Back to the Future: What will be the next big idea for a new decade? Wednesday 9th December 2009

The last decade has bought us the rise of the celebrity perpetuated by the success of Big Brother and X Factor (as well as whole plethora of reality TV spin offs) as well as a consumer who has demanded the return of nostalgic brands.

Brands you thought you would never see again made a hefty return. From Cadbury’s Wispa, Birds Eye’s Arctic role to Lime Crusha, the public has voted for a return to old favourites – and interestingly, in some cases, they have done this via technological advancements of the last decade. In the case of Wispa, the rise of social media sites such as Facebook.

This is no accident. What these resurrected brands have in common are strong brand values, uniqueness, affordability as well as providing clear relevance through the benefit of comfort. The ‘noughties’ was book-ended by the start of a war on terror in 2001, and the financial meltdown at the end of the decade. Hardly surprising then that consumers might well feel safest hiding under a blanket on the sofa watching daft celebrities take all the risks?! Or live in an immortal virtual world with online friends only daring to use remote communications.

The next decade:
So what does the next decade have in store?

Our research is suggesting that there is a ‘measured optimism’ about a new start in a new decade. A gradually evolving and expectation of, a return to more forward thinking ideas and aspirations. Rather than clinging to the past, consumers want to be led to the future.

The Brand leaders that are ‘first out of the traps’ in January 2010 to lead consumers, safely, to a brave new world of modern, contemporary, relevant, new and engaging ideas will steal a march on the competition. Identifying what these winning ideas are and maximising their market potential is where we come in:

Here at The Oxford Research Agency & Mimosa we guide companies through the innovation process to ensure we deliver you successful brand launches.

• Ideation: Generating and working up ideas to ascertain whether they are real contenders is just one area where our qualitative division Mimosa can help. We will engage the creative thinking of consumers to develop and test ideas and identify those which have the potential to work. Using methodologies tailored to your needs we will establish what will and won’t work and importantly how the best ideas can be developed and progressed to concept stage.
• Concept screening & concept volumetrics: We believe in conducting volumetric research earlier in the development cycle, generally at the traditional Concept Product Test stage of research (and even earlier at the concept potential/screening stage).

Testing this way has massive potential benefits for your company. It ensures that you get to market more quickly but importantly with ideas that you have tested and know work thus saving money and keeping you one step ahead of the competition.

One client who moved their NPD programme to The Oxford Research Agency commented that this approach “…saved us £500,000 a year and significantly improved the level of insight from every study…”
At The Oxford Research Agency and Mimosa we use a fully integrated NPD approach for screening, testing and optimising New Product Launches. Used by over 20 of the Top 50 FMCG companies in the world, it helps us generate more successful product launches, over 4 times the average measured by Nielsen.

Find out how we help you get ahead in a new decade, by contacting John Whittaker, or visit our website at www.tora.co.uk

For qualitative understanding call Sunita, Emma or John on +44 (0)1865 20 84 03 or contact info@mimosa-qual.com.