Challenge
A leading super-premium ice cream brand was seeing their sales slowly erode. The team realized the market was changing and they no longer had a good handle on what their brand stood for in the eyes of the customer. They needed to understand where the brand was today, where it may be coming up short, and opportunities to return to growth.
Initiative
Using S+R proprietary Brand GPA™ our team took stock of the state of the brand – including deep brand profiling that identified core benefits that drove purchase, as well as in-depth analysis of the brand’s core audience vs. competitors. This revealed the brand had a significant customer base that were extremely loyal; however, the base was diminishing and not being replaced by new consumers. Additionally, we uncovered an opportunity space to better tap into core benefits with wide appeal that were directly linked to purchase.
Outcome
Our team helped the brand reposition to capitalize on the broader opportunity – carefully crafting a positioning that would broaden appeal without alienating the core customer. This insight also drove package redesign, new product development and ultimately a large-scale communications campaign. Substantial growth followed – the company’s stock increased from $9 per share to $43 before ultimately acquired by a major food manufacturer.