RISING TO

THE OCCASION:
THE WHO, WHY AND
WHEN BEHIND CATEGORY
AND BRAND GROWTH

THOUGHTS ON...
RISING TO THE OCC ASION

THE WHO, WHY

AND WHEN BEHIND
CATEGORY AND
BRAND GROWTH
Think about the last thing you ate. Were
you craving a mid-afternoon snack or
an energy boost on the go? Are you
watching your diet? Do you have a busy
lifestyle or plenty of time to kill?
In the world of FMCG, who you are and
the way your needs and circumstances
change day to day determines which
products are relevant at any given time.
That’s why rather than focusing on what
their product is, brands, retailers and
manufacturers should think about what
occasion it is for. Weekend brunches,
dinner parties, quick lunchtime bites
or TV dinners all have their own
characteristics and what consumers
choose to eat or drink will be specifically
suited to each event.
Distilling the who, when and why of
consumption habits into recognisable
occasions allows us to build up a
framework of demands we can tap in to:
these are what we call demand spaces.
The business case
Many businesses find themselves
operating in silos, with sales, insights,
category and brand teams working hard
but pulling in different directions. Each
will be bidding for a share of budget
and it can be a struggle to prioritise one
investment over another.
Demand spaces offer a single
framework which can help validate and
prioritise the most lucrative business
opportunities. They create a backdrop to
strategic and tactical decisions and act
as a common language across all teams
feeding into category and brand growth
– in the long and short term.
Using this framework,
brands, retailers and
manufacturers can:
• identify sensible target groups
• understand their competitive set
and position themselves accordingly
• re-organise and leverage their
existing product portfolio
• develop meaningful innovation
• create marketing that resonates
In turn, this creates the context in which
to set and track KPIs and measure
success.

Defining the terms The who, the why and the when: example demand spaces
Demand spaces are the who, when
and why behind people’s consumption
and shopping decisions. They Treat
contextualise consumer habits by myself
looking at who is consuming which
products, what the occasion was and
Screen time
what motivated them.
Originally developed by the Consulting
division of Kantar, the concept of
Demand Spaces still underpins the Easy
Consulting GrowthFinder offer today. ovenfare
Worldpanel Usage and Worldpanel
Purchase data can also provide a
Mid-morning
unique view of demand spaces that boost
can access the wealth of panel data.
Through these offers, Kantar is able to Feed the
analyse and distil this information into kids quick
something tangible and quantifiable
that brands can use to inform their
products, campaigns and trade
stories. Coffee to Date
go please night
Other terms used in the industry, like
‘hotspots’, ‘demand landscapes’ and
‘demand frameworks’, can also refer
to similar analyses.
 RISING TO THE OCC ASION

By making sense of the vast and complex

world of consumer behaviour, brands, Dinner party % Share of £ Spend
retailers and manufacturers can develop
appropriate and sustainable growth n Gap to fair share
strategies – whether to drive penetration, 16
justify a premium or encourage faster
repeat purchase. £1.7m
12 12
The scale of the opportunity 10
Before retailers, brands and £1.3m 9
manufacturers decide how they plan on
7
targeting specific demand spaces, it is
essential that they take a step back and
identify if the demand space has
potential in the first place.

Fresh fish is a case in point. The category

is regularly chosen by shoppers looking
to impress friends and family at dinner Supermarket A Supermarket B Supermarket C
parties, and overall spend on fresh fish to
fulfil this demand space is in growth. Yet n Total Food n Fresh fish
despite this potential, two major grocers
have been under-trading in fresh fish for targeting their innovations at the new Nibbles range was an instant hit
the dinner party occasion to the tune of same consumers at the same time, with consumers, adding value both to
well over £1 million each. attempting to hit as many occasions as the brand and to the category. It was
they can and spreading themselves too bought by 15% of all shoppers in the 12
By identifying which demands exist and thinly in the process. months after launch and was one of
which brands, categories and retailers that year’s top three biscuit launches in
are already being chosen to fulfil them, The best innovation boosts both terms of penetration.
companies can understand where there is category and brand – a win for
room to extend their presence. manufacturer and retailer, not just the Similarly, 2018’s most successful
consumer. innovation in terms of incremental
In with the new category growth was Halo Top ice
A typical large supermarket contains McVitie’s achieved this by creating a cream. By tapping into the demand
30,000 product lines, but the average product that targeted a new occasion for healthier indulgence it was able to
household only buys between 400 for its category – the shared evening charge a 275% premium, which helped
and 500 of them a year. This means treat, traditionally dominated by boost total ice cream sales by
that brands often find themselves confectionery rather than biscuits. Its £3.3 million over the year.

