Coffee is deeply emblematic of culture & time. Now Suntory brand coffee is launching a Ready to Drink variant. But what is the optimal target and positioning for this line extension? Should Suntory RTD coffee draw on its coffee credentials – or....? Qualitative research provides the answers.

Successful Line Extensions

Learnings by Millward Brown

Background / Context:

• The RTD Coffee market in China is experiencing expansion but remains at a fairly early stage of development

• Brand S feels that the time may be opportune to launch a new product on to the China market to best position itself

• And MB Fireflies qualitative research was to help understand the market & recommend target market and positioning opportunities for the Brand S RTD Coffee.

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Our Observations / findings:

On a macro level, the ‘in’ drinks in China are those that are seen as ‘healthy’ & ‘contemporary’.

Coffee is not specifically seen as ‘healthy’ and it has a classic rather than contemporary image

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Our conclusion & recommendations - So what :

We pull Brand Suntory RTD coffee away from its coffee market

shell, towards the ‘in’ drinks in the burgeoning RTD market.

This would require abandoning ‘classic’ coffee culture associations

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Our conclusion & recommendations - So what :

But potentially still retaining its Western credentials in order to

differentiate from the ‘Oriental’ credentials of Tea (& RTD Tea)

• An existing category (& category consumer) may not always be helpful for a new line extension, esp. where tradition & history play an important role in category consumption.

● (i.e. lovers of coffee culture will not accept a RTD coffee / or lovers of classic cola taste may not accept a sugar free variant)

• Therefore, it may be better to explore potential outside of the immediate category/ core product consumer group – either by leveraging emerging trends/needs – or to by establishing a new micro sub-category in which the product can be positioned to a totally new set of consumers.

● (i.e. position RTD coffee to RTD beverage consumers / position sugar-free cola V’s sports drinks to a sports/energy consumers)

• Qualitative research provides an essential insight into consumer needs states and opportunities for new products.

Learnings:

From this case study, we would like to share on the following

views regarding new product extensions (for mainland China –

but possibly also relevant in other markets):

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