Coffee is the most popular hot beverage in the U.S. and the second-most popular hot drink in the world. Translating this success into ready-to-drink (RTD) cold coffee drinks has had checkered success in the marketplace. The RTD category peaked at $515 million in 2007, but has since been declining. Can new, innovative coffee drinks turn this trend around?
To answer this question, many marketers and manufacturers tend to conduct their own market research, hold brainstorming sessions and follow a fairly traditional new product development process. Perhaps there is another option. Flavor suppliers, like Symrise, have developed internal capabilities that complement CPG marketers' capabilities to identify, quantify and validate new flavor concepts.