Product Management: Fast Turnaround

Ah, the moment of truth. The extremely vital, yet fleeting time frame when a consumer makes a purchasing decision at the store shelf. What is this decision based upon, exactly? Brand loyalty? Mood? The weather?

Indeed, consumer behavior is an unpredictable beast that has the cunning ability to confound even the most adept customer-centric manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble (P&G). Not too long ago, the company discovered that one of its key brands, Tampax feminine hygiene products, was losing market share at an alarming rate.

"Tampax had always been in a blue box and over time, more of the private labels copied our look," says Jay Faberman, former associate director, consumer market knowledge, P&G. "More and more consumers started giving the private labels a try."

Change is Good
Faberman says P&G wanted to refine and update the Tampax packaging design with one that would resonate with both current and potential users. The changes envisioned were subtle, with a wide range of internal opinions driving the final redesign. Alas, for a large company like P&G, changing the package is not a simple task that is accomplished in a couple of weeks.

"The typical research normally done at P&G takes time and a lot of money," says Faberman. "We could only test the front of the package due to time and money constraints."

Product Evolution
Enter Affinnova, a product lifecycle management provider that uses "evolutionary algorithms" to determine consumer preferences. With the results generated from Affinnova, P&G was able to increase the number of concepts tested, eliminate steps in development process, leverage research expenditures and get to market months more quickly.

Using Affinnova's IDEA solution, P&G was also able to meet its strategic objectives, addressing and solving the issues of brand confusion and cohesiveness in a timely and cost-effective manner. "It offers amazing benefits over what we are currently doing," says Faberman.

"We don't have to make judgments anymore and we can test the simplest of things," he continues.

Out With the Old
P&G's prior method of testing was rather blunt and could not generate fine-tune details. With Affinnova, Faberman says the P&G team was able to design the entire front and back package online.

Quantitative testing is also done online through a panel of consumers that are split into two groups: current users and non-users. Results were surprising, according to Faberman, who says that some of the major changes did not exactly gel with testers.

"Consumers don't know as much as they should about tampons and how they work, so we were going to put a lot more information on the back to give them more of an education, but it turns out they didn't want to know about it," says Faberman.

"We clearly could have made the wrong decision. That was an eye-opening experience for everyone involved in the project," he says.

Consumer Comes First
Faberman firmly believes that it is always best to analyze and understand consumer data, especially at a consumer goods firm like P&G, which is very much focused on the needs of its consumers.

Tampax is considered a rather large brand at P&G, so to make changes, whether to its product or package, Faberman says its vital to be armed with quantitative data from consumers that will stand up under internal scrutiny.

"We built up the package, had the consumers vote on it and give us a preference versus our current package," says Faberman.

"When everyone saw the results and how the work was done, everyone thought it made perfect sense," he continues.

Front and Center
Subtle, yet important changes were tested on the Tampax front panel. Different variations of blue and styles of type were tried out. Placement of the count was also tested.

"Sounds like simple stuff but when people can't find this information because it doesn't pop out right away -- we're talking decisions made in 30 seconds at the shelf -- it becomes very important," says Faberman.

According to Faberman, testing results indicated that consumers needed less information on the back panel. P&G came to the realization that it was trying to inundate consumers with information that they simply did not want or need on how the tampon product works.

"Again, when the results came back, there were no disagreements," continues Faberman "Everyone said 'yes, this makes sense.'"

Key Benefits
After its relaunch, P&G enjoyed a 2 percent increase in market share over a four-month time frame which is quite significant for a large manufacturer because "it's a lot like turning a battle ship around in a lake," according to Faberman.

In addition, P&G saved over three months, compared to a prior process, in getting the new Tampax design to market. Affinnova helped eliminate the need for time-consuming follow-up on research and ultimately, P&G realized its main goal of solving brand confusion in the market.