Using social data to power product development in FMCG
John Williams
Social media is an excellent platform for gleaning insights into consumer behaviour, giving a crazy amount of real-time, publicly available data.
The space of food product innovation is highly competitive, with new brands and products emerging daily. In order to achieve success in this fast-paced industry, it is essential to remain ahead of the curve. Social media insights present a powerful tool that businesses can use to their advantage. By harnessing social media data, food companies can gain valuable insights into consumer preferences, trends, and behaviours which can, in turn, be utilised to inform product innovation.
Social media is an excellent platform for gleaning insights into consumer behaviour, giving a crazy amount of real-time, publicly available data. By analysing this data, businesses can uncover what consumers are saying about their products and competitors, as well as what trends are surfacing and which new products or ingredients are gaining traction.
For example, PepsiCo, the beverage brand, launched its sparkling water product Bubly in 2019. By exploiting social media insights, the company was able to create a unique product in a highly congested market. Scrutinising social media data, PepsiCo realised that consumers yearned for sparkling water with more intriguing flavours and playful branding. Consequently, Bubly was introduced with eight fun flavours, each endowed with its own unique personality and ensconced in brightly coloured cans, capitalising on this valuable consumer insight.
Another example is Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat alternative brand that debuted in 2009. Beyond Meat utilises social media insights to inform its product development and marketing strategies. Scrutinising social media data, the company detected a burgeoning demand for plant-based meat alternatives and a preference for products that simulate the taste and texture of conventional meat. Beyond Meat was able to create a product that satisfied these needs, and their success can be partly ascribed to their ability to leverage social media insights.
A local example is Sirena Tuna. They wanted to better understand the tuna market, competitors, consumers, and brand perceptions, so they turned to One Small Step Collective (OSSC) for help. We used an innovative and agile three-stage approach to gain robust and actionable insights for Sirena.
First, we used social data analytics to gather insights about tuna purchasing and consumption conversations and brand perceptions. Then, they conducted in-depth interviews with 30 shoppers and consumers of tuna. The participants filmed themselves shopping for tuna or testing the product at home, which allowed OSSC to gain valuable insights beyond the scope of their questions. Finally, OSSC undertook targeted online surveys of 3,000 Australian tuna shoppers and consumers to quantify their findings.
Thanks to this innovative and agile approach, Sirena was able to develop multiple product innovations and experienced year-on-year growth of 36%. The insights gained from each stage were valuable in their own way – social data analytics provided a solid foundation to direct the brief for the following phases, while the in-depth interviews revealed candid and contextual insights. The targeted online surveys allowed OSSC to quantify their findings and provide actionable insights for Sirena. All of this within 12 weeks.
Social media insights are a powerful tool for food companies seeking to innovate and stay ahead of the game. By scrutinising social media data, businesses can gain valuable insights into consumer preferences, trends, and behaviours, which can, in turn, be utilised to inform product innovation. The cases of Bubly, Beyond Meat and Sirena Tuna are prime examples of how social insights can drive product innovation and growth in the food industry.
If you want to see the complete Sirena Tuna case study, click here. If you are up for a chat about how data and technology can drive your innovation pipeline, contact me via the contact page!
John Williams