How a $100M Deli Brand Unlocked Hidden Growth with an Agile Whole-Brain Methodology

Mar 11

Businesses are always on the lookout for new paths to innovate and grow. In today's rapidly changing market landscape, a wealth of untapped potential is waiting to be explored.

Success often hinges on pinpointing the right target audience and truly understanding their needs.

However, companies are filled with left-brain thinkers who continue to gather a lot of data and analyze it…over and over again…just hoping to uncover that perfect consumer insight.

“ Companies are filled with left-brain thinkers who continue to gather a lot of data and analyze it…over and over again…just hoping to uncover that perfect consumer insight.”

To unlock growth in this rapidly changing environment, you need leadership skills with a blend of left-brain analytical skills and right-brain creative problem-solving and intuition.

Daphne Simons is the Brand Director at a high-end Italian Deli Brand that grew over time to $100 million in revenues and wanted to expand in the US. Daphne was caught between the company’s desire to find creative paths to growth and a highly successful, but traditionally risk-averse culture of left-brain thinking that sometimes wants the perfect consumer insight before formulating the growth strategy.

The company didn’t have deep insight into who its buyers were and what motivated their purchases of premium meats.

Let’s find out how Daphne navigated this challenge and rapidly unlocked growth by coupling left-brain analytical skills with right-brain creative problem-solving.

Daphne's Dilemma: Racing Against Time to Define the Deli Brand’s Growth Strategy in the US

Daphne wanted to hit the US market with a premium Italian meats line and capitalize on the massive growth potential.

Daphne had an unusual challenge. While the initial sales were robust, and they assumed ‘affluent people’ were purchasers, her team had no idea who was buying the category. They didn’t know the right target. They didn’t know with whom they could unlock further growth.

“ Daphne had an unusual challenge. While the initial sales were robust, and they assumed ‘affluent people’ were purchasers, her team really had no idea who was buying the category. They didn’t know the right target. They didn’t know with whom they could unlock further growth.”

The pressure from the management was mounting as there was a fear of missing out on a massive opportunity!

Daphne needed help. She assumed she got it as part of a broader company initiative that hired a known, big strategy consulting firm that proposed a 12–16-week standard package without considering that the biggest need for Daphne was more basic – to understand who was buying the premium meats and why.

The firm brought an army of consultants. Daphne was excited. The consultants started working. Started collecting data. Started analyzing data. Started creating massive PowerPoint presentations and infographics.

“ The firm brought an army of consultants. Daphne was excited. The consultants started working. Started collecting data. Started analyzing data. Started creating massive PowerPoint presentations and infographics.”

Weeks passed by, and Daphne’s excitement started turning into worry.

The data was never enough for her management team, and the 100-slide PowerPoint decks weren’t getting her true, intimate consumer insights about the premium meat buyers.

Daphne became more anxious since the opportunity was slipping away while the clock kept ticking and the consultant bills kept mounting well into the hundreds of thousands.

Daphne reached out to a friend who worked for another brand and had a similar experience.

He couldn’t stop talking about how a smaller, yet agile strategy consultancy helped him get to the bottom of the deep consumer insight within weeks.

Sceptic, Daphne met the CURVEJUMPER team.

She heard about the 3 common sense packages the CURVEJUMPER team explained:

3-days: Expedited, immersive sessions to clearly articulate the growth challenges
3-weeks: Get to the bottom of REAL consumer insights
3-months: Expedited brand positioning to action planning and experience

Daphne agreed to move forward with the 3-week engagement that gets her the Consumer Insights she sought at a fraction of the cost of the bigger firm.

This was her only chance to save face.

3-Week Engagement for Rapid Consumer Insights

The CURVEJUMPER team dove in quickly with a data review and hypothesis session, within a week, to articulate the strategic questions at hand.

Daphne was pleasantly surprised that, unlike other consultants, the CURVEJUMPER team didn’t want to discard the research done by previous partners. They leveraged parts that made sense and quickly applied their combined right and left-brain methodology to start taking common-sense steps. They utilized known and syndicated data sources to quickly test hypotheses for reasonableness.

Having already lost several months with the big consulting company and the management breathing down her neck, Daphne was relieved that the CURVEJUMPER team were quick on their feet and their entire approach was anchored around “bias towards action”.

