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Embracing the Essence
of Lottery:
Inspired by
the True Story about the
Birth of “Baby Carrots”
By Ulli Applebaum,
First-The-Trousers-Then-The Shoes
Brand Consultancy
E
ver see a product and wonder how the product de-
velopment sessions unfolded? Like, back in the 80’s,
when the creatives were sitting around a conference
table trying to figure out what to do about the de-
clining sales of carrots. Someone might have said something like
“I know, let’s cut them up into little bite-size pieces and put them
into plastic bags and sell ‘em in gas stations.” And her colleague
responded “that’s the stupidest idea I ever heard. We’ve done
countless focus groups and nobody ever complained about the
length or size of the carrot. I mean, what’s so hard about holding
the carrot and just eating it down? Not only that, the earned me-
dia of Bugs Bunny’s endorsement would go down the drain. And
who wants to buy carrots when they’re pumping gas? Besides, how
much would it cost to do all this? Next you’ll say we’re supposed
to wash the carrots ahead of time. This could get ridiculous.”
Thankfully, this little drama does have a happy ending. “Baby
Carrots” were born, were a big hit, and reignited growth in
the stagnating carrot category. Thank you, Baby Carrots. For
reminding us that inspiration to innovate can come from the
strangest places.
Why “baby carrots?”
Baby carrots changed the way people think about carrots and
expanded the reach of the category to new consumer segments
and usage occasions. This one innovation helped double the
per capita consumption of carrots in the US in 15 years from 6
pounds per person per year in 1986 to 11 pounds per person per
year by 2002. That’s an increase of over 180%. In the process,
baby carrots completely upended the existing market dynamics,
now representing 80% of all carrots consumed in the US.
The entire modern consumer economy is facing a challenge to
extend the life-cycle of mature product categories. It’s true for Lot-
tery just as it is true for most everyone in the consumer products
industry, and in the random-number-generated games-of-chance
category too (i.e. slots as well as Lottery). The good news is that
true innovation has nothing to do with inventing the Next Big
Thing, or becoming something we’re not. It’s about re-imagining
who we are and what we can do with the assets we have. Baby
carrots transformed the entire category with what, in hindsight,
is a relatively minor change to an existing product. It’s true that
the one change to the product reshaped the way the product was
perceived by the consumer, and how it could be promoted and