S-group used a traditional media format enable small food producers bring their products to the market as well as to speed up the time-to-market for new innovations. The Food Innovators gameshow sparked new food innovations to market in record time.

The show was watched by ¼ of Finnish population in commercial TV.

All grocery stores in Finland have more or less identical assortment.

Bringing new exclusive products to market is expensive, risky and end up in all of the stores, which gives very little competitive edge for stores to compete with selection.

When new food innovations come out, they are sold in all of the stores.

Especially smaller food producers, it's almost impossible to bring new products out, unless they have sales deals with all the big retail players ready.

The Food Innovators gameshow aimed to shorten the time-to-market for small producers, and to bring exclusive products to S-group stores.

The Food Innovators is a gameshow created for seeking new differentiating food innovations. The winning products will be put exclusively on shelves of the largest Finnish grocery chain S-group.

The show was built to create a credible backstory for the unknown producers and demand for their new products over the course of the ten episodes.

All grocery stores in Finland have identical solution and bringing new products to market is expensive, risky and end up in all of the stores, which gives very little competitive edge for stores to compete with selection.

Food Innovators game show series is incubator for small food providers. It gives them opportunity to grow their business with less risk and gain national TV coverage though out the show.

When season ends after 10 episodes the show has build a credible customer backstory on the producers and the demand for the winning products have been created before even launching them. Which takes the risk out of adding new products to store selection nationwide.

The Food Innovators is a gameshow for small food producers. The competitors are chosen via applications and tasting the products. The most potential producers are chosen to TV show which puts the providers thought boot camp and intense coaching from leading chefs, but also on package design, legal and branding to see which of the products will evolve from original idea to national hit product during the show. All under a keen audiences eyes.

The mechanism of the show is similar to all other gameshows. During the season competitors are dropped out if they are not keeping up with the pace.

After the finale the winning product and runner-up's will be launched next day to all S-group stores nationwide.

The Food Innovators exceeded all commercial expectations. The show and the products were featured in all major Finnish news medias for weeks.

Products featured in the show had awareness of 42 % among Finns and winning product had 80 % awareness the day it launched, something that most FMCG brands spend millions to achieve.

The stores run out of the products, even though S-group had prepared for high demand. The demand exceeded the sales estimations by 400%. The winner Rostis, was the most sold new product in 2020. Even the competing grocery store owners bought the Food Innovator products from S-groups retail stores and resold the products with markup.

By helping small producers S-group was able to build competitive edge, grow small food producers into multimillion business and provide new more ecologic local food for Fins. That’s a win-win for everyone.