- Kraft Foods Inc.: A New Sweet Tooth
THE CHALLENGE:
Kraft faced a challenge when its hard candy division decided to launch new products into an already congested marketplace. Of course Kraft, with its wealth of in-house expertise and experience, could have simply organized a brainstorming session with product management, marketing, and advertising managers, but Kraft decided to take a bolder approach and contacted Synecticsworld.
THE PROCESS:
Working with Kraft, Synecticsworld designed and facilitated idea-generation and development sessions, engaging people in research and development, product management, marketing, and strategy. Experts from outside of the company were also added to deepen the well of ideas, including an artist who, while remaining unobtrusive, interpreted some of the participant’s ideas as drawings.
THE RESULTS:
Supported by the new concepts that sprang from the meeting, Kraft launched a host of new products including LifeSaver Fusion, Crème Savers soft candy, and Breyers Crème Savers Yogurt. The new products rocketed to success soon after entering the market, generating more than $200 million in annual revenue. More importantly, the new entries did nothing to diminish the performance of established Kraft candy products.
Additionally, Kraft management estimates that the other new product ideas generated from the Synecticsworld-led sessions were likely to generate another $400 to $600 million in sales.
