A bold challenger sets its sights on the category leader
The brand entered the meal essentials aisle as a startup, betting on a better-for-you recipe and loud, unmissable packaging. It wasn’t picking a fight with a mid-tier player. It went straight at the category’s long-time number one, and Target’s shelf was where it would have to prove that.
Earning shelf space in a category owned by one giant
Bold packaging alone doesn’t unseat a category leader. The brand needed a pitch grounded in real consumer insight and market sizing, sales and profitability projections to back it up, and enough evidence to convince Target the whitespace was real, not just marketing talk.
A data-backed pitch, a celebrity assist, and terms built to win
Our category strategy team built the pitch around hard consumer data and a comprehensive launch plan, negotiated Target exclusivity, and secured three different company spaces, ad features, and commitment to multiple promotional events. We tapped our Target marketing partners to curate a large social story with the brand’s celebrity co-founder, resulting in a campaign big enough to match the shelf space we’d won.
The number one brand in the category, by sales per store, per week
In its first fiscal year, the brand became the number one brand in the meal essentials segment by sales per store per week, over the trailing 52 weeks.
Doubling down with new items and deeper shelf presence
The brand was on pace to double its business the following year, with new item launches on the calendar and more in-store opportunities in the pipeline.
