How transparent ingredients meet consumer expectations
Openness About Ingredients and Production Practices Can Benefit Beverage Brands
We look at how transparent ingredients and openness of sourcing and production can help drive growth by meeting consumer expectations.
Transparent ingredients builds trust
Consumers are increasingly concerned about transparency on values close to hearts such as health, sustainability and ethical considerations. Loyalty is won and lost from how honest a brand.
Conscious consumers expect transparent natural ingredients for health benefits
Today consumers are more conscious about what they consume, in particular the food and drink they consume. Health is an important factor in choices, and so transparency on ingredients is crucial to make those critical choices. For example, in Catalyx-own research on Corona Cero, the ‘natural ingredients’ claim dialled up engagement in product and consideration to purchase. Using these transparent and attractive ingredient claims can also help to differentiate you from the competition.
Natural ingredients are associated with reduced chemicals or synthetic equivalents. Consumers prefer and trust natural ingredients as a way to reduce their consumption of artificial additives, preservatives and flavourings. Natural ingredients create a perception of healthier and cleaner product choices. For example, tea company Brew Lab, a New York-based brand. Stocked in the likes of Target and Whole Foods, in 2020 they launched their Owl’s Brew Boozy Tea, an alcoholic sparkling tea made from clean and tasty ingredients.
The Clean Label movement continues to gain pace. Linked to this is the simplicity of ingredients as well as natural ingredients. Over 70% of consumers are willing pay more for current brands that reformulate to be able to make natural ingredients claims (Ingredion’s Global Clean Label Manufacturer research).
Dietary intolerances and allergens require transparency
Over the last five decades dietary requirements have been on a noticeable rise. Recent academic data suggests up to 11% of the global population has a food allergy. And with an increase in inflammatory responses, even more people are dealing with food intolerances. The most common of these inflammatory issues is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), with the National Institute of Health in the US claiming about 12% of people in the US have IBS. GII Research reports the European gluten-free foods and beverages market is estimated to register a CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period (2022-2027). Therefore, having very clear and transparent access to ingredients in an easy to digest format is increasingly important. This is particularly important when thinking about online product touchpoints.
Gluten free beers are on the rise in the UK due to active demand from the 10% of consumers who are on gluten-free diets (Coeliac UK). And by the many who choose gluten-free options if available but don’t cut gluten out completely. Numerous beer brands have innovated to offer just as good gluten-free beer alternatives – Vocation, Green’s, Magic Rock Brewing, Purity Brewing, Greene King, Jubel, Brew Dog and more.
Transparent ingredients in combination with transparent sourcing and production
Consumers expect the sourcing of ingredients and the production of product from ingredients to be as transparent as the ingredients themselves. Minimal processing and as close to its natural state as possible are drivers to a product’s naturalness. This can also relate to the farming of ingredients – the sustainable practices that are as natural as possible, such as organic. Soil health, biodiversity, and sustainable ecosystems will become increasingly important. Particularly as Gen Z is emerging as the sustainability generation and are driving this agenda.
It’s important for brands to be considering how they can innovate to meet consumer expectations on natural ingredients, simple and open sourcing and production, and how to communicate with clear benefit of transparency.
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Your product’s use case and how to get it right
Cracking the Code: Identifying the Optimal Use Cases for Your CPG Product
Do your consumers connect with your CPG product’s use cases? For brands seeking to maximise their product’s growth potential, there is one common stumbling block you may be up against. When brands don’t think about how a product seamlessly integrates into their lives, growth will become unattainable. This blog explores the significance of identifying the key areas to ensure optimal use cases for your CPG product and how it can fuel growth.
A product’s use case can have impact on unclear product positioning
Take San Pellegrino’s “Essenza”, a beverage boasting a unique flavour profile and intriguing ingredients. Surprisingly, a Catalyx-own study revealed that due to unclear positioning in the market and packaging that failed to convey optimal use, over a third of consumers struggled to discern the intended usage occasions. Consequently, consumers had difficulty incorporating this drink into their daily lives, resulting in a reduced likelihood of making a purchase in the first place.
Catalyx crowdsourcing of behavioural product usage revealed that 35% of usage experience language was negative:
“I wonder if the Pellegrino Essenza is suitable for daily consumption or if it’s designed for a specific occasion”
“Does the product stand alone or do I need to mix it?”
“Is San Pellegrino Essenza an alternative to diet soda?”
