Case Study-Quest Nutrition

Kristyn Jones Margot Wallace Marketing Case Studies Final Case Study-Quest Nutrition Nick Robinson is the Chief Marketing Officer for Quest Nutrition, based out of El Segundo, California. Within the last few years, Tom Bilyeu, CEO and President of Quest, noticed a decline in overall Quest Nutrition sales, in comparison to the 57,000% company growth within Quest’s first 3 years. Nick reports to Tom. While Quest Bars today make up 75% to 80% of all bars sold in sports nutrition, Quest could have a bigger impact across other markets. Currently, Quest’s two biggest consumer bases are pro body builders, and people who obsess about nutrition and what happens when you eat. Nick was tasked in finding out how to boost sales again.

Nick was convinced something was missing from the current business plan. He sat at his desk, coffee in hand, and thought long and hard about Quest’s mission: to make healthy eating taste good and to combat obesity. Then he thought: if the only markets being reached are people who are already health conscious, how do we reach and cater to our communities who could better themselves from our products and nutrition assistance in general? Nick knew where he had to turn: research.

Over the next few days, Nick gathered some secondary research from Mintel. Sure enough, he found something interesting about current trends in the northern parts of North America. He found that “Snacking is truly the fourth meal of the day for Canadians with its popularity extending to both in and out of home. Snacking is an adaptable occasion, and as such so must be manufacturers, retailers, and foodservice operators to compete in the space. While health in snacking is important for many Canadians, it cannot be whittled down to only that area.

Consumers also see snacking to enhance experiences, be a stand-in for a traditional meal and even as a support when stressed.” With this, Nick finally saw the opportunity to fix Quest’s stagnant sales: move in on the snack food industry.

It’s no surprise that snacking in America is a large contributor to the growing obesity rates.

Snacking is a large part of our daily lives. Nick knew that it would take a lot of planning to get Quest any valuable chunk of the market share in snack foods, and therefore began reviewing strategies to pitch back to Tom. There were three parts of the marketing mix he wanted to review specifically: product, promotion, and the research of consumer attitudes.

Nick wondered… in the case of the product itself, should Quest do any of the following?

• Explore product development for different consumer segments o Vitamin additions to Quest bars for: § Children (multi-vitamin, encourages parents/guardians to support the brand) § Older generations (additional calcium and vitamin D to combat osteoporosis) o Protein ice cream line, targeted to females for a “guilt-free experience” o Drink line: the healthy alternative to soda • Fine-tune Quest’s current product lines for existing consumer segments

o Smaller size options to act as “snack sized” products or “kid sized” o Tweaking and growing the Quest Cravings line to act more like a snack food Nick did some additional research to supplement his ideas. He found that “The demands of snacking also change throughout the day with the need for health in the morning morphing into the desire for indulgence in the evening. Genders and age groups also have different needs and levels of demand from their snacks, and as such companies need to clearly identify what need they are or can meet to carve out their share of the preverbal pie when it comes to snacking.”

This got him thinking about the promotion aspect of the marketing mix. He thought about things Quest needed to consider: • Positioning: how can Quest be a nutritional brand and a snack food brand and hold credibility in both sections?

• Timing: for different products, when should we promote them? Should the healthier products be promoted in the morning while the more indulgent (Cravings and ice cream) products are promoted in the evening?

• Location: where should we talk about our new product lines and our entrance into the snack food industry? Should we promote healthy snacking in schools through nutritional posters and demonstrations? Should we create new social media sites to differentiate between our nutritional lines and our snack food lines?

• Content: can we re-position our Quest Chips and Quest Cravings lines as snack food lines (without changing the product itself)?

With all of these promotional considerations, Nick had a few strategies in mind.

• Pop-up stores o Ice cream social for new protein ice cream product § At the end of marathons, races, and athletic events in summer o Stores at major sporting events, to highlight snacking in America o Drink bar at the beach: to promote new drink lines, and to demonstrate differences in Quest products and leading soda/juice brands • Use digital media to position Quest Chips and Quest Cravings as snack foods • Use digital media to create an online community of healthy “snackers” It was now nearing the end of the week, and Nick still hadn’t finalized his pitch. Nick was really feeling the pressure, but he had already grown the company 57,000% once—he could try it again. But how? The last avenue to explore, and arguably the most important, was researching consumer attitudes, rituals, and preferences. The main reason for Quest’s original success was the plan focused exclusively around who their communities are and what Quest could do for them. Now should be no different. Nick strategized about research, and came up with the following: • Find out: o What age groups snack the most o What they snack on: indulgent foods, health foods, etc. o Snacking motivation: why? What do they need? Boredom, hunger, etc. o Gender preferences o When do they snack? Midnight, mid-day, morning, etc. o Where do consumers buy? Should we put Quest products in vending machines?

After reviewing all of his ideas, Nick knew what Quest needed. Even though Nick wasn’t 100% certain that Tom would love his ideas, he knew moving into the snack industry would solve the sales problem. A meeting was scheduled for that afternoon, and with a few swift clicks of his computer keys, Nick organized the main talking points of his strategy into the presentation. He felt a rush of confidence as he remembered that the last time he strategized for success, he grew the company by 57,000%. He then smiled, stood up, straightened his tie, took a deep breath, and took one last sip of coffee before walking confidently to the boardroom.