The Sound
  • About
  • Work
  • Services
    • Brand Communication
    • Brand Experience
    • Brand Strategy
    • Consumer Exploration
    • Creative Analytics
    • Product Innovation
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Contact

Igniting Empathy

The Challenge

Illuminate key segments and their shopping journeys for a predominant food and drug company to inform communications, design, innovation, and strategy.

One of the largest food and drug companies came to us with six segments they needed brought to life. Yes, you heard us correctly… six segments. So you can imagine, we had our work cut out for us. Our job was to not only illuminate each segment as a “food shopper” but to empathize with them as human beings, and explore how their approach to life and their relationship food impacts how they choose to navigate the grocery store aisle. Our client looked to us to develop a persona, journey map, and film for each segment in service of helping the organization understand how they can resonate with people on a deeper level and maximize their shopping experience.

The Approach

We began with a remine, reviewing their existing research and building our initial hypotheses. Then, we spoke with the people who matter most. We used both static and recurring text, video and photo-based tasks on the Fieldnotes platform to dig deep into each segment’s values, motivations and behaviors that frame how and with whom they source their food.

The analysis process was intense to say the least (and we enjoyed every minute of it!). In the end, we delivered 6 Films, 6 One-page Personas, 6 Segment Decks, 6 Food Occasions Tables, 6 Journey Maps and 1 Segment Comparison Deck… and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Impact

We identified and pulled apart the most meaningful differences across the 6 segments that we knew our client could immediately action against. We learned about who each segment was, the texture of their lives, the role that food played, their approach to cooking, and how all of it reflected in what they look for in a grocery shopping experience.

Gatorade: Connecting Brand and Consumer

One of the best ways to practice empathy is to actually experience it with your target. Gatorade signed up to do just that. They wanted to get out of the office and into their consumer segments’ everyday lives... and to really take a walk “in their shoes.”

Read More

Embracing the Unexpected

A sausage company with flavor was born out of a desire to do things differently — using creativity and imagination to come up with unexpected combinations.

Read More

Positioning Tech and Food

A food delivery service app wanted to understand what their new offering should stand for and why consumers should believe in it. It was critical not only for the team to understand what makes this new offering different from our client’s main business, but also what value it brings to consumers.

Read More
View All

Stay Up To Date

The Sound believes in sharing knowledge. If you’d like to stay up to date with our reports on people, culture and brands and be able to watch our documentaries (and even be invited to an event or two) then simply subscribe below. 

Subscribe

Stay Up To Date

The Sound believes in sharing knowledge. If you’d like to stay up to date with our reports on people, culture and brands and be able to watch our documentaries (and even be invited to an event or two) then simply subscribe below.

Subscribe
The Sound

Copyright 2023 The Sound.
All rights reserved.

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Learn More
  • Work
  • Careers
  • Team
  • About
  • Contact
Services
  • Brand Communication
  • Brand Experience
  • Brand Strategy
  • Consumer Exploration
  • Creative Analytics
  • Product Innovation
Stay In Touch
Chicago

223 West Erie, Suite 5NW Chicago, IL 60654 United States

Tel: +1 312 265 1775
London

52-54 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RP, England, UK

Tel: +44 20 3597 2948
Vancouver

312 Main Street St, #268, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T2, Canada

Tel: +1 604 732 1090