Working with Mars over the last six weeks, the team at Woodlands has done an exceptional job getting the new goodnessKNOWS lines into our shoppers’ hands and delivering what’s been probably the store’s most successful product launch since we took over.
by Antony Begley
When we first spoke to Mars about having a decent go at doing ‘perfect execution’ of its latest piece of major NPD in-store, we knew had chosen a great product in goodnessKNOWS. Mars called it its “biggest launch since Celebrations” and was throwing an appropriately enormous bit of marketing spend behind the new product. This was evident from the moment we got the new lines in-store; even on day one customers commented on how they’d heard of goodnessKNOWS but hadn’t seen it anywhere yet, so there was plenty of enthusiasm to try it out.
It was also clear very quickly that customers appreciate the fact that 10% of the profits go to a charity – the goodnessKNOWS fund – dedicated to financing community projects.
It’s always difficult in a small store find space for all the POS that’s available for NPD like this but we decided to give it our best shot. It turned out to be relatively easy – with a little thought and a little effort – to give the brand a big presence in the store using FSDUs, counter-top units, staff t-shirts and a large shelf topper.
- FSDU next to hot food counter to drive impulse sales
- Counter-top unit next to till to drive impulse sales
- Shelf-topper to act as beacon for breakfast bar category and drive awareness
- Staff t-shirts to drive awareness and dialogue with customers
It was frankly impossible to miss the brand in-store, but after just two weeks we knew we were onto a winner: even though we only had the Cranberry & Almond variant on sale for that period. In just two weeks we sold 127 units, which is pretty significant for a store of our size.
By the end of September however we got our hands on the Blueberry & Almond and the Apple, Peanut & Almond flavours too, which helped appeal to a wider customer base as well as making all the POS look a lot more colourful and eye-catching.
The results were spectacular, more than justifying the extra effort and space devoted to the brand. In total we sold 793 units in just six weeks, making this probably the most successful new product launch we’ve ever had in our time at Woodlands Local.
This has taught us a valuable lesson about how much difference it can make to really aim for great quality execution on important NPD.
