- McCain: Pass the Fries Please
THE CHALLENGE:
McCain occupies the number one spot as a producer of frozen French fries. But even with product sales in more than 110 countries, McCain is constantly looking at introducing new products to the market, though usually one at a time. So when McCain decided that it wanted to introduce five products, all having combined potential sales of $100 million, the company recognized that such a launch would present a challenge that required a bold new strategy, a strategy that would need the help of Synecticsworld.
THE PROCESS:
After helping the McCain product team learn new ways of interacting, the Synecticsworld-led team began generating questions related to the definition of a potato, its presentation and appearance, and the psychology behind the selective positioning of potato-based product placement in retail stores.
Those kinds of questions led the team to ethnographic work, insight platform development, ideation, consumer screening, and concept refinement. The design stage that followed was especially detailed and included studying taste preferences across a wide span of regions that included England, France, Germany and Australia.
When the team finished its work, McCain had not only sharpened its regional contrast to better show where new opportunities lay but it had also developed bold new perspectives on the spud.
THE RESULTS:
With 55 production facilities in 12 countries and revenues in excess of $5.8 billion, McCain attributes its phenomenal success to cutting-edge agronomy, superior technology and products like their zero trans-fat Ovation fries, which are specially formulated for extra crispy golden brown outsides and light, fluffy baked potato insides.
