People love watching risk-takers. Deep inside the human condition is the strangest affinity towards morbid curiosity. It's why we stare at car wrecks, secretly hope Evil Kneivel crashes and wonder if Steve Jobs will crap out the next time he rolls the dice. I remember an old Calvin Klein Obsession commercial that said it all. Do you remember them? They had melodramatic Eurostyle actors amidst a pristine white background. They would zoom into a woman's stylized face and she would pronounce a bold nonsequitur, "It is shocking, it is disgusting...yet I can not turn away." The Germans call this "shadenfreude" loosely translated as "the shameless joy of another's misfortune."

These are the things that I think about when I encounter stuff like green ketchup. Did you miss the recent announcement? In a bid to increase tomato catsup consumption among that market's critical demographic of American children aged 3-15, the Heinz corporation pulled the trigger on one of the toughest decisions a major brand can make: reinvent the product. Apparently, something with ketchup got broken and needed fixing.

In a year's time, one of three things may happen:

2. It will be a tremendous flop and disappear quickly.

Or, the most plausible scenario:

Last month in this newsletter we reviewed the New Product Showcase & Learning Center, a private museum in Ithaca, NY, featuring thousands of consumer items, some successful, but mostly failures pushing concepts very much like green ketchup. The center provides a great exercise in examining market risk, that is, positioning your product to be of greatest appeal to the customer. Win or lose, I'm sure the museum is holding a spot for this one.

Let's take a moment to examine the critical decisions that Heinz has made regarding their flagship condiment.

The facts:

• Green ketchup was preceded by a media advertising push at key child and teen markets, increasing market share to 51%, thus green-lighting further product improvements

The new product's design:

• Extra vitamin C added to appeal to parents.

Comments made by Heinz representative, Casey Keller:

• "The core idea is to give kids more control and fun over their food,"
• "We wanted to create something where that bottle is pulled out of the fridge more often,"
• "Kids really have a desire to make mealtime more enjoyable, and this enhances the control and fun factor,"

And on the decision for green over other colors such as blue:

• "[green] has a little more kitchen logic,"

Now wait a second..."kitchen logic?" It's amazing the fine level of detail that product developers encounter when making decisions on products, especially with psychographics. We know that these things make a difference, not always, but often. But it is these decisions that are agonized over the most as make-or-break factors. These type of features are equally easy to credit for success or blame for failure, making accountability more discrete and assignable. They are willing to go as bold as changing the color, but not to something too radical. Interesting.

Chances are there's something like "kitchen logic" floating around your marketing department. Perhaps operators don't like your tool because the on button isn't yellow. Maybe the user interface isn't "serious enough." If you don't know what the kitchen logic is for your product, it might be a good time to find out, as most of these marketing things need to be executed on the technical side.

Now, the good news for Heinz is that they've learned the lessons of those who came before them. They are not replacing the red product, the green variety is aimed at kids and will share shelf space. Plus, companies like Coca-Cola and Heinz have brands strong enough to weather this type of risk without causing irreparable harm. But it should at least be refreshing to see that these companies are willing to be bold based on the potential upside. They avoid the temptation to stand pat. If it's only a PR stunt, heck, it's already worked. When's the last time you heard so much fuss over a condiment? What's next, "Do you have any purple poupon?"

BONUS KETCHUP TIP - (from the Heinz.com website):
If you have trouble coaxing ketchup out of the glass bottle at a restaurant, tap the bottle where the embossed "57" logo appears at the point the bottle begins to narrow. This should allow the condiment to flow freely.

Founded in 1992, the Society of Concurrent Engineering (SOCE) is a growing organization dedicated to the advancement of the knowledge and principles behind successful integrated product development. SOCE is volunteer-driven and currently maintains chapters in Boston, San Diego, Silicon Valley and Quebec. SOCE is exceptionally member-focused, and conducts several high-quality local learning events for its constituency.

A visit to their website fills in the blanks. At soce.org, you will find links to their charter, the association's strategy, event listings, and links to several articles on CE subjects. Of particular interest may be the SOCE Body of Knowledge, which is a chart that lists the many categories of competencies inherent to product development. It is quite thorough and interesting to see what's made it to the list.

DAMA
A downloadable .pdf brochure is now available for our fall conference, "Design Anywhere, Manufacture Anywhere" in San Diego this October. Details will also be posted on our website soon, but the brochure (dama-brochure.pdf - 1.2 meg) is available right now. [Download Brochure]

METRICS SURVEY
In conjunction with Goldense Group, Inc., MRT is helping conduct GGI's 2000 survey on the use of metrics by product development organizations. All survey participants will receive a complimentary report on the survey's findings, and the results will also be presented at MRT's next metrics conference in Chicago this November. [Download Survey] (GGIMetrics-Survey.pdf - 40kb).

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