Studying family eating habits for John West Tuna 

Story

We live in an age where people are more aware of what they eat than ever before. The value of nutrition in maintaining fitness or a healthy lifestyle is now irrefutable, and it's become the job of food brands to justify their place at the table. Literally. Yet for a global fish brand like John West (TUE) - naturally high in protein, omega 3 and a known immune system booster - the problem is an odd one. As a legacy brand popular with older audiences, they fail to resonate with younger families and children. In fact, as an ambient product, we knew that they were 'in the wrong aisle' altogether, far away from fresh produce. Further still, even when found and tried, children would be deterred by the smell and be 'outright rejectors' of the unusual fishiness. With these problems to hand, we decided to take a deeper, richer look at the situation: what was really happening, from the shop to the dinner table?

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Approach

Using the platform Ethos App, we devised an ethnographic study to take place in the UK and France. Over two weeks, we studied 25 participants from each nation -- all recruited using screening techniques, fitting our sample of 'mums with children under the age of 5'. It was our belief that if children adopted fish before they learned distaste for the smell, they were more likely to become lifelong fish eaters. The study was driven by a series of daily and weekly tasks, including prompting participants to share and comment on their evening mealtime routine, shopping habits, and meal planning approach. The method generated insight-rich content of photos, videos and comments, available for us to privately view and analyse on a facebook-style interface. This 'true to life' insight gathering was paired with internal stakeholder interviews, where we spoke to senior executives and suppliers from around the World to garner a 360' view on market demands, alongside product-development capabilities. The method garnered some striking 'big message' insights that we developed under a number of core strategic pillars. This included things like: 

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Gateway to luxury (yellow stickers) -- The role of high-end discount food (eg M&S) as accessible, everyday luxury. 
 

Role of the fridge -- Rather than just the inside, the fridge exterior became a key battleground for food planning.

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Fun and colour -- Children are still drawn toward bright, zany packaging, and foods depicting characters and fun.

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Lunchboxes -- The notion that parents could have a 'day off' a week from lunchbox prep, with a healthy alternative.

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Healthiness vs practicality -- Whilst parents were health aware, the demands of life often led to essential trade-offs.

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Contemporary family units -- Nuclear families, no more. Families' structure and decision making is hugely diverse.

 

Cultural divergence -- Even in Western nations, eating routines and tastes vastly differ, from Güte to goujons. 

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Outcomes

12 interviews with senior Thai Union stakeholders from around the World, with 4,000 submissions collated from the 50 participants in the UK and France over the course of 2 weeks. This provided a bedrock of insight from which future innovation concepts and NPDs were developed -- creations such as John West snack pots for no-mess lunchtimes, and lightly flavoured variants to offset the strong smell and taste.

 

Further, the work conducted was used to guide strategic business decisions in this space. All results and our strategic analysis presented back to the European, and then global, teams. 

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