NATIONAL or INTERNATIONAL?

What to choose: NATIONAL concept with product design towards national values and nostalgia or INTERNATIONAL branding and communication?

The Challenge: Our client wanted to introduce a new product in a FMCG food category and had developed two alternative conceptual platforms to introduce it: a “classic” (traditional) (with local name, locally produced, local origin of ingredients, communication towards nationalism and nostalgia) and “international” one (global origin in the receipt, global branding, communication towards internationalism). The question was which concept had the better potential to increase the market share of the parent brand?

The Approach: We designed and ran a two-stage survey:
I. A qualitative one (Focus Group Discussions), to explore in detail the relevance of both concepts to the category in general, to the brand in particular and to check whether any of the concepts expands (better than the other) the frame of the typical category consumption occasions. The reactions of the consumers here were also to provide additional insights about the possible ways to improve the conceptual platforms themselves;
II. A quantitative survey (Concept Test), to measure the attractiveness of the concepts among users and non-users of the parent brand, to measure the expected cannibalization and to compare the overall potential of the two alternative concepts;

The Outcome: The qualitative exploration proved both concepts to be relevant for the audience, provided a base for their further improvement / fine tuning and suggested that the “international” concept bears better potential compared to the “traditional” one. The results of the quantitative survey proved undoubtedly that the “international” concept is the better choice. It showed a 20% better volume potential, mainly due to the significantly better purchase interest, combined with lower levels of cannibalization.

Yet, the survey revealed that even the winning concept lacks distinctiveness and (especially) credibility, does not expand the frame of consumption occasions and its overall liking and purchase intent scores are below the 70th percentile in our database, which made the product launch risky in terms of profitability. Our recommendation was to hold the product launch and elaborate further on the winning concept before going to the market.

The results of the survey are related to a FMCG food category with specific target group and usage. In other category the outcome could be opposite depending on product characteristics and communication strategy fueled by the nostalgic charge.
Regardless the category specifics the chosen approach will support the decision making of selecting the wining concept with potential for higher brand profitability and growth.