This study serves as a vivid reminder of the role that clear positioning plays in connecting your product with your target audience.
The impact of poor creative communications
Another example of weaker usage understanding is Corona Cero, a non-alcoholic beer. This time we found a lack of relevant communication execution across touchpoints. In a Catalyx study using our new Bitesize research programme, we discovered that the creative execution in Corona Cero advertising failed to connect with consumers. While consumer reaction to taste was overwhelmingly positive when using the product, the promotional communication performed weakest on product fit, being memorable and being clear about what the product offers.
Corona Cero’s positioning did not communicate the unique benefits of the drink and advertising shifted purchase intent only marginally, relying on Corona brand cues. Consumers were unsure about the relevance of the non-alcoholic product within their lives and actual usage occasions.
61% of consumers wanted more focus on the actual product and more relatability within the usage occasions
“Show people of different ages and backgrounds enjoying the drink at different occasions”
You can read the rest of that report for free here.
The impact of an irrelevant product use need
Cases of suboptimal use can be risked when the innovation is too focused on novel marketing and the product itself is ignored. This happened to Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte, raising eyebrows with its limited-edition pixel-flavored soda. Described as the first-ever Coca-Cola flavour born in the metaverse, it aimed to unite digital and physical worlds. The soda had coordinated launches within both Fortnite and Meta, and while this was applauded, the taste received heavy online criticism. As an exciting nod to evolving technology the product served its purpose – however, as a refreshing beverage use occasion expected by consumers, it fell drastically short.
Growth through powerful positioning and branding
The above explores where brands have got it wrong. But what about when they get it right? When brands meet a usage need and promote the right optimal use cases, they can successfully position their product. Use cases serve as guiding beacons, lighting the path for consumers to seamlessly embrace a product in their lives. By highlighting the various occasions, settings, or specific needs your product solves or excels in, you empower consumers to buy into its integration within their lifestyles.
We can learn from an excellent example from another category. invisaWear is a brand with an offering that blends two usage needs into one item – aesthetics of jewellery with personal-safety technology. Recently it was nominated for a 2023 Webby award. Offering a niche product, invisaWear recognised the need to provide crystal-clear promotional communications explaining optimal use, setup, care, and operating instructions. The brand also ensures that customers understand how easily it integrates into their lives by listing segmented examples of target users who could benefit, eliminating ambiguity to simplify the purchase decision-making process.
It’s crucial to have clear marketing that unlocks both adoption and growth of your offering. By identifying and championing the optimal use cases for your CPG product, you empower consumers to easily welcome it into their lives.
GET A FREE REPORT on The Battle of the Brands. See how we can deliver mind-opening WOW insights to unlock growth, in an iterative learning approach. Get fast insights for fast decisions. Always the answer, never just the data.
Catalyx has launched Bitesize research to help brands innovate continuously.
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Consumer personalisation for differentiation
Beyond the Basics: How Beverage Brands are Personalising Beyond Flavour and Ingredients
Consumer personalisation isn’t new. But personalising and tailoring to consumer need in new and innovative ways can differentiate your brand vs. the competition. We look at exciting examples from the beverage industry to demonstrate how brands can stand out beyond the basics with personalisation.
Personalisation to solve for consumer need
Consumer personalisation won’t drive incremental growth if it’s just a novel idea. It needs to meet a specific consumer need to make impact. So it’s crucial brands understand their target audience needs for innovative personalised solutions. UK-based Miracle Tea solves for both personal taste preferences and health needs, with their personalised blending service using a proprietary algorithm on their website. It recommends a custom tea blend tailored to the consumer individual needs based on a quiz.
And sometimes a product solution is born from a personalised need. Meeting daily hydration consumer personalisation needs, US-based company VIVIC offers a personalisation hydration monitoring service via a wearable device and app. Tracking the consumer hydration levels it recommends personalised hydration goals and drink recommendations based on individual need.
Leverage technology for consumer personalisation like Johnnie Walker
Brands can leverage technology to automate consumer personalisation. With algorithms and machine learning to recommend products and services that are tailored to each individual customer. And this can help to deliver personalized experiences at scale, without requiring significant manual effort. Somabar, an automated bartending appliance brand, uses an AI-powered robotic bartender. Designed to meet consumer desire for a bar cocktail experience and drink exploration at-home. Consumers use the mobile app, select the preferred cocktail with customised ingredients, flavours, strengths. Then the app sends the recipe to the Somabar robot to mix and dispense the cocktail using precise measurements and temperatures. The robot also uses machine learning algorithms to improve personalised recommendations and individual preferences over time.
