Sometimes, it can be almost impossible for product developers to pitch their ideas and convince the whole company to agree to make the product.
A long time ago, I worked at a huge health and wellness MLM that sold a weight-loss program, and one of their smaller categories was meal replacement bars. Given my experience with granola bars, they dubbed me “the bar man.”
During my two and a half years there, I was in charge of a variety of new protein bar SKUs. It was both fun and extremely rewarding. I earned my reputation by pushing a product that was stuck in development hell, which opened up more opportunities within my category.
One flavor I was obsessed with was S'mores. I loved the gooey texture, the pseudo-caramel flavor, and the overall combination of tastes. So, secretly, I worked on it.
Another project I was working on was reformulating our current line of protein bars with a cleaner label and fewer digestive issues. This was also heading into development hell, as it took months to communicate with our contract manufacturer and get the samples to the executive team for approval.
At one point, I combined the two and worked on my own clean-label formula with the S'mores flavor.
There was a time, about two years in, when marketing ran out of products in their pipeline, so I pitched them the idea of a S'mores bar. Not only would it be an awesome new flavor, but it would also feature a cleaner, more attractive label. This project was expedited to leadership, and within three months, we had to get moving to launch it as a seasonal holiday product.
People loved it, and it sold out instantly. Eventually, it became a permanent flavor (not sure if it still exists, but I found this cool picture).
Lessons Learned:
- Earn your stripes and brand yourself as the category expert. You need a few wins before you can do this.
- Understand or befriend your marketing team so you can grasp their needs and know when to pitch a cool, innovative product.
- It’s actually easier to introduce a new product with a reformulation than to reformulate an old one.