NPD : We at theMarketingblog had a very interesting Question and Answer session with Giles Watts, Nielsen’s UK Director of Innovation. We covered …..
- Tell us about Nielsen Quick Predict?
- You talked about the 15% failure factor. Tell us how your new concept can change that to a 85% success factor.
- We talked about the blue chip FMCG companies being your main target. How important are the smaller players to you?
- What role does your Innovation Studio play?
- Does this new concept help the FMCG category managers in their drive for shelf space?
- What is the downside, if any for manufacturers who use your new concept?
Nielsen launch lets marketers test NPD 3x faster
Nielsen “Quick Predict” aims to help marketers test new ideas fast https://t.co/2Etp9EsNAQ @Nielsen #marketing pic.twitter.com/36oP5VazDe
— Digital Intelligence (@DigiAcademy) September 20, 2016
1. Tell us about Nielsen Quick Predict?
Nielsen Quick Predict is a new analytical solution that allows marketers to test innovations at the rapid pace they need without sacrificing the predictive reliability and data quality they need to make effective innovation decisions.
In essence, it offers “Speed without Compromise.” Quick Predict enables marketers to get the most reliable evaluation of their innovation because it uses the same predictive analytics (Nielsen Factors for Success) and independently-validated forecasting models as Nielsen’s gold-standard innovation testing solutions, which have been trusted by the industry for 40 years.
These solutions are the only ones in the industry validated to be predictive of in-market success, giving marketers the best insights for evaluating and improving their innovations. By enhancing and automating Nielsen’s predictive analytics and forecasting models with software, Quick Predict enables marketers to get high quality insights and answers in as fast as 8 days.
2. You talked about the 15% failure factor. Tell us how your new concept can change that to a 85% success factor.
Quick Predict is powered by Nielsen’s Factors for Success, which is the only concept testing method we know of in the market that is validated to be predictive of in-market success. Using Factors for Success, marketers can understand their innovation’s probability of success – and more importantly, which aspects of their innovation (such as pricing, package design, etc.) need to be strengthened in order to maximise results in market. So, in essence, it gives marketers are very detailed roadmap for how to bring the best product to market.
In our validation research we have found that concepts that score READY or better on Factors for Success have a 75% probability of success in market. This is based on multiple years of R&D research comparing concepts we tested against 600 in-market launches. Comparing the 75% against the average industry success rate of 15% (an often cited statistic), Factors for Success can lead marketers to a 5X improvement in probability of success.
3. We talked about the blue chip FMCG companies being your main target. How important are the smaller players to you?
Launching a successful new product is universally challenging for any company – no matter what size. But for smaller manufacturers, getting to market fast is a particularly critical challenge because they often lack the scale and distribution of a large FMCG company and need to exploit their first mover advantage as much as possible. Because traditional high quality concept testing tools haven taken too long to deliver insights, smaller companies have had to opt for lesser tools, or no tools at all. By decreasing the timeline for getting quality analytics, Concept Quick Predict is making it possible for smaller manufacturers to play at a level playing field, harnessing the same high quality insights as the big guys.
4. What role does your Innovation Studio play?
Because Quick Predict is connected to Nielsen’s online collaboration platform (Innovation Studio), users get the benefit of faster predictive analytics combined with tools that help innovation teams develop better ideas and work more effectively together.
Via a centralised platform you can access anywhere 24/7, it’s easier to involve more people in the process of collaborating and brainstorming on concepts, leading to richer, more diverse ideas, while also making sure no comments and versions are lost. Nielsen data shows that increased collaboration can increase consumer appeal for ideas by as much as 2X. Teams can commission and set up research projects faster because they are able to access concepts and surveys saved in libraries and repurpose them for new initiatives. Interactive reports make it easier for decision makers to customise the data the way they want to see it and more quickly glean the most important insights and key next steps.
5. Does this new concept help the FMCG category managers in their drive for shelf space?
The ultimate goal for launching a new product is to grow the brand and you do that by helping retailers grow their categories. When you harness consumer insights to develop strongly appealing concepts you ultimately increase your product’s ability to be noticed, drive interest and convert trial buyers. In fact, in a fast moving category such as food or drink products, a strong concept can generate almost 2X more revenue than a weak one, based on Nielsen industry data.
6. Does your Volume Forecasting service play a part – in Nielsen Quick Predict?
Quick Predict offers metrics to help marketers size the financial potential of their initiative. Along with their concept’s Factors for Success score, this data would help them determine if they have an innovation worth developing further and help set expectations. As a next step to a Quick Predict, marketers would then consider running a full volume forecast so they can develop more precise plans for determining how many units to produce and how much marketing support is needed to hit their sales goal.
7. What is the downside, if any for manufacturers who use your new concept?
There is no downside because we are not taking anything away from manufacturers – only giving them more flexibility and options. Clients can choose to use Quick Predict which will deliver all the insights and answers they need to launch, but also still use our longer but more customised solutions for when they want more in depth analysis and time is not an issue. It depends on what the marketing team is hoping to learn and their timeline. In the past, marketers might have had to skip concept testing all together because they didn’t have enough time; now they have a solution that works within their timeline and can launch with more confidence.
8. Your opportunity to get any other points across
Earlier this year we fielded a survey among marketers and found that if time was not an issue, they would test 25% more innovations than they do today. With Quick Predict we are removing that barrier of time and empowering marketers to apply high quality analytics to more innovations, fuelling better success rates.
