Successful communication of new products using the example of Coppenrath & Wieses dessert “Kleiner moment”

Innovation and self-resemblance are absolutely necessary for brands to be successful over the long term. Innovativity is not just demonstrated by the simple number of new products or services that a brand introduces on the market, but above all by the imaginative and consumer-relevant implementation of category-specific insights. Maintaining the principle of self-similarity, i.e. developing the innovation in harmony with the previous product portfolio and the brand core, ideally leads to all-round successful innovations. This can be demonstrated by the success of the new product on the market and its direct contribution to strengthening the brand’s strength.

By Norbert Dube and Udo Voss

Innovation is part of the core of the Coppenrath & Wiese brand. The success of the brand resulted from the innovative idea at the time (the early 1970s) of offering confectionery products to consumers in frozen form. In the success story of Coppenrath & Wiese, successful innovations follow one another, both on the product side and on the brand communication side. This was most recently shown in the case of the introduction of the “Little Moment” dessert. Even including a frozen dessert in the product portfolio is
innovative, as this category has not yet been part of the Coppenrath & Wiese product range.

The idea of ​​using the brand expertise for a dessert came about in collaboration with creative consumers. A large number of new ideas were generated in the Super Group carried out by TNS Infratest. Last but not least, a concept platform “Dessert” was developed and the idea was played through in various alternatives. This concept was implemented, the individual phases of its implementation – product test, packaging test, name test – accompanied by market research, and in May 2011 the launch of “Kleiner Moment”, a dessert in four different flavors, took place.

Continuity and consistency in brand communication

Coppenrath & Wiese is one of the German brands with a distinctive, well-known and clearly defined communicative brand ownership. The company uses this term to describe something that has been acquired and hard-earned over a long period of time
Portfolio of symbols and signs, images, jingles, dramaturgies, claims or other elements that were acquired for the brand and that represent it unmistakably. Communicative acquis is the result of continuous brand communication, which has ensured the consistency of the communicative brand image over time and during many campaigns with coherent elements. As a rule, the principle of the brand’s self-similarity is preserved. Communicative ownership means that the brand is equipped with images or other communication elements that can be called up at any time and that the brand name alone evokes these in the head. The Coppenrath & Wiese brand cannot be imagined without its communicative assets.

However, communicative acquis is always a challenge. It needs to be developed, kept up-to-date and relevant. Repetition alone is not enough. Because the demands on brands are changing and brand communication has to keep pace with them.

The TV commercial for the new product “Kleiner moment” shows an example of how communicative assets can be used and further developed. In the spot, the focus is initially on a couple situation opposite the meeting of friends or the get-together at the family breakfast table. This reduction in the social context corresponds to the more intimate atmosphere of the enjoyment situation of the dessert. At the same time, the moment of enjoyment is shifted from the table to the more comfortable sofa, which leaves the classic “menu context” and loosens up. The actors interact more strongly than in other Coppenrath & Wiese films. Nevertheless, the function of all Coppenrath & Wiese products, namely to create community, remains intact.
Then there is the product staging: at first glance a typical so-called appetite appeal scene from the Coppenrath & Wiese archive, but on closer inspection it is an exaggeration of the new kind, accompanied by the well-known Ponchielli melody that has been used for many years in the new spot becomes an ironic reminder of oneself for the first time through a loud choir. After just a few seconds of the spot, the viewer finds himself in the middle of the well-known Coppenrath & Wiese world, but at the same time is referred to something new. From beginning to end, the film is designed as an ironic game with the elements of the Coppenrath & Wiese world, without sacrificing the communicative status of a gag. The final comment that the male protagonist mumbled along during the dessert – “Well, they’d have
to be able to come up with it earlier ”- then finally shows: the new product belongs to Coppenrath & Wiese. This is the moment when innovation in the form of the new dessert proves its identity with the brand.

The film opens and preserves the communication world of Coppenrath & Wiese. He creates new space and new possibilities for her. And he sells. The launch took place in May 2011. In the first few weeks after the introduction of the “Little Moment”, sales were around 10,000 packs per week. The weighted distribution was 55 percent five weeks after launch. The TV campaign with the outlined film started in calendar week 23. The campaign stayed on air for three weeks. The effect was immediate: weekly sales almost tripled. After the film was taken off-air, the effect continued, as the sales figures only gradually declined. The weighted distribution was around 90 percent from calendar week 28. A renewed posting of the film in autumn 2011 then led to another significant sales effect. Shortly before Christmas, the film went on air for the last time to support the seasonal business.

Advertising success control supports creativity

The communication services of the Coppenrath & Wiese campaigns have been checked for years through regular success checks. Corresponding studies are carried out three to four times a year, which provide profound insights into the nature and character of brand communication – the basis for ideas such as the one behind the TV film “Little Moment”. The advertising tracking results initially showed that the reach of the new film was above average. The measured recognition value was already 40 percent after the first flight. Immediately before the autumn flight, the value was then 27 percent. Although the film was forgotten by some of the target group, more than one in four remembered having already seen it. After the second period on-air, the value finally soared to 45 percent. The focus of communication in the film – the focus on innovation – was easily understood by the target audience. In addition, the film achieved excellent scores in terms of its ability to activate the audience and encourage first-time purchases or trials.

Source: The Nielsen Company, VM total average base rate

Effect scale shows high sales value

With the validated AdEval scale, which is used by TNS Infratest in pretests and in tracking and used as a central impact scale in the evaluation of advertising campaigns, it was possible to prove that the film “Kleineroment” was not just more than 20 percentage points above the benchmark value , but with this value it was to be located within a smaller group of advertising campaigns for fast-moving consumer goods that have been shown to have a high and immediate sales effect.

Creative brand communication that knows how to deal with the acquired ownership of a specific, unmistakable and distinctive brand language, leads to results that not only support the successful launch of an innovative product in the interests of the advertiser, but also have a far-reaching, brand-strengthening and further developing effect. Not only that
The product “Little Moment” must be understood as an innovation in harmony with the brand essence of Coppenrath & Wiese. Communication is also part of a comprehensive brand strategy that makes the identity of the brand, product and communication the core element of its actions at all stages of the marketing process.

About the authors: Norbert Dube is Associate Director at TNS Infratest GmbH in Hamburg in the fire department
& Communication. He has been responsible for the Coppenrath & Wiese brand in the field of advertising research for many years. Udo Voss is Head of Market Research / Category Management at Conditorei Coppenrath & Wiese GmbH & Co.KG.