KWAL launches new brand after one year of market research

KWAL worker at the packaging line. FILE photo | nmg 

By QUEEN MUNGUTI

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Summary

• In seeking to tailor the product to the needs of a ‘cool’ lady it is eyeing, wine firm sought firsthand information by studying the market.

The Kenya Wine Agencies Ltd (KWAL), last week launched Kingfisher Light, a product extension of its brand Kingfisher.

Before unveiling the new product, the firm carried out a one-year market research in which it sought consumers’ approval, in a strategy that studies show increases the chances of a product’s success.

Kingfisher Light is a strawberry flavoured ready to drink beverage with a five per cent alcohol content. Its target consumer is the modern, vibrant and outgoing lady, aged between 18 and 30. This age bracket is considered fun-loving and “cool”.

In seeking to tailor the product to their needs, KWAL sought firsthand information by conducting market research.

“We researched three different parameters: liquid, label designs and creative communication direction. All thess had distinct different work streams to be able to develop the best concepts i.e. stimulus to place before the consumer during research. For instance, a variety of label designs were developed then tested in focus groups and the preferred concept was validated in quantitative studies,” said Lina Githuka, KWAL commercial director

From the research, the agency found that consumers love the fruity sweet taste of strawberry and thus the reduction of the alcohol content from eight per cent, which the original Kingfisher strawberry contains, to five per cent.

For the label, consumers said they loved the inclusion of silver on it because it makes it appear trendy and cool.

“Conducting market research provides a company with firsthand information in that they are able to learn what their consumers want rather than relying on what is currently trendy. They are also able to plan ahead by forecasting their sales,” said Stella Kimani, a brand strategist.

Knowing what consumers want before launching a product can determine whether the product will be successful or not in the market.

A study by Kasicio Thinking, a pharmaceutical product development company in the UK, on the impact of consumer market research, found that the reason some companies are consistently successful at launching products is that they were twice as likely as bottom performers to research what customers actually want.

Eighty per cent of the top performing companies conducted tests and validated consumer preferences before launching a new product in the market, compared to 43 per cent of the bottom performing companies.

For its new Kingfisher Light brand, KWAL commissioned a focus group which comprised of only ladies in the target age group.

This was aimed at getting opinions on the taste. These views enabled the firm to revise its product accordingly, after which it conducted a pilot test with a group of ladies and finally launched the product last week.

“In a market where brands are offering consumers the same product but in a different name, a brand can gain a competitive advantage by tailoring their product on specifically what their target consumer wants. This can strengthen sales and grow brand visibility,” said Kimani.

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Another company that has used market research to ensure a product success is food manufacturing company, Kellogg’s. In 2008, it launched a product extension in the UK called Crunchy Nut Bites for its breakfast cereal brand.

Before it launched the product, it gathered information from consumers in a bid to identify new ideas that it could implement. It then conducted qualitative research that involved focus groups where it observed the attitudes and feelings of consumers towards its new product.

From this, it incorporated the new ideas into the product and conducted a pilot test.

Consumers were given the product to try out for a few days after which they would write a report indicating if it appealed to them and how likely they were to purchase it.

“Kellogg’s launched Crunchy Nut Bites in September 2008. Sales data shows it was one of the best performing brands to launch in the breakfast cereal category with a sales value of £6.9 million in its first full year of sales,” according to a Kellogg’s case study on the importance of market research during the development and launch of a product.

“This goes to show that the detailed market research conducted by the company was valuable and it guaranteed that it was hit in the market when launched.”

- African Laughter