How can a yogurt brand stand out in a sea of fast-following competitors?
Chobani had established itself as a well-respected and trusted brand in the yogurt space but needed to evolve its innovation process in order to ensure more regular “big hit” products, reduce operational waste and – most importantly – to continue to be a leader in an increasingly competitive market.
Impact Areas
Brand Positioning
Product Innovation
Go-to-Market Strategy
Change Management
Approach
We began by reviewing and assessing the current brand marketing and innovation pipeline. Through deep diving into the creative, business and research processes — we were able to identify areas of strength and opportunity to guide next steps.
Key Activities
Conducted internal stakeholder interviews
Analyzed brand and product performance data
Made multiple on-site visits to the R&D center
Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams
Research Analysis
Following our foundational audit, we organized next-level analysis and initiated new research. Our goal was to ascertain key trends and leading consumer preferences so we could better position the overall brand.
Key Activities
Collaborated with market research firms to deliver grocery and category-specific insights
Refreshed brand trackers and marketing mix reporting and mapped against historic data
Codified NPD research, evaluation and process tools
Layered new insights onto existing market observations, macrotrends, nutrition work, and sales data
Product Architecture
The learnings from our market research provided a foundation for revising the brand’s product portfolio architecture. The architecture we created included product naming, as well as guidelines for how specific attributes would be conveyed on packaging, in marketing materials, via the website, etc. This work led to and informed an award-winning brand refresh and packaging redesign.
Key Activities
Built revised product architecture
Detailed guidelines for applying product architecture and comms hierarchy across brand touchpoints incl. packaging most notably
Results
Overhaul of product architecture formed foundation for award-winning brand and packaging redesign
Revised research processes positioned teams to make better informed decisions for effective brand marketing and product innovation hits incl. award-winning kids’ line
Updating martech tools incl. brand trackers and more supported better decision-making by new in-house agency and re-org’d sales teams
Introduced multiple new product including a drinkable yogurt that achieved >$100M sales in 1st year, putting it within Nielsen’s top 1% of new CPG product releases globally
Created roadmap for $250M Kids’ product platform built on deep consumer insights and market need
Explored other new products incl.non-dairy, low sugar, and unique formats such as squeezable
Exited two underperforming product platforms, saving an estimated $60M in operating costs