Johnnie Walker also used technology effectively to launch a personalised whisky bottle service that uses augmented reality (AR) technology to create a personalised label that features the customer’s face. Consumers can use a dedicated app to take a selfie, which is then turned into an AR image that is added to the label of their Johnnie Walker bottle.
Personalised engagement in real-time with Coca-Cola and Pepsi
Real-time personalised experiences are becoming increasingly popular in the beverage industry. And many brands use technology to offer customised and personalised experiences to their customers. You can create incredible consumer experiences in real-time to stand out from the competition. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi created personalised vending machines for consumers to create custom blends personalised to their preference for that moment in time.
Heineken has developed a real-time personalised beer recommendation service using facial recognition technology. Customers can use a mobile app to take a selfie, which is then analysed by the app to determine the customer’s mood and personality. Then the app recommends a beer that’s suited to the customer’s mood and personality.
Unpacking consumer personalisation needs using quick insights
Use iterative learning to innovate personalisation with real-time feedback from consumers to better meet their needs. Getting continuous fast consumer insights can help brands create a more relatable and engaging personalised experience. Understand consumer preferences and behaviour, such as browsing behaviour to identify patterns and trends to personalise products to meet specific consumer needs.
Catalyx has launched Bitesize research to help brands innovate continuously.
GET A FREE REPORT on The Battle of the Brands as an example of how we can deliver mind opening wow insights to unlock growth, in an iterative learning approach. Fast insights for fast decisions. Always the answer, never just the data.
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Why Consumers Expect You To Innovate Continuously
Innovate continuously to meet demanding consumer expectation. Brands are increasingly facing this challenge and at speed!
The need from the complex consumer in a digitalised age to innovate continuously
Consumers are constantly changing and evolving. Increased digitalisation of our lives drives access to more information, products, and services. The number of consumer touchpoints is rapidly increasing. Combined with an uncertain and changing societal context. We are faced with a complex consumer to understand.
Being informed and connected makes consumers more empowered. They have the access to constantly compare and evaluate products. So, they’re able to demand more. Therefore, brands must innovate continuously to meet these evolving consumer expectations.
Apple and Samsung understand consumer technology demands them to innovate continuously
Digitalisation itself increases the need for continuous innovation. Consumers expect products integrated with the latest technology. The rapid pace of technological change means brands need to adapt and adopt new and emerging technologies to stay relevant.
Mobiles are the most obvious example of seeing this need for continuous innovation in action. Apple and Samsung are the front runners in continuously improving smartphones to meet consumer expectations.
CommBank integrates AI to meet consumer expectations to innovate continuously
The recent explosion of AI is already creating consumer demand for brands to integrate AI into their consumer solutions to augment the human experience. For example, Australian bank CommBank is committed to using AI to exceptional customer experiences at scale. They have recently tested an in-app feature that uses AI to learn the user fuel spending pattern, then alerts them when they should think about filling up and tells them the cheapest option in the nearby area.
Amazon meets the need for convenience to innovate continuously
Consumer demand for continuous innovation is also driven by the increasing desire for convenience. Therefore, the demand for brands to adopt innovations such as one-click ordering, and same-day delivery is increasingly expected. Amazon was at the forefront on this innovation evolution, while other brands have followed such as Dominos who’ve made ordering easier with one-click based on favourites. Brands must be innovating for convenience to compete.
L’Oreal Perso understands consumers want more personalised control
As consumers’ options increase, their demand for more increases. New tech offers the improvement for consumer product personalisation. Netflix and Spotify are experts at personalised algorithms for their content. Consumers are now used to this level of personalisation and want to feel empowered to curate for their own relevant requirements. L’Oreal Perso gives to power to the consumer to control their own personalised skincare solutions. Using AI technology the device analyses the person’s own skin concerns, environmental factors, and preferences to curate a skincare regime that’s dispensed from the device, and then track progress from use. Innovation to find growth from the many but personalise for the individual is a path brands must explore to innovate continuously to be competitive.
Innovate continuously to unlock growth
To be in position to find growth, innovation is key. Investment of innovation enables differentiation in increasingly saturated markets. To keep attracting new customers, brands need to be better than the competition. Keeping up with technology to integrate into innovation is part of this future-focused relevance to meet consumer expectation to innovate continuously in ways to delight them.
