OTC: Year Two Efforts, In-Store Presence Are Both Critical To Success of Product Launches

Here’s a piece I wrote for AdAge about some data Knowledge Networks was able to share about product launches in OTC and non-food CPG.  The KN data shows a lot of what you might expect, including the notion that new brands have to be strong out of the gate with their media spend, shelf presence and coupon distribution.  But there were two interesting “a-has” in the data.  The first was that sustaining presences in Year Two figured pretty heavily into the success of new product launches.  The second was how much a difference in-store marketing makes.

In-store is a place where digital solutions are helping speed along innovation.  I’m not just talking about digital displays and such.  The digital mindset is helping innovation along when it comes to data-driven programs, too.  And let’s not forget about beefing up brand presence on the digital shelf, either.  We’ve seen evidence that such programs boost sales not only in the digital realm, but also on the physical shelf.