Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, has unveiled LaunchEvaluate, an agile post-launch evaluation tool designed to maximise the success of new and future product and service launches.
A well-executed launch does more than drive sales – it builds brand equity and establishes a foundation for long-term growth. Yet almost two-thirds (61%) of new launches are dead or declining by the end of their second year, and a reliance on surface-level financial metrics leaves many marketers struggling to understand why performance hasn’t met expectations.
Using LaunchEvaluate, businesses can:
- Ensure the long-term success of new product launches by identifying the factors driving their in-market performance.
- Spot potential issues such as low awareness of the new product or trial-to-repeat gaps early, through an intuitive dashboard with best-in-class visual analytics.
- Identify gaps, tension points, blind spots, and opportunities to course-correct, using diagnostic insights and tailored recommendations that are based on real consumer feedback.
- Tailor launch strategies to counter potential threats from competitor activity.
- Manage launches across multiple markets, combining local insights and a global perspective to shape strategies.
- Learn from prior successes and failures to inform what’s next, with expert guidance from Kantar’s global innovation specialists.
When Diageo created Captain Morgan Black Spiced, a premium addition to the Captain Morgan portfolio, sales were initially slow to build. By monitoring early performance, Kantar helped Diageo to identify that a lack of consumer awareness was holding Black Spiced back. To give the drink the best chance of success, Diageo needed to consider how to maximise reach through a revised channel strategy and capitalise on in-store presence by making the bottle stand out more on the shelf.
Nicola Sargent, senior consumer planning manager – vodka, rum & convenience at Diageo, said: “We knew we had a great product, so to address these challenges we revised the media plan to ensure high impact, awareness-raising channels were selected and invested in extra feature and display so that Black Spiced stood out as something new and exciting at the point of purchase in store. These tweaks to the launch plan resulted in a 30% increase in awareness and 50% increase in both trial and repeat purchases over the following six months.”
Nicki Morley, global innovation lead at Kantar, said: “Understanding not just how new products perform but also what sits behind this is crucial. Existing tools often fail to connect the dots between consumer behaviour, brand impact, and sales performance, leaving brands with gaps in their strategies for what to do next. LaunchEvaluate is designed to unpick the ‘why’ behind sales numbers, giving marketers the fast, actionable insights and tailored recommendations they need to ensure every launch reaches its full potential.”
LaunchEvaluate expands Kantar’s agile innovation portfolio, designed to help brands grow sales and build brand equity with cutting-edge solutions that meaningfully connect with consumers. From screening early-stage ideas with IdeaEvaluate, to validating product resonance with consumers using ConceptEvaluate, and now optimising post-launch success with LaunchEvaluate, Kantar supports every stage of the innovation journey using behavioural science, implicit testing, and rich data insights.
Available on Kantar Marketplace, LaunchEvaluate empowers marketers to bring products to market faster and more effectively through a continuous test-and-learn process. Accessible in 70 markets across industries, LaunchEvaluate delivers actionable insights in as few as 48 hours. Visit kantar.com/marketplace to learn more.