In 3 short weeks, Daphne started seeing the progress rapidly:

Week 1: Forming the hypothesis: During week one, the CURVEJUMPER team performed quick data analysis and started forming an educated hypothesis on who the target buyer LIKELY would be and what their key characteristics would be. They leveraged Experian Mosaic data, a robust consumer segmentation tool, to form an initial hypothesis. They hypothesized that the buyers of premium Italian meats are likely affluent households in the top 20% of income earners, and they worked with Daphne’s team to prioritize sub-segments.
Week 2: Validating the hypothesis: In week 2, they were on their way to do immersive ethnographic interviews with people who looked like the target persona to validate if that persona exists and if they possess common characteristics. They gave the segment a name, as well as the person, Sara, herself. Technically, the heart of the segment was a 35–44-year-old affluent woman, likely suburban, with children. She loves entertaining guests and is competitive amongst her peers to be the BEST entertainer, and she likes to please her guests with refined and elegant choices of food and beverage. The core target seeks quality and prestige in her food choices – in other words, she’s got this!

“ Technically, the heart of the segment was a 35–44-year-old affluent woman, likely suburban, with children. She loves entertaining, and in fact, is competitive amongst her peers to be the BEST entertainer, and she likes to please her guests with refined and elegant choices of food and beverage. The core target seeks quality and prestige in her food choices – in other words, she’s got this!”

Week 3: Validating the broader market and purchase behavior: During week 3, the team rapidly started looking at what Sara looked for when she was buying food. Why does she buy premium meats? What is her motivation? Where would she buy food? Would she buy at Draeger’s or Safeway?
The team then worked hand in hand with a downstream ad agency and their data sources to validate the significant market size of the core target, and they left Daphne with a robust typing tool with a one-page set of key attributes common among the people in the core consumer target.

In just 3 weeks, the CURVEJUMPER team worked closely with Daphne’s team to identify the target persona, paint a very vivid depiction of who the company needs to go after and elaborate on her buying behavior and motivations within the context of her life and goals as an Entertainer.

“ In just 3 weeks, the CURVEJUMPER team worked closely with Daphne’s team to identify the target persona, paint a very vivid depiction of who the Brand company needs to go after and elaborate on her buying behavior and motivations within the context of her life and goals as an Entertainer.”

In a nutshell, the CURVEJUMPER team leveraged their extensive General Management experience in the food & lifestyle industries to eliminate a lot of scenarios quickly, formed the hypothesis and ultimately validated the hypothesis rapidly.

Daphne saw the difference.

The CURVEJUMPER team skillfully threaded the balance between the right-brain problem-solving skills combined with the left-brain data analysis skills to deliver Daphne the results she wanted in just 3 weeks without offering her a lot of extras that would have wasted time and money.

“ The CURVEJUMPER team skillfully threaded the balance between the right-brain problem-solving skills combined with the left-brain data analysis skills to deliver Daphne the results she wanted in just 3 weeks without offering her a lot of extras that would have wasted time and money.”

After the quick engagement, Daphne extended the team for two additional rapid cycles to articulate her refined brand positioning, as well as, to create some new-to-the-market store experiences that they continue to use with priority retail clients to this day.

CURVEJUMPER: Your Partner in Unlocking Untapped Growth

The CURVEJUMPER team brings over 100 years of combined experience to its engagements in lifestyle brands and customizes each project to client needs, prioritizing high value over unnecessary add-ons in cookie-cutter packages.

With deep industry expertise and a bias for action, CURVEJUMPER turns your data into actionable insights, transforms ideas into viable businesses, and revitalizes your brand.

“ With deep industry expertise and a bias for action, CURVEJUMPER turns your data into actionable insights, transforms ideas into viable businesses, and revitalizes your brand.”

As a strategic partner, CURVEJUMPER uses their unique methodology of right brain, left brain, and your brain to strike the right balance between creative problem-solving and data analysis to unlock untapped growth at lightning speed.

“ CURVEJUMPER uses their unique methodology of right brain, left brain, and your brain to strike the right balance between creative problem-solving and data analysis to unlock untapped growth at lightning speed.”

With their extensive experiences in the consulting side, agency side and business/General Management experience in managing market-leading P&Ls, the CURVEJUMPER team has formed a unique action-oriented approach.

CURVEJUMPER was able to deliver Daphne, the deep consumer insights, vivid depiction of the target persona, and the boilerplate to exponential growth - 3x faster and at 70% lower costs than bigger firms.

“ CURVEJUMPER was able to deliver Daphne, the deep consumer insights, vivid depiction of the target persona, and the boilerplate to exponential growth - 3x faster and at 70% lower costs than bigger firms.”

Daphne’s bold decision did pay off.

Thanks to Daphne, the Deli Brand grew to record market share within 12 months, and after enduring COVID headwinds, recently returned to record performance!

If you want to jump ahead, lead the pack and unlock untapped growth like Daphne, Contact CURVEJUMPER now!

(NOTE: This is a true story, but the names have been altered to maintain strict client confidentiality and protect the innocent. )

Brian Myers