Context:

Arla was a challenger brand entering the US market, where Philadelphia had become synonymous with cream cheese to most consumers. Arla’s primary products were cream cheese tubs and sliced/blocks of cheese. We established the brand with a strategy aligned with global positioning and broke through in the US market with a budget of one-tenth of Philadelphia. HH penetration, brand consideration, loyalty, and aided awareness all increased, beating benchmarks. The larger Arla brand campaign was about how to “Live UnProcessed.” 

I was the lead strategist for a new product launch, cream cheese in a squeezable bottle, targeting families with kids (as evident by the packaging). The kid-food category is exceptionally crowded in the US. We needed a distinct way to stand out while still aligning with the larger brand strategy centered around quality, nutritious, and “unprocessed” food. Unfortunately, Arla cut budgets, and we did not get to take this work to market, but I still love the strategy and just as important, so did the creative team. 

My approach:

I poured over various parenting “guidance” articles online and parenting forums and talked with parents of young children. And I leveraged product testing the client conducted, including consumer interviews/verbatims. I arrived at the consumer insight that kids love being hands-on (and messy) because that’s when they thrive. I also uncovered a product truth that fun food geared at kids is rarely healthy. The combination of the consumer insight and product truth set up the creative team to develop a campaign around Unprocessing Fun Food, fitting perfectly with the larger brand campaign.