“If we only base strategy

on shopper behaviour, it’s
a bit self-fulfilling and we
will just be encouraging
existing behaviours. If we
understand the consumer’s
needs and drivers, then we
can influence real change.”
Customer Insights,
Sainsbury’s.
RISING TO THE OCC ASION

A new twist on an old format

Occasion-led segmentation isn’t
limited to new product development.
Sometimes a new approach, such as
repositioning an existing brand and
marketing it towards new demand
spaces, can drive growth just as
effectively and ensure a product
maintains its currency in a changing
consumer landscape.

Aperol used a creative campaign to

carve a niche for itself as the first drink
of the evening, both inside and outside
the home. While not a new idea in
continental Europe, the Campari-
owned brand was and remains alone
in actively targeting the aperitif
market in the UK. Not concerned
with competing against other drinks
brands for a space on the dining table
or as an accompaniment to certain
foods, instead, Aperol added value by
focusing on an occasion that offered
a strong growth opportunity and
generated consumer excitement about
the brand – the first drink of the night.
The campaign rejuvenated Aperol’s
image, allowing it to move beyond its
existing older shoppers and reach a
new consumer group in the shape of
younger women. The strategy worked
– the number of shoppers buying
Aperol to drink at home has risen by
nearly 40% over the past two years.
Dr Oetker took an approach to
demand spaces that focused even
more intently on the individual with
its Dare to Bake campaign. It turned
its attention to inexperienced bakers,
aiming to build their confidence
and make home baking feel more
accessible. While the occasion wasn’t
new for the brand, the target shopper
and their needs were very different and
presented a lucrative new demographic
for brand and category.
Brands need to be bold and proactive.
These campaigns were successful not
because they identified ‘new’ demand
spaces but because they recognised
occasions and audiences that no one
else had made their own and inhabited
the gaps.
Growth at your fingertips
Increasingly, manufacturers and
retailers are moving towards consumer-
led planning – driving the industry
forward with creative and innovative
products and positioning.
It is essential that brands, retailers and
manufacturers keep their ears to the
ground to understand how shifting
trends create new consumer needs.
Among other things, an increased
focus on health, the growth in meat-
free dining and people’s busy lifestyles
all mean that we have different
demands and requirements than we
did ten years ago.
The winners will be those who seize the
opportunities presented by change,
but also who tap into the rich seams of
demand spaces that currently exist but
are not being met. This is where the
immediate opportunities lie.

Methodology
The primary data used in this
report comes from our grocery
shopper panel, which continually
measures the purchases of
30,000 demographically
representative households in
Great Britain [England, Scotland
and Wales].
Consumption behaviour is
measured using a subset of
panellists through 16,000
demographically representative
individual weekly diaries. We
collect information on what food
and drink they are consuming,
when they consume, what and
who else they consume with,
and why.
The potential level of detail on
our panels goes far beyond
that used in this report to help
manufacturers and retailers
really understand consumers at
a granular level.
For more information on this
Thoughts On paper please contact:
Giles Quick and Katherine Shade
+44 (0)20 8967 0007
Giles.Quick@KantarWorldpanel.com
Katherine.Shade@KantarWorldpanel.com
www.kantarworldpanel.co.uk
Jonathan Hall, Global Head of Strategy,
Kantar Consulting
Jonathan.Hall@kantar.com
Published April 2019