case study
RXBAR:
Understanding Consumers to Better Serve Them
Startup protein bar maker RXBAR made such a big splash in the market that Kellogg’s bought them for $600 million. With that hefty investment came the expectation of continued success—and the need to expand beyond their initial target audience. The challenge was to identify the segments of opportunity and their attributes so that RXBAR could best connect with those potential consumers.
We partnered to help them learn about who chooses their bars and why, what motivates them, and what they’re looking for so that RXBAR could evolve to meet their needs—and Kellogg’s expectations.
The “half-pipe” framework that organizes users, their needs, motivations and goals. As people learn more about how food affects them, their confidence in their food choices varies parabolically.
Approach
First, we connected with internal stakeholders to understand their vision and desires, then complemented that with in-depth user research, accompanying people on shopping trips and interviewing them in their homes about how they eat, snack, workout and live—and what they’re looking for from the products they choose to meet those needs.
Outcomes
The resulting personas and framework enabled RXBAR to effectively segment their current and potential customers via a clear understanding of their needs, motivations and triggers, and focus subsequent rounds of research in service of gaining deeper, specific insight to inform future product development. The aggregated framework condensed the research learnings, personas and user journey into what affectionately became known as the “half-pipe.”
We expanded this into a room-sized poster that included detailed data and descriptions that allowed for direct comparisons among the personas and served as an anchor for research. It also provided guiding principles for creating and positioning future offerings so they would resonate with consumers. The poster was displayed around the main office, driving alignment and capturing team thoughts on ways to deliver for new consumers.
The expanded, wall-sized poster, displayed around the office to inform employees and evolve with new research learnings.