Marketing - Wonder White® (Buttercup®)

Wonder White® is a pre-sliced, packaged white bread which was developed by Quality Bakers under the Buttercup® brand in 1994. Quality Bakers Australia Ltd is part of the Goodman Fielder food company.

Why was the product developed?

1. Consumer research identified the need for a high-fibre bread with the appearance, texture and taste of white bread. Over 50% of mothers prefer to buy multigrain or wholemeal bread, but 80% of children aged 8-15 years prefer the taste and soft texture of white bread.
2. The discovery of Hi-maize™, a natural ingredient milled from a specially developed maize grown in Australia, provided the opportunity to produce an innovative high fibre bread which looks and tastes like regular white bread but contains twice the fibre of regular white bread.
3. Developing a bread which kids love to eat and mothers are happy to feed to their children had the potential of increasing bread consumption in this age group (rather than replace consumption of other brands). Hence, the new product could increase the overall volume of bread sales.
4. This innovative product could be differentiated from other bread products and command a premium pricing position.

How was the product produced?

A working group from the Hi-maize Taskforce, who were investigating food applications for Hi-maize™, focused on its use in bread. Members of the working group had expertise in:

• Marketing - Buttercup®'s Marketing division
• Product development - Buttercup®'s Research and Development division (R&D)
• Hi-maize™ technology - Starch Australasia
• Nutrition - Goodman's Fielders' corporate dietitian.

The Marketing Division briefed R&D on the nutritional and taste specifications for the new product. It had to taste soft and fluffy and the eating quality had to be not significantly different from regular white bread. Nutritionally, it had to have significantly more dietary fibre than regular white bread, but with the same nutritional quality as other Buttercup® breads (i.e. low in fat and rich in carbohydrate). R&D worked with Starch Australasia (now Penford Australia Ltd) to achieve these specifications.

Technologically, the innovation was the development of Hi-maize™, a new ingredient in bread-making. Research was required to achieve the right balance of ingredients to produce a soft, fluffy and tasty loaf. To achieve product differentiation, the size of the loaf was increased from the regular 680 g to 700 g by using bigger tins. The bread was made using regular commercial bread-making techniques.
Extensive research was conducted to gauge acceptance of the product prior to its launch. Without even tasting the product, 87% of consumers within the target group reported an intention to purchase the product. After tasting the product, 95% intended to purchase it.

The dietitian worked with marketing to develop the communication campaign and define the target audience for the campaign.

The final product

• Looks and tastes like regular white bread.

Nutritional value

• Wonder White® has double the dietary fibre content of regular white bread and significantly more dietary fibre than multigrain bread.
• Contains resistant starch, a type of dietary fibre that differs from wheat fibre and other insoluble dietary fibre found in regular bread, including wholemeal.

Packaging

• Pre-sliced, packaged 700 g loaves in sandwich and toast slices (a smaller loaf, called "Wonder White® Lunchbox (size)" was produced in response to a need for bread that fits into school lunchboxes but was later withdrawn due to lack of sales volume).
• Packets of six English muffins.
• Crumpets - were not well supported by the market and so were withdrawn.

Labelling/nutrition claims

• "High in fibre with Hi-maize™" is displayed in a prominent position under the Wonder White® logo on all packaging.
• It is classified as 'a good source of dietary fibre' with a dietary fibre content of 5.7 g per 100 g.
• As a result of on-going research, the dietary fibre content of Wonder White® has been increased in order to substantiate the claim, "Now with twice the fibre" and "Double the fibre of regular white bread".

Marketing

• Target group
  Boys and girls aged 8-15 years and their mums.

• Positioning
  Hi-maize™ was introduced as a unique rich fibre source that is so finely ground that it's invisible. The "invisible fibre", Hi-maize™, positioned Buttercup® Wonder White® as a "soft white bread which looks and tastes exactly the same as regular white bread but contains an invisible dietary fibre".

• Strategies
  Advertising on television, bill boards and buses as well as print advertising (back to school features). The product launch in 1994 was supported by a $2 million promotional campaign featuring an invisible baker to reinforce Wonder White®'s "invisible fibre" positioning with consumers.

Point-of-sale material

• Brochures
• In-store recipe cards.

Below-the-line activities

• Registration of the Wonder White® products with the School Canteen Association
• An awareness campaign to health professionals (GPs, dietitians and home economists)
• Development of a fun website for kids (www.wonderwhite.com.au)
• Presentations at conferences and parents' groups
• Display at the Easter Show.

Distribution of product
Available at all supermarkets and convenience stores.

Evaluation of product's success

• Not only the target market, but also a secondary market (fathers), are using the product. Men like the big, thick slices and the fact that it has no bits.
• Wonder White® captured 12% of the white bread market 20 weeks after its launch and increased the size of the white bread market by 8%.
• The total bread market grew by 2% in a declining market.
• Wonder White® has therefore encouraged more people to eat bread which is consistent with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
• Wonder White® is the second largest brand in the bread market, with 14.5% unit share and 15.7% value share of the white bread segment. This represents approximately $80 million in national sales each year (Nielsen Scandata 1998).

The success of Wonder White® is primarily due to the simplicity of the advertising message. Consumers are interested in the fact that it is high in fibre and that it tastes good. They are not interested in too much detail. They just want a simple product that delivers, particularly in terms of taste.

Evaluation of the initial campaign therefore indicated that the product should be maintained in terms of taste, but the dietary fibre content be increased. Consequently, the fibre content was increased to substantiate the claim "Double the fibre of regular white bread". On-going market research continues to determine how the product can maintain market share.

For Further research

Additional links

• Dietary fibre and resistant starch
• Hi-Maize Case Study
• Food legislation
• Bread manufacture
• Marketing