Pepperidge Farm

The Ask

Most people think of Pepperidge Farm for their products like Goldfish and Milano cookies, but it’s been known for their master brand to take a back seat. Who are they, what do they stand for, and why does it matter?

I was brought on to answer all of these questions and provide a strategy on how this would roll out across their digital marketing ecosystem.

Challenges

Sensitive Product Teams

Care had to be placed to ensure that any work completed would not interfere with the marketing positioning and efforts of each product group (e.g. Milano, Goldfish, Breads, etc).

Fierce Competition

The CPG industry has some of the most forward-thinking brands like Red Bull and Coca-Cola.

Short on Governance

The client has limited resources to support its masterbrand since no product falls under it. I couldn’t suggest an ‘always on’ approach as their team could not support it.

Retaining while Growing

Their audiences are primarily enthusiasts 40+ and forming families, yet they are in dire need to attract a millennial audience.

Discovery Approach

I took a three step approach, performing an audit existing properties, interviewing a number of key stakeholders and business leaders in the organization, and finally conducting an intensive competitive landscape.

Property Audit Finding: Put Products Front and Center

One of the biggest findings from the property audit was poor accessibility to get to products, as they were titled and categorized into business groups rather than being consumer-centric. This resulted in requiring too many steps to get to product and nutrition information and inability for search to surface valuable results.

Stakeholder Interviews Clarified Goals

The interviews allows us to organize input into a matrix and pull out shared priorities across the brand and each medium.

Competitive Finding 1: Portability of Experience

Through the competitive review, the biggest pattern that stuck out is that mobility has changed behavior to be told more with less. Copy is bite-sized and navigation is succint, which leaves any room in larger displays to tell a more visual story.

Competitive Finding 2: Assuming a Role in Peoples' Lives

Pepperidge Farm needs to move away from a product-oriented engagement model to one that can truly build connections in peoples’ lives, so I illustrated ways brands are crafting identities and playing a role across the ecosystem.

Strategic Recommendations for Voice & Role

With the research complete I crafted a new voice and role for Pepperidge Farm’s digital efforts.

Strategic Recommendations for Ecosystem and User Experience

And finally, applying the voice and role, I was able to present recommendations for their digital marketing, content, and channel strategies as well as provide top-level user experience initiatives for the website redesign.

Initial Designs

And so far, the website designs are very much intact with the original strategy and recommendations that I have put in place, incorporating voice, tone, prioritization of product and nutrition information, and connection to on-and-offline purchase.

Digital Strategy, Integrated Marketing