Igniting Empathy: Personas and Experience Maps

The Challenge

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

A large food and drug company came to us with six segments they needed to bring to life. Yes, you heard us… six segments. 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 humans, and explore how their approach to life and their relationship food impacts how they choose to navigate grocery stores. Our client asked us to develop a persona, journey map, and film for each segment to help them better resonate with people 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 our 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 six 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.