Pepsico and healthy snacks in China
Challenge
As the Chinese consumers become more health conscious, Pepsico wants to be one of the first to dominate this space. Although Pepsico is a well-known brand in China, they have never been considered a healthy brand. For this reason, the challenge was to find the opportunities where Pepsico can play and to come up with a long-term strategic plan in how snacks can develop into the future.
Client
Pepsico
Team
Whatif Innovation
The Big Four
Here are four main themes we heard across all our research and testing, and they hold the key to unlocking innovation in this space in China.
Methodology
Desk research
User interviews
Online hotshop
Focus group
Paired with the deep-rooted Chinese philosophy of balance, people seek healthy harmony in their daily lives, which is proving harder to achieve.
Taste in China is imperative, but they also hold a stereotype that healthy can't be tasty and that tasty can't be healthy.
Natural and original ingredients cue trust and so do big brands, because it comes with certain degree of regulations.
Food nourishment is passed down from generation to generation, but they are aware about being overly nourished.
Meet our cohorts
Tasting snack trends across China
On top of user interviews, we spent one day researching the market trends, ideating for starter solutions and tasting the popular snacks in China in preparation to designing the test for our cohorts.
In addition to the 20+ physical prototypes we created for the focus group, we also had the participants rate the ideas and to share some ideas on ways they keep healthy.
In addition to interviewing donors and experts, we also sent out a survey and received 60 responses. To gain more qualitative insights on the topic, we designed a VIP themed Cultural Probe for 6 individual donors to fill out.
Our North Stars
Our key strategic directions of travel for Pepsico China, based on our consumer tensions
Opportunity Platforms
Primed and Ready
(I'm)Perfect
Get Better Together
Primed and Ready
Catered mainly to Super Moms and the Middle Class Rookies, this set of North Stars responds to the tension of nutrient absorption by simplifying the link between what you put in the body to the benefit you see (beauty/mood).
(I'm)Perfect
Catered mainly to Rookie White Collars, these Northstars counteracts the loss of control over health and youth felt by this cohort. This offers a first step into the anti-aging world, which is a main point of tension, by reframing aging as unlocking new strengths.
Get Better Together
These Northstars are catered to Super Moms, whose tension is finding an easy but effective way to provide nutrients for their whole family including both older and younger generations. The focus is on cognitive, immunity, and bone health.