Reformulation for Regulators & Consumer Preferences

Key success metrics

The challenge 

A household name in beverage was faced with increasing pressure to remove Red Dye from its ingredient lists due to regulatory pressures and shifting consumer preferences. They set out to:

• Understand how current and potential category shoppers feel about a potential reformulation to alter the color
• Assess the reach of a new color reformulation to validate associated costs with launching the new formula nationally
  

The product testing solution

To test with precision, Highlight recommended the one-two punch of digital testing combined with physical product testing.

In Phase 1, the Digital Category Assessor findings indicated they must remove additional artificial coloring due to negative consumer perception of dyes.

In Phase 2 the Physical Product Refresher showed which reformulation best optimizes for color and ingredient acceptance across key consumer groups.

The business impact

In just three weeks, the beverage team had their answers and insights, including:

• CLARITY ON CONSUMER PREFERENCES: The brand achieved clear prioritization of ingredients & key product characteristics (color profile) based on digital analysis, and reformulation preferences based on physical taste tests.
• INSIGHTS ON IN-HOME USAGE HABITS: Testers shared videos of pantry walkthroughs to deepen in-context understanding of paired products, occasions, competitive products, in-home shelf set.
• SEGMENTATION FOR OPTIMIZATION: The brand analyzed perceptions by Loyal Customers versus Category Purchasers (potential customers) to optimize for reach and share of wallet across the category.
  

Said one executive from the beverage brand:

“Our biggest takeaway so far is is, perception is reality. Red dye… maybe 50% of consumers have an awareness of what it is or what the risk factors are, but the negative perception is almost 100%.

The [other color] negative perception… 100%. But even less consumers know risks or know what it is... So the last thing we would want do is make a switch here, leaving [other color] in, and the next thing you know, that’s priority #1 from a new administration. Socially, people have started learning what it is or what effects it could have.

So overall, we really, really like the data we got and are happy to move forward with the next steps.”

Highlight’s multi-pronged approach to research gave this beverage brand the insights they needed to reformulate for long-term success. Combining quantitative surveys with qualitative insights like video of real in-home usage told a complete story of the product experience, while digital category assessment followed by physical product testing empowered reliable indicators of future market performance by rooting consumer perceptions and ideas in real product usage in the organic context of the consumers’ homes.

Reformulating? De-risk your updates with real consumer data insights powered by Highlight.