Why isn’t FFUPs positioned around health claims? When I was in the early days of looking for a unique CPG concept to launch, I was confounded by a question raised to me in a discovery consumer interview: “does the average snacker actually want products with more health claims?” It got me thinking - in a world where every new product seems to raise the stakes for how healthy it claims to be, is there a set of consumers being left behind? It turns out, there was. We identified the Sofa Snacker - someone who values flavors over health claims, avoids products with too many claims, and snacks most while watching TV shows, movies or sports. Believe it or not, 81% of this population is turned off by brands overtly positioned around health claims…and 82% of them do not believe that healthy snacks taste as good as other snacks. And further - 83% of them were looking for puff flavors beyond cheese! Long story short, we took an interesting insight from qualitative research, validated it with data, and found an interesting way into the market with unique brand positioning.
Eve Cohen
9mo
Sam - it's so inspiring to see someone build a brand off of true insight vs. consensus thinking! Bravo! I'm curious why you chose to call out "not healthy" directly rather than letting it go unsaid and leading with flavor profile? Also very curious how you've determined the unmet demand for non-cheese flavors breakdown between sweet and savory.
Parker Olson
9mo
Question for you though - doesn’t Doritos and others dominate this market? Is there data to show that consumers want a “new” brand? Just playing devils advocate!
Christy Lebor
9mo
brilliant. I too am seeing this shift ... a counter-trend to overt BFY. Excited to see your brand accelerate Sam Tichnor
Jordon White
9mo
What I find so cool about your brand Sam Tichnor is the counter-positioning. The "Not Healthy" claim on the front is something a larger brand will never ever copy. Great source of defensibility right there and a lesson others can learn from. Amazing product and strategy work!
Julie Suntrup
9mo
I love how clean the packaging is as well as the color palette. Unique. Also the fact that you’ve called it Tasty Tubes is just plain fun. The tube does remind me of a little worm popping out of its hole but it’s not off putting. Did any of that come up on the packaging research phase- or is it just my mind?!
Saskia Brussaard
8mo
I've seen some tastewise.io data that would 100% support this and another reason why people need data beyond social media listening which is most performative. Every mom who ate a bag of chips after their kids went to bed knows this.
Austin Calladine
9mo
This was our thoughts exactly with our rebrand coming in 2024. Couldn’t agree more with you!
Jessica Perri
9mo
This is very thoughtful because yes not all snackers are wanting “better for you” options but heavy snackers will try whatever is in the aisle. At the end of the day, taste will be king. I tried these this year at a trade show and they were great! Keep it up :)
Craig Morantz
9mo
I hear you. We came to the same conclusion when we rebranded SnackConscious last year.
Fractionally-retired, working with my first vendor to increase customer value & offending people with the hard truth since 2010.
8moI think brutal honesty is more productive than green/health wash deceit. When you make a snack, call it a snack - that is what it is and consumers will reward that honesty by buying the product; AND if it is priced low enough, and hits the sweet/salt/spicy profile that consumer prefers - they will buy it on a regular basis - which is the only way to succeed. People MUST BUY ON A REGULAR BASIS - if you can achieve that goal, and grow sales organically - you will be successful. There are a lot of products out there that focus on health claims/benefits, green wash, fair trade, sustainability wash (every bottle of apple juice, jar of apple sauce, container of orange juice, shelled nut, grape, fruit or product of a perennial plant can claim it is sustainable), emissions claims, etc............ BUT if people aren't buying as part of their regular grocery shop - you will never be successful, you will always be 'in a growth phase' that will constantly need to raise more money until you cannot raise any more and bust.