THEO CHOCOLATE
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT & BLUEPRINT FOR GROWTH
THE ASK
Theo, the U.S. fair-trade, organic premium chocolate manufacturer, was seeking to define the go-forward strategy to drive business growth through differentiating new product innovation that deliver the vision of what comes next for the marketplace.
THE APPROACH
1. IMMERSION & FOUNDATION
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GrowthWorks first developed a FUTURE OPPORTUNITY MAP, rooted in consumers’ needs and drivers. This map connected those needs with emerging trends and future expectations for products and services both in close-in and adjacent categories.
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GrowthWorks defined five (5) STRATEGIC GROWTH PLATFORMS that provide the foundation for the innovation effort as well as longer term growth initiatives.
“Just as we were nearing the consumer research phase COVID hit and dashed all our planned face-to-face qualitative work...the GrowthWorks team properly paused the project to determine if we could pivot the work to a virtual setting. Only after convincing themselves that we would lose nothing we proceeded to conduct the rest of the project virtually. I believe the consumer learnings were much deeper and insightful as a result.”
— Etienne Patout, CEO
2. IDEATION & CO-CREATION
With a reimagined online approach:
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Collectively, generated 80 seed ideas through online ideation with relevant stimulus (consumer panels, video tours, experts, and virtual tastings) designed to spark inspiration.
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GrowthWorks co-created and iteratively built out the most promising 24 trigger concepts with target consumers through interactive online activities (online boards, live webcams, etc.).
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GrowthWorks quantitatively validated the top 12 concepts emerging from qualitative efforts.
THE WIN
Pipeline of 12 winning concepts that met or exceeded challenging launch hurdles. and a 3-year innovation roadmap with close-in and further-out spaces from Theo’s current business and thus will expand the brand’s future presence and reach in exponential ways.
"In the end, what really counts is walking out with a range of concepts you have the confidence to invest the resources required to bring them to market. Like an old roll of 36 film, I was always happy to get one or two good pictures to hang on the wall. The same applies to concept testing. For our project, we ended up with a full portfolio of concepts ready for framing. Some of the best results I’ve seen over hundreds of concept testing rounds."
— Etienne Patout, CEO
