2009 New Product Pacesetters: Innovating Growth in Recessionary Times

MARCH 2010
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

IRI's Times & Trends highlights new developments and critical events across all major CPG categories and channels, providing powerful benchmarking data to help guide your strategic decisions. This report illustrates how the most successful new CPG brands are addressing critical consumer trends. These products are IRI’s 2009 New Product Pacesetters- best practice case studies in how to beat the new product odds.

Introduction

This year marks IRI’s 15th annual publication of New Product Pacesetters, a report which showcases the most successful CPG launches of the past year.

The year 2009 will not be quickly forgotten. It was a year of recession and a year of change. Change for consumers and change for CPG marketers. After all, this recession has been broad and deep. It has impacted many aspects of day to day living.

Despite the challenges, the CPG industry continues to innovate. A handful of new brands were introduced in 2009. For the most part, though, new technologies and new ingredients were wrapped into existing brands, breathing new life into product lines across CPG categories.

The products highlighted throughout this report are IRI New Product Pacesetters. Despite adverse economic conditions and extremely conservative consumer purchase and consumption patterns, these products have thrived.

Select Findings

The ranks of the top food and beverage New Product Pacesetters for 2009 are illustrative of key trends which will drive industry growth in the coming year. Key food and beverage introductions are playing an instrumental role in helping consumers achieve their wellness goals. They support at-home and from-home meal rituals with quick and easy solutions that are high in quality and health-wise. And bold new flavors ensure that day-to-day dining is anything but boring.

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The top-ranking non-food products evidence the fact that consumers are quite receptive to the new and better way of tackling day-to-day tasks. Technological advances are simplifying tasks from home care to health care, and beauty care to pet care. With the recession now in its second full year and uncertainty on the horizon, consumers are fully entrenched in saving money through self-reliance. The year’s top non-food Pacesetters are deftly delivering against consumers’ most critical day-to-day needs.

See the complete report in the "2009 New Product Pacesetters: Innovating Growth in Recessionary Times" pdf.