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CONSUMER INSIGHTS CASE STUDY
Uncovering Consumer Motivations with Behavioral Research
How we helped a leading, national CPG brand position a new product
Women are particularly vulnerable to increased stress around the holiday season. They feel particular stress from the time crunch required to get everything done.
THE CHALLENGE
During the 2023 regional pilot, product marketing was framed almost entirely around crisis management.
The messaging spoke to the panicked cook who was juggling multiple preparations and forgot to thaw their turkey in the fridge days in advance.
It was positioned as an emergency backup plan or a "fail-safe" option for disorganized hosts. While sales had been positive, this major brand wanted to ensure the launch would provide an opportunity to meaningfully increase share. To do so, they needed to convert a large proportion of last-minute cooks to their brand.
We knew that to drive sales, they needed to focus on emotional messaging – not only the Job-To-Be-Done. With stress a common emotion during the holidays, we looked closely at IDI participants’ answers to better understand the key drivers of holiday hosting anxiety.
THE PROCESS
The client commissioned qualitative research to extract insights on consumer selection and preparation habits to enhance packaging and drive POS selection around the current targeting of “last-minute forgot to thaw” consumers.
Rather than directly addressing the research question: ” What is the path to purchase and how well does the package perform as a messaging vehicle?”
At NeuroD, we never take things at face value, so we looked deeper for the psycho-social drivers. So, we dove into the interviews to look for hidden pain points. We found that BOTH last-minute purchasers and consumers who planned ahead shared one top concern:
Consumers find cooking and preparing a holiday main dish “stressful.” Specifically, they are concerned about managing their time. Yet, they are not willing to compromise on quality because the quality of the meal they felt reflected on them personally.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
Switching gears, the client validated these findings using behavioral data collected during their test market run and the extensive database of consumer feedback they had collected over their 45-year history.
Shifting from their “Forgot to Thaw”, feature-heavy marketing, they moved to emotional messaging, “More precious moments spent with loved ones and less time on kitchen stress.”
With a new tagline and revamped messaging, they focused on the quality assurance of the trusted brand name while directly addressing the key consumer pain points.
THE IMPACT
Dollar sales increased by more than 50% year-over-year, specifically during the critical Thanksgiving sales period, as the product secured wide national retail distribution. The commercial velocity and consumer excitement surrounding the zero-prep architecture led to it winning the 2026 Product of the Year Award in its category.