Every product has its own pathway to market. And one of the keys to new CPG success is cultivating distinctive product characteristics that resonate with core target demographics.

As part of this process, developing the gold standard can investigate aspects like ideal flavor, texture, and other characteristics considered essential in the eyes of the product development team. A bit more of a floral note to the vanilla there, finding just the right percentage of chocolate chips, fine-tuning the crispiness just so … and, every once in a while, a star is born that will endure decades.

Famous Amos recently traveled that road, reformulating the legendary snacking cookies to take on subtle, sophisticated ties to global flavors and premium ingredients. They’re still chocolate chip cookies, but elevated. Famous Amos and its product development partners developed some distinctive insights along the way regarding our diversifying retail cookie market, and how consumer insights can help drive the launch.

The U.S. retail cookie category continues to see steady growth, with sales now valued at $9.4 billion for center-store alone. And unique market strategies that dig into distinctive product dynamics like ingredient provenance and global themes, like we’ve seen from Famous Amos, show great potential to building inroads to the category—and a little excitement along the way. SF&WB