Health & wellness food trends

A Japanese food manufacturer sought to extend its U.S. presence. The client sought to understand current and emergent health and wellness food trends. They also needed a foundational understanding of American food culture.

The goals were exploratory, so we stretched a tight budget by focusing on curation augmented by interviews with U.S. health and wellness experts.

We traced U.S. food culture from the 1950s to the present, showing the client how the idea of healthy eating and wellness has dramatically evolved, highlighting differences with Japanese perceptions. Online research and expert interviews identified emergent categories and recent product successes.

Our final deliverable included a streamlined set of strategic imperatives and creative product ideas that connected core competencies to current and emergent market opportunities.

Market entry

A European food company was looking to bring their noodle products to Japan. They came to us to help them understand how their brand and products could fit within the cultural and competitive market landscape.

We conducted curation and consumer focus groups that helped the client understand noodle culture in the land of soba, udon, somen and ramen and how consumers perceive their current brand positioning and product line up.

We then linked these consumer insights to the brand strategy, delivering a culturally-resonant brand positioning and concept that could be used as the foundation of their launch strategy.

Line extension

A large beverage company came to us to help them identify their next flavor extension.

We used semiotic analysis to understand the conscious and unconscious associations with different fruit and vegetable flavors. This allowed the client to better understand which flavor fit within its existing portfolio most logically and offered the biggest incremental opportunity.