In response to the damage and overnight transformations due to COVID-19, multiple consumer companies have recently announced cutbacks in their innovation pipeline. These announcements may signal a new era for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector, one in which the innovation agenda can escape the endless line extensions of the past several years. The lower-value launches that pervaded prepandemic innovation portfolios have failed to drive meaningful growth or return of investment for many CPGs (Exhibit 1). The average first-year sales for new product pacesetters declined by an astonishing 50 percent between 2012 and 2018. 1 1. Joan Driggs and Larry Levin, New product pacesetters: Product innovation and the pace of change, IRI, May 2019, iriworldwide.com. Innovation will be more important than ever as we move toward the next normal given changing consumer needs and occasions. Companies can rethink their innovation agendas to more efficiently address those needs and drive growth....
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