Innovation Spotlight: Milano Chai Latte

Welcome to Innovation Spotlight! Each month we’ll spotlight a brand that’s capitalizing on a current consumer trend with a new product innovation.

This month we researched Milano Chai Latte, the Milano brand’s latest release for the fall season. Read on to get our analysis of the product's in-market potential, the audiences it appeals to, as well as what you can learn from it to innovate smarter.

Pepperidge Farms’ Milano brand launched a new flavor of Milano cookie for fall this year: Chai Latte. The brand describes it as the first chai cookie to hit grocery stores and says that it contains “premium white chocolate paired with the flavors of warm spices, nutmeg, clove, and cardamom, sandwiched between two crisp cookies.”

It’s part of Pepperidge Farms’ broader fall lineup that includes returning favorites Milano Pumpkin Spice and Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Ama Auwarter, vice president of Pepperidge Farm cookies and bakery for Campbell’s Snacks, said of the new launch: “Milano Chai Latte brings the warmth and comfort of a beloved seasonal beverage to the cookie aisle, reimagined as a refined, cozy treat that embodies the essence of fall. Pepperidge Farm continues to delight cookie lovers with thoughtfully crafted seasonal flavors, and Milano Chai Latte adds a fresh twist to our fall lineup alongside returning favorites.”

There are several flavors that are already associated with the fall season like pumpkin spice and apple cider, but Milano was clearly going for a new flavor that will stand out among all the traditional fall flavor options on the market. 

Coming up with brand new seasonal flavors is no easy feat. You have to:

1. Pick a flavor that people like and want to try

2. Pick a flavor that people associate with the season

3. Pick a flavor that people believe makes sense for your brand and product

You may be able to achieve one or two of these, but you need all three for a truly successful seasonal flavor innovation. 

Did Milano hit all three? Let’s find out! 

1. Landing on seasonal innovation that fits with the brand & the season: We’ve seen in past analyses that seasonal shapes and colors tend to outperform seasonal flavors, but a pumpkin or ghost shape doesn’t fit the indulgent and sophisticated Milano brand. The brand is already known for launching different flavors of its classic cookie, so continuing to go in that direction with a bold new fall flavor is the right move. 

2. Leveraging seasonal packaging cues without losing the brand: Milano found a great unexpected flavor that people associate with fall, but the fall packaging helps to further sell the connection between fall and chai. Respondents commented on how they liked the packaging and it made them think of fall. But importantly, the Milano brand isn’t lost in the new red color (as Milano packaging is traditionally white). The shape of the package and the prominent picture of the Milano cookie make it clear what the brand is. 

3. Appealing to early adopters is a great sign of growth potential: Milano Chai Latte’s trial potential is in line with other US food innovations (Trial Potential: 64% vs. 61% norm), but it’s much higher for early adopters (86%). In fact, early adopters scored Milano Chai Latte quite high across all success metrics like advantage, relevance and meets needs. Early adopters are typically trend-sensitive and seek out new, unique or improved products. If they respond positively, it suggests the product has differentiation and value that stands out in a saturated market. And early adopters are often opinion leaders in their social circles — their endorsement can help drive word-of-mouth, social proof and even viral growth. This tells us that if Milano continues to release this flavor each fall season, it may experience broader appeal over time. 

Milano Chai Latte scores in the top 5% of food innovations in the US on breakthrough potential and in the top 60% on trial potential. 

Sitting in the “seed and grow” section of our potential quadrant means the new flavor is seen as highly unique and distinctive, but appeals to some people more than others.

Let’s unpack more about why this innovation scores this way.

We use two key measures to determine breakthrough potential:

1. How different a product is (distinctiveness)

2. How superior a product is compared to what’s already available in market (advantage)

Milano Chai Latte is seen as significantly more distinctive than other US food innovations (Distinctiveness T2B: 80.5% vs 70.5% norm) by every group we looked at for this analysis.

Chai Latte is not a flavor we regularly see in sweet baked treats, so it makes sense that consumers across groups view it as distinctive! 

But it’s not enough for an innovation to be different from other products on the market, it also has to be better than the alternatives. Milano Chai Latte scores in line with food innovations for advantage (Advantage T2B: 58.0% vs. 53.1%), but several groups see it as more advantageous than others — specifically males, people who buy sweet baked snacks at least every 2-3 weeks and category early adopters.

Also importantly, consumers believe that Milano can credibly deliver a chai flavor (Brand Believability T2B: 83.9% vs. 79.0%). And many of them love the idea (Love: 30% vs. 24% norm). 

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would be likely to purchase Milano Chai Latte if it was available at a reasonable price, which is in line with the US food norm (Purchase Likelihood T2B: 63.5% vs. 60.8% norm).

But purchase likelihood is higher for certain groups, including adults 45 and under, men and people who buy sweet baked snacks at least once every 2-3 weeks. But it’s early adopters that have the highest purchase likelihood by far at 85.6%.

We see early adopters outperform all other groups across areas, including meets needs (Meets Needs T2B for early adopters: 90.2% vs. 70.9% norm), which means that early adopters believe Milano Chai Latte delivers what they need from a sweet baked snack — more than any other group. 

This is all very important for Milano. When releasing a new flavor that people have likely never seen in the category before, there will be a number of skeptics. But having early adopters so willing to try it is a good sign of future growth. 

If the chai flavor lives up to the expectations of early adopters, they’re likely to encourage others to try it. 

Respondents were most enthusiastic about the seasonal chai latte flavor, festive and eye-catching packaging design and the trusted Pepperidge Farm and Milano brands — all of which contributed to a positive impression and seasonal appeal. 

People said things like: 

• "I've had the limited edition earl grey Milanos and they were excellent. Chai is a flavor I prefer to earl grey, so I’m already all in. The packaging is cozy looking and appealing, and it's nice to see a fall product that isn't pumpkin flavored."

• "I like Milano in general. The chai latte flavor would be interesting to try."

• "It’s a unique flavor. A lot of people like chai lattes."

• "I like Milanos in general and these flavors look good."

• "Ii like the packaging, it looks classy."

• "I like chai lattes so i might like this, it has good packaging and branding."

• "I love the fall / autumn vibes of this product, very festive."

Those who had negative things to say about the product mostly commented on how they either don’t like chai or white chocolate. Interestingly, there were a few comments from people who thought the cookies would taste like coffee due to the word “latte” in the name! 

So did Milano’s new Chai Latte flavor accomplish everything a new seasonal flavor needs to accomplish? We think so! Let’s go through each one:

1. A flavor that people like and want to try ✅

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they would try Milano Chai Latte if available at a reasonable price, and we saw a lot of comments from people who said they liked chai and were excited by the new flavor. 

There were also a few comments from people who weren’t excited by the chai flavor, but that’s to be expected!

2. A flavor that people associate with the season ✅

We saw a number of comments from respondents who said the flavor seemed “perfect for fall” or like a “perfect fall treat.” On top of that, we saw the packaging provided an extra nudge in the fall direction, with many commenting on the cozy, autumn vibes from the packaging.

3. A flavor that people believe make sense for your brand and product ✅

With a brand believability score of 84%, people definitely believe that Milano can credibly deliver a chai flavor. 

Plus, the Milano and Pepperidge Farm brands were a big part of the appeal of the new product, with many saying they like the brands and expect a new product from Milano or Pepperidge Farm to taste good. 

We applaud Pepperidge Farm’s new fall innovation! 

Are you planning your next seasonal innovation? Zappi’s connected Innovation System makes it easy to identify, evaluate and test seasonal innovation ideas. Get a demo to learn more. 

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