How's that Proof and Pudding going?

As you may recall, I made a post in early May about a project of ours where we teamed up with the inventor group and are doing a real, live micro market test of a new product this summer. We decided that rather than research, we'd do a product launch and put the "proof in the pudding" so to speak. See here for background.

Well, I thought it was only fair to share some mid-term results... First, some more background. We had an absolute blast making the commercial, and buying time on local cable channels is easier than I ever expected. And despite my initial skepticism that buying 11 cable channels a few times a day would really get us coverage, I'm re-learning that yes, most people still do watch a heck of a lot of TV, regardless of what you read on the Internet...

So we created the ad, bought the ad avails on cable channels, bought a bunch of in-store displays, locked up store distribution from last year, and had 2 big box stores (major food store and major mass merchandiser) all set up by the end of April. We figured we were in great shape for the summer with a summer product and a beach community. Our goal is to see "how big is the product" by getting awareness and distribution up in a single beach community, therefore enabling us to extrapolate to likely US national sales by a major brand.

So, how's it going?

a) the ad that started running in late May and ran through last weekend is here. You can get some good insight into the product by watching a 30-second TV spot and it's much more fun than me explaining it in plain text :) Alternately, if you want to buy the product, go here :)

b) we've gotten some incredible results at the stores we're in. Kids and parents alike have totally "gotten" the advertising and have been asking for the product. We're on a 3x trajectory on year-over-year same store sales. And we're starting to get new boutique stores readily buying a case of product because they've seen the ads and they've had customer's asking for it.

c) it is absolutely stunning to see, firsthand, how the best-laid plans can be brought to their knees by centralized IT departments at food and mass stores. Relatedly, it is a painful reminder of how bloody hard launching a consumer product in the real world can be -- regardless of the wonderful strategies, roadmaps and creative insights one has. To expand, we are not yet in either the food or the mass store because getting a "vendor ID" has proven to be an act that is equivalent to getting off the "do not fly" list or something. Without a vendor ID from centralized IT, the local store can't stock the product (because it won't scan at the checkout). So the fact that local store management wants the product and can sell > 100 units a week is merely interesting because no one in centralized IT has the time/energy, or perhaps the job authority, to add a new Vendor ID. I suspect we're up to 50 calls between the two stores. We've talked to more people than you'd think they have in regional management. And we're still not there. Close, but not there.

So, this post is a mid-term report that we're doing GREAT in the stores we're in. We're in stasis at big box stores, and the summer is heading into the last 6 big weeks. I'll keep you posted as the summer finishes to see if we can pull off a big-box store miracle. But we're delighted with our progress, humbled and reality-checked on how hard actually launching consumer products can be, and excited about our product potential!

Onward!