Wana Brands’ Post

We’ve confused innovation and proliferation: 19 flavors of Cheerios (chocolate strawberry, anyone?) 20 flavors of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ (not including dipping sauce.) Heinz is creeping up to its 57th ketchup flavor. Don’t even get me started on Oreos. Trademark expansion is a very efficient growth strategy from top to bottom. All ad dollars reflect on the parent brand. It builds a brand block on shelf. It’s relatively simple to produce and execute. It may delight hard core users. Even if its only 5% incremental, that’s a big, big number on a billion dollar brand. I see it in every category: spirits, salty snacks, condiments, desserts, breakfast foods, hummus (hummus!). It’s what big CPG companies are good at: adding value to existing trademarks. (They are rather poor at building new brands…better at acquiring them and killing them, but that’s another post.) It’s also boring AF. So let’s not call it innovation. No new categories are being created here. No new needs are being met, no pain points resolved. As I watch smaller CPGs struggle to gain a foothold, I think the proliferation of legacy trademark variants is one of the biggest impediments to their growth. How do you compete for a buyer’s attention when she can add $10M with Swedish Fish Oreos (yes, that's a thing!)? There are a few ways I see this playing out, but Im curious to your thoughts? Will the proliferation last? Or will we return to real product innovation? Trying hashtags! #innovation #newproductdevelopment #CPG #Product #5 

We’ve confused innovation and proliferation: 19 flavors of Cheerios (chocolate strawberry, anyone?) 20 flavors of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ (not including dipping sauce.) Heinz is creeping up to its 57th ketchup flavor. Don’t even get me started on Oreos. Trademark expansion is a very efficient growth strategy from top to bottom. All ad dollars reflect on the parent brand. It builds a brand block on shelf. It’s relatively simple to produce and execute. It may delight hard core users. Even if its only 5% incremental, that’s a big, big number on a billion dollar brand. I see it in every category: spirits, salty snacks, condiments, desserts, breakfast foods, hummus (hummus!). It’s what big CPG companies are good at: adding value to existing trademarks. (They are rather poor at building new brands…better at acquiring them and killing them, but that’s another post.) It’s also boring AF. So let’s not call it innovation. No new categories are being created here. No new needs are being met, no pain points resolved. As I watch smaller CPGs struggle to gain a foothold, I think the proliferation of legacy trademark variants is one of the biggest impediments to their growth. How do you compete for a buyer’s attention when she can add $10M with Swedish Fish Oreos (yes, that's a thing!)? There are a few ways I see this playing out, but Im curious to your thoughts? Will the proliferation last? Or will we return to real product innovation? Trying hashtags! #innovation #newproductdevelopment #CPG #Product #5 

We’ve confused innovation and proliferation: 19 flavors of Cheerios (chocolate strawberry, anyone?) 20 flavors of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ (not including dipping sauce.) Heinz is creeping up to its 57th ketchup flavor. Don’t even get me started on Oreos. Trademark expansion is a very efficient growth strategy from top to bottom. All ad dollars reflect on the parent brand. It builds a brand block on shelf. It’s relatively simple to produce and execute. It may delight hard core users. Even if its only 5% incremental, that’s a big, big number on a billion dollar brand. I see it in every category: spirits, salty snacks, condiments, desserts, breakfast foods, hummus (hummus!). It’s what big CPG companies are good at: adding value to existing trademarks. (They are rather poor at building new brands…better at acquiring them and killing them, but that’s another post.) It’s also boring AF. So let’s not call it innovation. No new categories are being created here. No new needs are being met, no pain points resolved. As I watch smaller CPGs struggle to gain a foothold, I think the proliferation of legacy trademark variants is one of the biggest impediments to their growth. How do you compete for a buyer’s attention when she can add $10M with Swedish Fish Oreos (yes, that's a thing!)? There are a few ways I see this playing out, but Im curious to your thoughts? Will the proliferation last? Or will we return to real product innovation? Trying hashtags! #innovation #newproductdevelopment #CPG #Product #5 

We’ve confused innovation and proliferation: 19 flavors of Cheerios (chocolate strawberry, anyone?) 20 flavors of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ (not including dipping sauce.) Heinz is creeping up to its 57th ketchup flavor. Don’t even get me started on Oreos. Trademark expansion is a very efficient growth strategy from top to bottom. All ad dollars reflect on the parent brand. It builds a brand block on shelf. It’s relatively simple to produce and execute. It may delight hard core users. Even if its only 5% incremental, that’s a big, big number on a billion dollar brand. I see it in every category: spirits, salty snacks, condiments, desserts, breakfast foods, hummus (hummus!). It’s what big CPG companies are good at: adding value to existing trademarks. (They are rather poor at building new brands…better at acquiring them and killing them, but that’s another post.) It’s also boring AF. So let’s not call it innovation. No new categories are being created here. No new needs are being met, no pain points resolved. As I watch smaller CPGs struggle to gain a foothold, I think the proliferation of legacy trademark variants is one of the biggest impediments to their growth. How do you compete for a buyer’s attention when she can add $10M with Swedish Fish Oreos (yes, that's a thing!)? There are a few ways I see this playing out, but Im curious to your thoughts? Will the proliferation last? Or will we return to real product innovation? Trying hashtags! #innovation #newproductdevelopment #CPG #Product #5 

We’ve confused innovation and proliferation: 19 flavors of Cheerios (chocolate strawberry, anyone?) 20 flavors of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ (not including dipping sauce.) Heinz is creeping up to its 57th ketchup flavor. Don’t even get me started on Oreos. Trademark expansion is a very efficient growth strategy from top to bottom. All ad dollars reflect on the parent brand. It builds a brand block on shelf. It’s relatively simple to produce and execute. It may delight hard core users. Even if its only 5% incremental, that’s a big, big number on a billion dollar brand. I see it in every category: spirits, salty snacks, condiments, desserts, breakfast foods, hummus (hummus!). It’s what big CPG companies are good at: adding value to existing trademarks. (They are rather poor at building new brands…better at acquiring them and killing them, but that’s another post.) It’s also boring AF. So let’s not call it innovation. No new categories are being created here. No new needs are being met, no pain points resolved. As I watch smaller CPGs struggle to gain a foothold, I think the proliferation of legacy trademark variants is one of the biggest impediments to their growth. How do you compete for a buyer’s attention when she can add $10M with Swedish Fish Oreos (yes, that's a thing!)? There are a few ways I see this playing out, but Im curious to your thoughts? Will the proliferation last? Or will we return to real product innovation? Trying hashtags! #innovation #newproductdevelopment #CPG #Product #5