This is an excerpt from a member-only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe.

In an increasingly competitive dental benefits marketplace, product innovation is vital, plans say. And two of the major players have recently introduced new products designed to catch the consumer's eye. So why, asks one prominent consultant, does everything look so familiar? The Des Moines, IA-based Principal Financial Group calls its newest launch-the Principal Dental Series II- "the most flexible dental product to date." Theresa McConeghey, dental product director, says the firm developed its latest product by asking customers what they liked best about its dental products. "The feedback boiled down to one word: flexibility," she says. "So we took that information and ran with it."