Helmsman Group stepped in when Mondelez New Snack Futures needed help developing a product that would serve as part of the midday meal for teens and tweens. The mission was a pure white-space opportunity, requiring the product line and brand to be developed.
The Challenge
Helmsman Group stepped in when Mondelez New Snack Futures needed help developing a product that would serve as part of the midday meal for teens and tweens. The mission was a pure white-space opportunity, requiring the product line and brand to be developed.
Determined to market products that teens and tweens could take to school as part of their lunch, Mondelez New Snack Futures partnered with The Helmsman group to develop a new line of products. With our expert knowledge in product development, formulation, and commercialization, we worked to collaborate with Mondelez Snack Futures on the debut of a new brand anchored by a frozen beverage.
By collaborating with the brand to develop and commercialize a product that met brand and business objectives we were able to launch a successful and innovative beverage line.
Our Solution
In collaboration with Mondelez Snack Futures,’ a white space opportunity was identified to design a product concept aimed at teens and tweens, with “Take It To School” as a tagline. The Helmsman Group innovated, ideated, and mapped territories of seven different products. Ultimately, the brand chose to pursue our proposed fruit smoothie. With so many smoothie flavors in the world, we utilized consumer focus groups to obtain guidance for development. A series of flavor concepts were surveyed. Through this focus-group process, the initial flavor profiles of strawberry banana and pina colada were identified as the winning fruit smoothie concepts. Working with the idea of a freezable smoothie that could serve as an icepack and thaw by lunch, we were able to develop and design the product. We validated this concept by producing the initial product at our Pilot Plant for further consumer studies and test marketing.
Through this process, we refined the recipes to scale for aseptic bottling, ultimately developing and producing a trial run of Mondelez Snack Futures’ line of Ruckus and Co smoothies.
Final Results
After the creative and product development process, Mondelez Snack Futures needed The Helmsman Group to produce and test-market the product. After vetting a short list of contract manufacturers, we collaborated with the brand to review all aspects of the product to ensure compliance with the brand ethos, company policies, and overall regulatory compliance.
With our contract manufacturer qualified, The Helmsman Group team led the commercialization and the initial test marketing efforts at Grocery and Natural channels. Upon completion of the test market campaign, the brand was transferred back to Mondelez for direct management and further scaling.
Wrapping Things Up
Leveraging our experience developing products for beverage brands, Helmsman Group served as a strategic partner for Mondelez New Snack Futures. With no beverages in the Mondelez portfolio, a brand to support this new beverage line was needed. Helmsman Group collaborated with New Snack Futures in creating a brand from within – Ruckus and Co. By fully cooperating with the brand to develop and commercialize a product that met their specific needs, we launched a successful and innovative brand featuring a line of beverages.
