Nielsen BASES releases ‘Top Breakthrough Innovation Winners in India’ for 2020

Nielsen BASES has released ‘Top Breakthrough Innovation Winners in India’ for 2020. The release unveils successful innovations by brands across India, showcasing winners’ effective strategies and how they brought their plans to life.

BASES uses different evaluation criteria for innovations that are meant to be mass versus others that target a more niche audience by strategy. This varies depending on whether the objective is to garner long-term revenue gain versus short-term, growing the category pie, gaining share within the category or just staving off competitive pressure.

Nielsen BASES scrutinised 4,000-plus innovations across 85 categories with a minimum 18 months in market presence in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and OTC (over the counter), and has released a list of 23 winners.

Consumers in India have prioritised health over the last few years, and this focus is fuelling growing interest in natural and plant-based products. In a study conducted in November 2020, 60 per cent of the respondents indicated that natural products were more important to them today, than a year ago.

The BASES study shows that sustainability for the consumers is more about the tangible benefits of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ (66 per cent), and organic and natural ingredients (58 per cent). 56 per cent of the consumers contacted by BASES would definitely switch to an eco-friendly brand, given a similar product experience as their current brand.

Innovations that made it to the ‘Breakthrough Winners’ list are very conscious of this shift in consumer behaviour, and healthy, natural and sustainable are core to their product offerings.

Another trend that emerged in a BASES study conducted back in April was concern for the family. Consumers ranked products that claimed to ‘protect their family’ over those that claimed to kill germs and bacteria, or boost immunity. This ask of emotional benefit of the innovation for consumers has been amplified by the onset of the COVID pandemic earlier this year, with the lockdown and people at home.

Some winners have innovated in their go-to-market strategies with a ‘digital first’ strategy, moving from ‘mass marketing’ to ‘personalisation at scale’. These trends have led to launch and market in an accelerated and focused manner.

Others have mapped online audience behaviour to deliver personalised and relevant messages to their target group consumers. Their media strategy has also helped them to deliver the messages in an integrated manner across all the touchpoints of the consumer journey.