These are the standout innovations that achieved critical success to become a 2020 BASES Australia Top Breakthrough Innovation.
2020 BASES AUSTRALIA TOP BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATIONS
Twinings® in’fuse
yopro high protein yoghurt
oreo® cadbury® coated cookies
kitkat® gold
red rock deli® roasted peanuts
abbott’s village bakery® gluten free bread
remedy kombucha
purina® dentalife® daily oral care dog treats
GARNIER SKIN ACTIVE HYDRA BOMB TISSUE MASK
AIR WICK V.I.POO
BREF BLUE ACTIVE TOILET CLEANER
three key actions contributed to the success of many 2020 bases AUSTRALIA top breakthrough innovations
- 1. discover
DISCOVER
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR BRAND TO BREAK THROUGH
While incrementality and differentiation are key to breaking onto the shelf, many launches aren’t incremental: ~25% of new products actually shrink total brand sales. But, a successfully-executed extension can drive growth, and there are multiple avenues to growth.
Attracting new buyers, increasing consumption, expanding your brand into new occasions, capitalising on a trend, premiumisation and growing distribution are all ways to increase consumption, penetration, trade up current buyers, bring new and higher spending buyers, and ultimately, generate growth. Several of this year’s BASES Top Breakthrough Innovations were able to successfully grow their brand by expanding into a new usage occasion. They employed various tactics to differentiate the innovation from the parent brand product and cue the new occasion, while still maintaining core aspects of brand equity.
TWININGS® In’FUSE
Twinings® wanted to launch In’fuse to expand into the refresh occasion after extensive research and development to understand both the ideal positioning as well as to get to the right mix of flavours and ingredients.
Even the best ideas and most compelling extensions will struggle to achieve success without a strong performing product. BASES Australia Top Breakthrough Innovations don’t cut corners when it comes to delivering exceptional product experiences.
80%
Failure rate for products deemed “not ready” in pre-market product test but launch anyway
30%
Greater year-one sales for launches with strong performance over those with weak performance.
- 2. break the mold
BREAK THE MOLD
bringing your innovation to life
Traditional research and awareness-driving tools continue to be the foundation for learning and activation. This year’s BASES Top Breakthrough Innovations also employed out-of-the-box development and activation tactics that were customised to the innovation and its audience.
KITKAT® OFFERS A TASTE OF GOLD
Setting up a first-ever KITKAT® Gold Wall with 8,000 samples in Martin Place, Sydney and Southern Cross Station, Melbourne and captured real consumer reactions to trying the Limited Edition creamy golden white chocolate, which help create buzz and hype to drive awareness and trial.
- 3. act
ACT
intentionally with the right timelines & support
The pace of business is accelerating, but speedy decision-making alone does not yield success. Marketers must balance speed with fully delivering on the consumer insight. Across the BASES Top Breakthrough Innovations, many teams made decisions to prioritise doing right by the innovation over delivering on speed alone. In many cases, ironically, these decisions enabled speed as well.
BASES Australia Top Breakthrough Innovations also had clear strategies to get team commitment and leadership support, and to generate both internal and retailer excitement, further enabling and driving success of the launches.
BUILD TEAM COMMITMENT & EXCITEMENT
Select team members that are passionate about the opportunity space and empower them to make decisions that keep the consumer insight front and center.
gain leadership support
Show leadership the money and bring them in early. Prove the initiative is worthy of support by presenting the opportunity space and sizing the prize.
GENERATE RETAILER EXCITEMENT
Demonstrate to the retailer not only that your innovation can be big, but that you will make it big. Tailored support and spend can help here, but it’s not the only lever.
finding the next breakthrough
Perhaps surprisingly, we have seen a strong number of innovation items launching this year, despite unprecedented obstacles like supply chain challenges and stay at home orders. While there was a dip in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, innovation is bouncing back as we move into a new normal. In fact, innovators know the importance of developing strong new products, particularly in challenging times, as evaluating innovations with BASES has increased during the pandemic.
WANT TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN BE ONE OF THE NEXT BASES AUSTRALIA TOP BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATIONS?
To dive deeper on this year’s findings, or to dig into the next big thing in innovation (see below), contact your BASES team. Your BASES team will be able to share more about what the BASES Australia Top Breakthrough Innovations got right, how we can all apply their learnings, and what you need to do to stay two steps ahead of the competition.
COVID-19 & THE NEW NORMAL
EVOLUTION OF NATURAL & PLANT-BASED
