Chapter 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Kraft Foods is involved in developing and managing good products several times throughout the year. There are six categories of new products:

1. new-to-the-world products
2. new product lines
3. Additions to product lines
4. Improvements/revisions to existing products
5. Repositioned products
6. Lower-priced products

Here are some examples of these categories Kraft has taken part in:

New-to-the-world Products

Kraft has brought out new water flavorings. The product is called Mio. It's Kraft's first new product in the past fifteen years. It comes in six different flavors and it's said to "revolutionize the water enhancers category". It's supposed to take over the flavored powder products that people use to flavor their water. Since there are not many powders out there, Mio is supposed to take over as a new generation product when people begin switching to this liquid.

New Product Line

This year Kraft has introduced a new product line to cooking. Kraft came out with Philadelphia Cooking Creme in several different flavors. They recently just launched their new Tomato & Basil flavor to the cooking cremes.

Addition to Existing Product Line

Kraft has added new flavors of Cracker Barrel cheeses to it's company. These new cheeses contain seasoning. The new varieties include Red & Green Jalapeno pepper, Cracked Black pepper, and Mediterranean Herb. This will be Cracker Barrel's new addition to it's product line of cheeses along with many other additions to it's other products.  

Improvements or revisions of existing products

Kraft has redesigned the look of it's mac & cheese box with a "new, happier packaging, and marketing strategy with the 'noodle smile" on the front of the box. They also changed the colors to brighter colors on the box and more interesting font. This redesign was a drastic change but it was good one for the consumers eye as well.

Repositioned Products

In 2007, there was an article written about Kraft's new CEO at the time. They weren't sure if she would be able to bring the company back. Unfortunately, they underestimated her. A lot of parents weren't buying kool aid due to the fact that kool-aid was such a sugary drink. In Fortune magazine however, Rosenfeld (KFT's CEO) repositioned kool-aid as a healthier alternative to Coke and Pepsi. After doing that, sales began improving again.