A Bit on the Side
Development Strategy
Sauce is pumped into the holding tank prior to filling (click to enlarge)
Sleever
Bottles ready for filling
(click to enlarge)
Bottles entering sleever
In mid-1997 it was decided to look for a new sauce product to modernise the brand and open a new platform. At the time, the company made two basic tomato-based sauces with wide sales and a commanding market share, and some hot meal sauces packed in cans. There was nothing on offer that was up-market or adventurous. Brainstorming produced the creative idea; a concept and an advertising campaign were developed, and the product was then developed to fit the concept.
The idea that emerged was for a ‘modern, quirky, fun sauce, with premium quality flavours to enhance experience and add some spice to life’. It could be benchmarked against potential competitor products, and targeted at a smaller, more highly fragmented market than the bulk of Heinz Wattie’s products. At the time the identified market offered 300 separate products from 31 brands in New Zealand. A different product was needed – something more up-beat and up-market, with several variants (Conceptual statement).
For a company that had built its reputation on everyday, best-value products of dependable quality, this represented a major marketing excursion. It was also a big challenge to their traditional patterns of formulation and packaging, though it seemed unlikely to present major problems in production.
The brief demanded an unusual product, justified unusual packaging, and cried out for an unusual brand name. It was assigned to a product manager from the marketing group, and presented to a product development team on 7 July 1997. The time allowed was very short – four months.
Development work started on six flavours was started, and these original six, with some slight alterations, finished up as market products.
Product Development
| Product brief | 7 July 1997 |
| Product strategy | inception of initial concept preliminary product development work and planning formulation of product development brief and project plan |
| Decision | Acceptance to proceed as a Project by Product Manager |
| Product design | 9 July 1997 to 1 October 1997 |
| Product design and development | preliminary surveys and ball park costings recipe formation, assessment and refinement laboratory and ingredient and engineering assessment and experimentation preliminary packaging label information cooking procedures quality assessment and control procedures to a full product and process specification |
| Decision | Assessment and approval of plant related expenditures and project continuation. |
| Factory trials | 25 September 1997 |
| Finished product assessment | 29 September 1997 |
| Product commercialisation | factory trials feedback and attention to shortcomings and problems trial samples prepared and checked factory operational planning marketing planning sales forecasts final costings |
| Decision | Acceptance of formal specifications and Approval to proceed to launch by Senior Management |
| Production | Started 22, 23, 24 October 1997 |
| Launch approval | 22 October 1997 |
| Launch | November 1997 |
| Product launch and evaluation | factory production presentation to sales and trade marketing of products |
| Review and continuation | feedback from sales, marketing retailers review of lines withdrawal of less successful items on the platform further development and launches |
