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United States 
Deutschland 
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International 
Facts & figures
Global HQ: Bielefeld, Germany
Founded: 1891
Employees: 16,599
Annual revenue (global): € 4.24 billion
Business challenge
Dr. Oetker is a long-term market leader in frozen pizza, but the category has recently faced major shifts: the rise of fresh pizza trends, a surge in pick-up and delivery options, and a sharp decline in A-brand innovation – creating space for private labels to gain ground.
To protect category value and reinforce its leadership, Dr. Oetker needed an innovation capable of driving genuine growth. This required a deep understanding of pizza consumption occasions and the underlying need states for consumers, in order to successfully introduce a new frozen pizza concept that truly resonates.
Solution & research results
To support the launch of its new premium innovation, Dr. Oetker tapped into YouGov Shopper intelligence, utilizing usage and attitude insights for consumers and enhancing them with occasion-based segmentation to identify targeting potential and inform offers and activations that would best grab attention.
The analysis uncovered 10 distinct consumption occasions, revealing a clear underperformance for Dr. Oetker in the ‘Quality Meal for Me’ segment. This highly individual, sofa-moment occasion is where frozen pizza often struggles to compete. In these moments, pizza becomes more than a meal – it’s a mental or physical boost, a break from routine, and a way to satisfy a deep craving for authentic pizza taste.
Dr. Oetker used these powerful audience insights to introduce new premium product, Suprema with great success in Belgium. Continuous behavioral data from YouGov Shopper intelligence now helps track the launch performance of the product and confirm its incremental impact on the category.
Business outcome / impact
In its first ten months on the Belgian market, Dr. Oetker’s new premium pizza generated €5.2 million in sales. Most of these sales were incremental to both the brand and the category, driven by value rather than volume, thanks to its premium price point. Notably, 17% of Suprema buyers were completely new to the frozen pizza category, demonstrating its ability to expand category reach.
Despite a challenging market context marked by strong private label growth across categories and a recent period of high inflation, the study conducted with YouGov confirmed our conviction to launch a new brand, Dr. Oetker Suprema, in the premium frozen pizza segment.
The insights clearly showed that frozen pizza was underrepresented within the “Quality meal for me” segment, highlighting a genuine opportunity to grow the category by recruiting consumers from adjacent segments such as fresh pizza and even takeaway.
Beyond validating the strategic rationale, the study provided concrete guidance on where to focus during the launch phase — from communication to in-store activation. These insights proved instrumental in shaping our go-to-market approach and ultimately contributed to a very successful launch, delivering 7.8% penetration and €5.2 million in sales within the first year.