How to use packaging to prevent spending a lot of money in R&D (True Fruits)...

Background :
Imagine that you are a smoothies producer, positionning your products on the "we say the truth" line, ie nothing hidden : fruits, that's all.

Fact :
One day, for one reason or another, you start to source your mint somewhere else, you find one, which is very tasty, and switch it in our recipes. The production starts, and, shock !, the product tastes perfectly, but has lost its green color.

Question :
What do we do?

Solution 1 :
I put all my R&D crew on the question, they need to find a solution by next monday, or we can not sell anyway.

Solution 2:
I put my R&D crew on the question, and, until they find out, I try to fix the problem somehow, fully aligned with my product image.

Answer : 
We could imagine that True Fruits recently went through this dillema, and here is their solution:

 It is basically explained that they have a new mint, which tastes perfect, but does not give the usual green, and the product looks like a soup. But it's good !


more info : http://www.true-fruits.com/

Mug Cake : how Dr Oetker speaks to French and German consumers.

Some years ago, Herta launched a ready to bake cake dough : open the pack, fill a cake mould, put in the oven and bake.

With its mug cake, Dr Oetker is increasing the preparation with one step (add milk) but offering a much more convenient and friendly use : mix the powder in a mug with milk in a mug, and put in the microwave.

Interestingly, the product looks totally different in Germany and France. On one hand, the German name is "Tasse Küchlein", which one could translate as "the small comfort cake in a cup" with a packaging emphasizing the cake, the aroma, the comfort food.The cake itself is not perfect, like a hand made one, as expected.

 On the other hand, the French one plays on the easy to use and speedy preparation (name is "gateau minute" = minute cake, strong microwave picture...), with a quite "industrial" packaging where the cake's picture looks like coming out from the Dr Oetker factory.

Let see how both countries respond to it !

Pimp my ketchup

The simplest idea are often the best ones, and Lapp and Fao (http://www.lappandfao.com) just confirmed it again.

Grill season is going full speed, and one can buy about 1000 differents grill sauce. The result is often that 5 of them will be opened during the grill, then rest in the fridge until the end of the summer, then go to the trash bin.

So Lapp and Fao now offers spices mixes to add to ketchup to turn it into a great grill sauce, like Cajun , California or South Africa.

Simple. Effective. Tasty. Innovative.