FrozenFoodAge.com |

When Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago, Ill., revealed its New Product Pacesetters Report on the most successful new consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands at the 2008 IRI Reinventing CPG & Retail Summit in early March, two products from the Dannon Company, White Plains, N.Y. -both containing probiotics-made the list of the Top 10 New Food and Beverage Brands.

Dannon DanActive Probiotic Dairy Drinks ranked seventh, with year-one dollar sales of $63 million across food, drug, and mass channels, excluding Wal-Mart; and Dannon Activia Light Yogurt had $62 million in year-one sales, good for the No. 9 spot. The New Product Pacesetters report showcases brands that beat the new product odds to drive growth through innovation.

According to Dannon, Activia, which contains Dannon's trademarked probiotic, Bifidus Regularis, is the first and only probiotic yogurt available in the U.S. clinically proven to help naturally regulate the digestive system in two weeks by helping with slow intestinal transit-the time it takes food to pass through the digestive system. DanActive is a probiotic dairy drink containing Dannon's trademarked L. casei Immunitas culture, which the company says can help strengthen the body's defenses.

"These brands are case studies in how to surpass abysmally low new product success rates in the CPG marketplace, where less than 5% of new brands reach $50 million in year-one sales," says Anne Berlack, executive vice president, IRI Business and Consumer Insights.

IRI notes that while taste, variety, and convenience are important to consumers, "health and wellness reign supreme." Among this year's winners were products that offer high-demand nutrition, and weight and disease management solutions. According to IRI, their success points to a shift in consumers' perceptions of food-not only a source of enjoyment and satisfaction, but a health solution with the potential to deliver very specific benefits.

"During the next year, demand will explode for functional food and beverages that deliver health benefits beyond basic nutrition," Berlack says. "Retailers and manufacturers that marry functional benefits with effective consumer education, as Dannon did this year with DanActive immunity-boosting beverages, will win big."

Michael Neuwirth, Dannon spokesman, says the new products' taste and health benefits are the keys to their success. "First and foremost, they're great tasting," he notes. "They are also clinically proven to provide health benefits that are specific to each product. Those are probably the two main attributes for success in the food category today when it comes to new products and the health care side of the equation."

Neuwirth says that both products were supported primarily by television advertising in their first year, but Dannon also did extensive sampling in stores.

According to Neuwirth, Dannon did what's called "enhanced sampling," conducted by people who are knowledgeable about the product and methods. In early March of this year, Dannon unveiled a new advertising campaign for Activia featuring actress Jamie Lee Curtis. In the campaign, developed with Y&R and planned to air throughout 2008, Curtis draws attention to the importance of digestive health, presenting Activia as a simple solution.

The first stage of the campaign will feature introductory ads with Curtis discussing digestive health problems and the benefits of Activia. The campaign will evolve with Curtis and will include frank and open conversations about occasional digestive health issues.