Fresh Ideas in a Mature Market

The wet cat food category in Canada was stagnant. Most competitors focused their efforts on discounts while innovation was largely driven by new flavours.

Sklar Wilton supported the Whiskas team through ethnographic interviews and a usage and attitude study. Together, the team uncovered an important insight – dealing with the leftovers of wet cat food was an unpleasant task for cat owners and a distasteful experience for cats. Sklar Wilton facilitated worksessions with key stakeholders to develop a winning innovation concept for Canada, leveraging packaging technology from Mars Petcare USA. Whiskas Perfect Portions, ‘A fresh meal every time’, was born, and a concept test highlighted its potential. Later on, an advertising pre-test identified a persuasive advertising campaign. Several months after the launch of Whiskas Perfect Portions, a drivers and barriers study was deployed to help the team optimize for the future.

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Sklar Wilton & Associates applies strategic advisory services and marketing research and analytics to solve tough business challenges. Research techniques for any one project are selected on their ability to solve the challenge at hand and may include, among others, biometrics, communities, ethnography, focus groups, gamification, interviews, sensory research,  social media research, surveys, and/or text analytics.

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The team was equipped with powerful insights to launch Whiskas Perfect Portions. This breakthrough innovation helped Whiskas Wet become the fastest growing brand in the Canadian wet cat food category.