Evolving a brand and outgrowing the category you were born into is never as simple as jumping on the latest trend. The temptation to chase growth is real – to stretch into new categories, appeal to different audiences or open up entirely new occasions.
Brainstorming sessions are bound to throw up all kinds of ideas, but if brands want to evolve their portfolios in a meaningful way, they have to start (and end) with the consumer.
You might think you’ve spotted an exciting new space to play in, but without consumer permission, it’s just an internal hunch. The real work begins with getting under the skin of what your consumers actually want and using that insight to shape where you go next.
It’s All About the Consumer
Consumer insight is vital. It allows you to test bits that may not work and identify where you may have stretched too far from your original proposition. Rather than a simple yes or no response to “would you buy this product?”, delve deep into consumer pain points to get a richer understanding of how your brand can provide a solution.
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Ultimately, as much as you may think you are, you aren’t the consumer. And unfortunately, consumers don’t care as much about your brand as you do. So no matter how close you think you may be to your audience, you still need research to validate your instincts.
But that doesn’t mean stripping out emotion altogether. The most successful new propositions start with a gut feeling, then use data to test, stretch and strengthen it.
Intuition provides the spark while insight gives you the guardrails.
That balance between instinct and insight is exactly what guided our next step with Richmond. Once we’d validated our thinking with data, it became clear that we needed to pause and think more expansively about the brand and the role it plays in people’s lives.
So we examined our positioning and the consumer need state driving it. And what we found changed our thinking completely.
Consumers weren’t talking about sausages in particular but instead about the moments they enjoyed them in: moments of togetherness, belonging and time with the people they love.
That’s when we realised Richmond had to move into a more emotional space and evolve from being the nation’s favourite sausage brand to becoming the nation’s favourite mealtime brand.
From there, the work shifted to understanding where this new positioning could come to life. We made a deep dive into segmentation, looking at the different occasions Richmond played a role in and the consumer groups driving those moments.
By mapping this against where category growth was happening, we started to see clear demand spaces emerge. Among them was a blank space that felt perfectly aligned with our new mealtime positioning and also was scalable and authentic to who we are as a brand: meat-free.
Always Link Back to the Brand
Even as you explore new space (in our case meat-free), everything has to ladder back to one unifying truth – the overarching brand. Growth only works when every new product, message and campaign feels unmistakably you.
For Richmond, that meant staying anchored to a single emotional idea that transcended category: Good Times. It’s the thread that binds all aspects of the brand, celebrating those everyday moments of belonging and togetherness that Richmond helps create. On the next layer down sits a series of more tailored campaigns, each designed to connect with specific audiences or product groups, but all feeding back into that same central feeling.
It’s an approach that goes beyond messaging. Media choices matter just as much, with channel choice being crucial no matter your intended result. Work closely with your media agency to ensure that every placement reflects how different consumers live, eat and connect.
The key is to find precision without fragmentation: distinct campaigns, different media plans and one consistent story that never loses sight of where you’ve come from.
Make Sure you Walk Before you Run
Even with a clear overarching brand vision and consumer insight, there’s always internal pressure to grow and chase the next opportunity.
But growth can’t come at the expense of the brand itself. Jumping too fast into new categories can feel like a handbrake turn, confusing consumers who still associate your brand with what you’ve always done best.
That’s why the best evolutions are gradual. Small but deliberate moves add up to a big impact that wouldn’t be possible if you tried to rip the plaster off all at once.
This helps when managing risk. Embracing this test-and-learn mindset gives you that room to experiment responsibly, whether that’s using third-party manufacturers, bolting new creative assets onto existing above-the-line campaigns or starting with shorter print runs.
This approach lets you prove the concept, refine it and retreat if needed before scaling up.
From there, once you feel you have properly identified a new potential category to expand into, make sure you back it sufficiently. That means committing to manufacturing capability, marketing communications and pricing that feels realistic and competitive.
Launching into a new category is exciting for everyone involved. But it only works when it is authentic and builds on what consumers already love about your brand.
Staying true to your brand DNA and allowing the new proposition time to breathe ensures that each step forward feels less like a flash in the pan than a natural extension of your brand, giving you a better shot at success in the long run.
Chris Doe is UK Marketing & Innovation Director at Pilgrim’s Europe and is responsible for developing and executing the strategy for a £340m portfolio of brands, which includes Richmond, Fridge Raiders and Mattessons. Prior to joining Pilgrims Europe, Doe held marketing roles at General Mills, Nomad Foods and Burton’s Biscuit Company, working across the World Foods, Frozen, and Snacking categories. Over the past 15 years, he has built experience in revitalising brands, expanding portfolios and leading teams through periods of significant change.
