• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 20, 2016

The packaged McCafé coffee line and Nexium 24HR led the most successful food/beverage and non-food consumer product goods launches in the U.S. in 2015, according to IRI’s 2016 New Product Pacesetters report. 

McCafé, launched by McDonald’s through a licensing deal with Kraft in December 2014, generated $172.7 million in sales in its first year. 

While impressive, that actually fell short of the first-year sales for recent years’ K-Cup launches from Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Green Mountain, notes the analysis.

The other food and beverage launches in the top 10 are Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Bold ($146.2 million); Dannon Oikos Triple Zero ($108 million); Fairlife ($87.1); Yoplait Greek 100 Whips! ($83.6 million); Chili’s At Home ($78.9 million); Simply Juice Drinks ($70.5 million); Breyer’s Gelato Indulgences ($66.9 million); Cobblestone Bread Co. ($60.2 million) and Cheerios Protein ($49.8 million).

As usual, most of the top 10 food and beverage sector launches are extensions of major brands.

The Oscar Mayer meats and the Chili’s frozen meals exemplify generally strong launch activity in meal makers and appetizers, as well as food makers’ efforts to respond to Millennials’ desire for bolder flavors, simplified ingredient lists and greater convenience, points out IRI. 

Millennials aren’t alone in their quest for novelty. According to IRI’s 2016 New Product Survey, 24% of U.S. consumers want to “add excitement” to their daily diet, and 21% seek options that are “truly new and different.” At the same time, 29% want to indulge without paying restaurant prices.

The demand for healthier snack and meal options is clear in the success of the two new twists on Greek yogurt, as well as Coca-Cola’s Fairlife milk. However, as IRI notes, Fairlife is hardly a “simple” product: It uses a patented process to concentrate some of milk’s natural nutrients, while filtering out lactose and reducing sugars.

As for the protein craze, fully 17% of Pacesetters have protein positioning, reports IRI. 

The top 100 food and beverage launches had median year-one sales of $19.6 million, down from $22.9 million in 2014. 

Non-Food Launch Leaders 

Nexium 24HR earned $270.6 million in its first year. 

The other non-food launches in the top 10: Air Wick Life Scents ($172.5 million); Tide Simply Clean and Fresh ($167.5 million); Always Discreet ($133 million); Amopé Pedi Perfect ($128.1 million); Purina Beyond ($108 million); Sally Hansen Miracle Gel ($98 million); Gillette Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology ($86.6 million); Gillette Venus Swirl ($74.1 million) and Glad OdorShield with Febreze Freshness and Gain ($70.4 million). 

Olfactory experiences are clearly on the uptrend, ranging from the Air Wick Life Scents’ promise of delivering fresh fragrance for up to 60 days to the Glad product’s promise to vanquish offensive kitchen garbage odors with the scents of Febreze and Gain.

As with their food/beverage counterparts, the non-food winners reflect responsiveness to consumer demand for innovations that offer options for individual needs and priorities, observes IRI. 

Twenty percent of consumers actively seek new home care products that are good for the environment, and 17% seek beauty products that offer anti-aging benefits, according to the IRI survey. 

The top 100 non-food launches had median year-one dollar sales of $26.5 million. 

Overall Stats, Insights

Overall, the latest launch results underscore the importance of understanding that consumers think about satisfying needs in terms of eating/drinking occasions and product usage occasions, summed up Susan Viamari, VP, thought leadership at IRI. The CPG categories that compete for each occasion vary by mindset, daypart, channel and shopper, so “the days of one-size-fits-all strategies are gone forever,” she said. 

Fifty-four percent of 2015’s thousands of launches were foods or beverages, and 46% were non-food products.

The top-selling 200 new food and non-food CPG brands captured cumulative year-one sales of more than $6.5 billion across IRI’s multi-outlet geography.

The CPG sales data come from IRI’s Market Advantage service, which tracks supermarkets, drugstores, mass merchandisers, select club and dollar stores and military commissaries. The report’s analysis employs IRI’s New Product Innovation Practice’s analytical and decision-making tools, as well as IRI’s New Product Survey.

Convenience Store Channel Leaders

IRI also tracks the top product launches in the convenience store channel. 

In 2015, they were: Vuse electronic smoking devices ($222.1 million); Monster Energy Ultra Sunrise ($82.7 million); MarkTen electronic smoking devices ($69.3 million); Redd’s Wicked Ales ($43.3 million); Ruffles Deep Ridged ($26.5 million); Jack Link’s Small Batch ($18.9 million); Juicy Fruit Starburst ($18.4 million); Monster Energy Unleaded ($17.1 million); Wrigley’s 5 Ascent ($14.6 million) and Pillsbury Soft Baked Mini Cookies ($10 million).