THE OUTCOME

The research delivered a completely new vision of the market and the customers, and as a result the client has changed his strategy by 180°. Now teams truly think about the customer first, they have acquired a deep empathy for the humans they are making products for and are much more successful in product design and communication. Very concretely the client has:

• Revamped the corporate storyvegetabletelling focusing on celebrating chefs and their profession and the usage they have of the category. It is no longer about selling competency and great products.
• Defined a new product segmentation which communicates the product benefits as well as user benefits, to reach chefs at the heart of their needs and to increase awareness of vegetable potential in an emotional way.
• Created an innovative website and an Instagram story which have become a new expression of the brand to sublimate vegetables in every form.
• Launched a chef‘s community in order to take them on board, as they are the key actors of the whole story!
• Developed a new sales reference guide to start the sales discourse with the roles of vegetables rather than offer and price.
• Repositioned the brand: "Transforming our passion and our extensive knowledge about vegetable nutrition and culinary art into inspiring and valuable guidance for chefs."

All these efforts already got rewarded by a sales increase of overall 7% within the first 12 months of implementation!

THE APPROACH

We illuminated the culture of mourning by finding out who the pet owner is, how they define their relation to their pet and how they deal with death. We broke through to these truths with a blended approach of ethnographic observations and interviews with pet owners, expert interviews with veterinarians and a collaborative creative problem solving workshop including consumers, vets and client team members.

THE OUTCOME

We delivered intimate, rich and vivid portraits of different pet owner profiles using lively persona descriptions illustrated with visual mood boards. Based on the connected insights we were able to design compelling and truly resonating product and service concepts.

The new empathy gained for their target enabled our client to review their self-understanding and positioning as a cremation service provider (product focussed positioning) to become a company specialized in offering solutions for the end of a pets’ life in dignity and respect - hence a human-centred positioning.

THE APPROACH

By means of several exploratory consumer workshops we were able to identify promising gaps in the highly competitive market of breakfast cereals. Using a variety of creative techniques as well as stimuli we reached the deeper lying emotional needs and aspirations surrounding nutrition in general as well as the attitudes towards environmental issues.

THE OUTCOME

We were able to identify a niche positioning which holds the potential to substantially grow the brand on the German market leveraging the growing need for healthy and sustainable products.

THE APPROACH

We decided to leverage the dynamic power of a consumer workshop setting in order to explore in depth the status quo of cheese consumption and to push divergent thinking into new potential brand territories and innovation.

We decided to go for an extended workshop duration to be able to employ a variety of creative and projective techniques as well as stimuli. Thanks to the combination of different techniques which made consumers react and reflect using their different senses (tactile, verbal, visual…) we were able to uncover a full vision of the cultural connection to the category and brandscape. The path for the new brand positioning became apparent.

THE OUTCOME

A new positioning building on the very identity of being a foreign challenger with a credible cheese heritage was designed. In addition, we were able to derive relevant product pillars, range extensions as well as innovation directions.

THE APPROACH

We tackled this challenge with a two-step approach: the first step focussing on the professional transformation of the pastry products and the second step focussing on consumer desires.

THE OUTCOME

As a result a clear innovation and communication strategy became evident and concrete concepts were developed. In addition, the crucial need for innovation was stressed in a surprising way: less as a need to change and adapt the offering but more of a means to stage the supermarkets themselves: the pastry section often serves as enticing “window” to supermarkets, it helps to put the consumer into an almost gluttonous spirit while shopping.

THE APPROACH

The target audience of the platform being a hard to reach global specialist community all found on different continents. We decided to conduct web-enabled phone interviews to explore their practices and needs and to gather detailed feedback on the solution offered. For this, we used an interactive platform prototype as well as concept descriptions we would share through the web connection.

THE OUTCOME

The results enabled us to identify the core target to be addressed for market entry. A matching communication strategy which picked up on the key needs and employed the right tonality to resonate with the audience could be developed. The actual solution was further fine-tuned and extended with additional service offerings.

THE APPROACH

We opted for a two-fold approach coupling a longitudinal “self-ethnographic” part with creative workshops. The longitudinal view gave us in-the-moment insights into Germans’ outdoor habits which we then injected into the workshops for further exploration. We were able to distil a clear vision of the different segments’ motivations and aspirations and their corresponding needs with respect to outdoor equipment (both on an emotional as well as functional level).

THE OUTCOME

As a result we were able to show the path for a clear product (core competence, key features, line extensions) and communication strategy (offline as well as online).

THE APPROACH

The category depending strongly on the professional’s prescription at the POS, we included the view of the end-user as well the sales professional and this in the most natural situation possible: in the sales room itself. We re-enacted the process of information gathering and decision making in personal depth interviews. In addition we explored the deeper lying motivations and aspirations surrounding life on one’s terrace or balcony. Crossing the findings we revealed a path to innovation which was relying solely on sensory benefits.

THE OUTCOME

This new perspective on the category brought about an experiential design strategy – the focus now being on a sensorial revolution which allows for a unique positioning guaranteeing market leadership pushing innovation.