Catalyx has launched Bitesize research to help brands innovate continuously.
GET A FREE REPORT on The Battle of the Brands as an example of how we can deliver mind opening wow insights to unlock growth, in an iterative learning approach. Fast insights for fast decisions. Always the answer, never just the data.
Let’s talk. Click here to unlock your crowd.
Meet the needs of the fast changing consumer market
Fast insights for a fast changing consumer market. Maximize your brand success with fast decisions from Bitesize by Catalyx. New to the Catalyx Crowdsourced Behavioural Research System, get little bites of Catalyx in an agile, cost-effective package. Get a free report – The Battle of the Brands in a Crowded Beverage Market.
Why Bitesize for the fast changing consumer market?
Within the fast changing consumer market, dynamic research approaches are vital. That’s why Bitesize has been created – built upon client discussions that reveal a demand for powerful solutions, at speed. It joins Catalyx’s portfolio of research solutions as our most dynamic approach yet. With Bitesize, agility remains a priority with zero compromise on the impact of insights.
Catalyx’s Chief Growth Officer Shazia Ginai has been on both sides of the client conversation. With years of success in the field of human behavioural research, Shazia explains how Bitesize has come to exist.
“A lot of brands in recent years have been turning to DIY options for research. Clients want it quickly; they want it iteratively. Those DIY solutions may be quick and dirty, but they are also limited by being quick and dirty. They don’t give clients that strength of strategic, accessible insight that they’re looking for.
“Having experienced this client-side, I am very familiar with these obstacles. Clients have their own expertise in-house, but when it comes to research and getting deeper expertise outside of the brand itself, that’s where we come in.
“Our clients are at the heart of everything we do. In creating this new research offer we asked ourselves where it really is that clients’ needs are not being met by what’s on offer in the market and we identified those specific areas of pressure. We built Bitesize around our clients’ needs the way they build around the needs of their consumers. From this we have created a fast-paced, low-cost solution that enables iterative decision making.
“Bitesize delivers quickly and effectively, with honest, strategic and impartial data.”
Staying ahead of the curve in a fast changing consumer market
The research industry faces a challenge to stay ahead of the curve in a fast changing consumer market. Throughout recent years consumers have been met with unexpected shifts in priorities. As a result, for brands there is ongoing uncertainty surrounding the streams of data they once could rely on.
At the recent Festival of Marketing: Transform, held in London, Reckitt’s George Papadopoulos discussed this;
“A few years ago, it was OK to just know quantitative and qualitative research. Now you need to understand digital, ecommerce, omnichannel, social insights, audience. There’s all these things now that make it very difficult.”
Research plays an increasingly crucial role in getting a successful product in front of the right consumer. Common approaches direct clients to fast but shallow DIY solutions, or detailed but time-consuming traditional agencies. Bitesize goes beyond data, delivering fast insights to make fast decisions in a fast changing consumer world. Within the market’s rapid change there is an opportunity to explore and understand the new needs of your consumers like never before.
Unlock the secret to make fast decisions in a fast changing consumer market
Developed to tackle the increasing pace of today’s fast changing consumer market, Bitesize offers two distinct approaches. Each designed to support iterative learning for innovation and crowdsourced ethnographic observation at scale. We pair both with strategic Catalyx consultancy to ensure fast decision making.
Bitesize’s first offering is Crowd Safari. It brings you access to the insight of 30 consumers all in one go, anywhere in the world. With Crowd Safari, you can complement or replace your current way of accessing consumers’ homes, completing shopalongs and capturing product usage. Utilise our ability to capture real life video, image and verbatim from your consumers at a crowdsourced scale. You are guaranteed rich, synthesised insights through compelling outputs that facilitate fast decisions, as well as audit scorecards with actionable optimisations.
The second offering is our Innovation Pick ‘n Mix. Get so much more than a basic consumer test. It contains a robust suite of research options, providing everything you need to iteratively build and optimise your next successful innovation. Create your own Pick ‘n Mix from 7 flexible approaches with detailed outputs. You’re guaranteed a hierarchy of preference, opportunity matrix, optimisation identification and Catalyx-standard recommendations. Including also our collaborative consultancy to discuss results and agree next steps.
No matter which you select, we guarantee results within one week. Our quickest package for your quickest project.
