- Van den Bergh Foods/Unilever: Looking into the Future
THE CHALLENGE:
Van den Bergh Foods, a major UK-based food products company with annual revenue of more than $1 billion, wanted to better understand its key markets and learn how to approach them through future product offerings, packaging, and marketing campaigns. Knowing that the conventional approach was not going to generate the powerful ideas that they would need, Van den Bergh instead moved courageously and turned to Synecticsworld for help.
THE PROCESS:
Designing a program that included a workshop, Synecticsworld brought together twelve consumers to work with a cross-functional Van den Bergh team. The consumers were first familiarized with the Synecticsworld skills and provided with an increased understanding of the products and the technology behind them before the team:
- Began working directly with the consumers in one-to-one and small group sessions to gain a greater understanding of their perception
- Heard the consumers’ constructive evaluation of the proposed new model
- Began developing the consumers’ ideas
During the workshop itself, the client team was able to formulate a significantly enhanced model, which they then developed further with the consumers.
THE RESULTS:
“The Synecticsworld program succeeded in giving us a way of looking into the future which filled the gaps in our model and is going to help us develop the market. It also highlighted areas in which to look for further innovation,” said Frans van Rongen, Van den Bergh Foods.
As a result of the process, the successful program revealed to Van den Bergh how to:
- Work with their consumers to discover new ways of approaching their target markets
- Increase the company’s competitiveness further and lead in a particular category
- Better understand the market and increase the model’s value in managing their brands in the future
The Synecticsworld program gave Van den Bergh Foods a critical tool in the form of a new, useful way of looking at its market and market opportunities; a much deeper understanding of customer needs; and, a great starting point for developing an innovative strategy.
