During April 2020, Brand Reveal ran the “Day After” survey to understand the impact of the C19 crisis on the Marketing Mix of wines and spirits. This second article (out of 6) summarises the views of 79 professionals on Product Management. The key message : product developments must keep on.
Contrary to what could have been expected, the crisis did not stop product management. This aspect appears dynamic with nearly 60% of intentions to extend, but also to terminate some products, thus showing that the underlying work must continue.
Also, new Products & Innovations intention appears important to portfolio management with more than 60% of respondents indicating their will develop new to world innovations. Perhaps, these will focus to meet the needs of home driven occasions.
The higher proportion of ”don’t know” answers (25%) in New Product Development reflects the uncertainty linked to the risk of new launches. Given the reported sales hit of many brands, new launches will need for additional preparation or favourable launch conditions. Indeed, we noticed that a certain number of brands are postponing launches to the second half of this year.
Overall, the C19 crisis has not paralysed the product management cycle, far from it. If anything, it may provide new areas of development and additional preparation in new launches. Additionally, we are seeing a host of initiatives where Digital is used in new ways in product launches.