For this third blog post, my assignment from class is to explore a potential topic for my final paper. I don't know why, but the first thought that came into my mind was "granola bar". I'm not sure if this is because I am a foodie (as you can see from my previous blog post) or because I always begin writing this blog before dinner...
Anyhow, I was reminded of a meeting I had last year with a customer insights marketer from a well known CPG company. He described in detail how they had created a persona for their granola bar and told me about some of the insights that happened along the way. The marketing ads for this product make it appear as a high energy/active sort of bar, but in actuality it is not really for a person who is an athlete but only for the type who aspires to be one. The marketers recognized that the target customer was not the athlete who needed a product with high carbohydrate content, but instead was someone who wanted a healthy product that could inspire. In this case, the company gleaned the right insights from the product’s marketing persona and the bar became a great success.
Along these lines, my initial thoughts were to explore the “Larabar” which caters to people on raw food diets. It has successfully launched into many channels and was eventually acquired by General Mills. I searched for articles on their strategy but didn’t find enough information. During my search, I embarked on the “Clif Bar”. Clif Bar & Company is “a leading maker of all-natural and organic energy and nutrition foods and drinks, including the organic certified CLIF® BAR energy bar”.
The company was founded by Gary Erickson who decided to create an energy bar because he wasn’t satisfied with the existing bars in the market. The first energy bar he made was launched in 1992. Clif Bar & Company has had phenomenal growth. In 1999 they launched a bar especially for women and continued to create niche products. The company has a very “green” philosophy. The products are all natural and as organic as possible. Below is a picture of the Clif Bar product.
So why do I want to write my paper topic on Clif Bar? Clif Bar is unique because when it was first launched, no other energy bars catered to their target customer like they did. Their main competitors at the time were Power Bar and Balance Bar. In the article by Pollack, listed at the end of this blog, we find that Clif Bar & Company really needed a strategy that was unique to face their large competitors. In doing so, they had to understand their customer so well in order to make the right choices with limited marketing and advertising budget.
My paper topic will be “Clif Bar: How Understanding your Customer is a Key to Success”. I may change the topic slightly as I do further research. My goal is to explore what lead Clif Bar & Company to make the consumer choices that they did. What was their strategy? What type of persona did they create? How did they build customer loyalty and awareness? Additionally, I want to research their competitors. How is it that Clif Bar seems to have hit the target but their competitors missed it? What were their competitors trying to do and what could they have done better? Since Clif Bar was also the first company to launch an energy bar for women, what lead to that decision? What insights did they glean about marketing to women? Finally, I want to gain a better understanding of Clif Bar’s marketing strategies because they seem to extensively use social marketing, cause-marketing, and green marketing campaigns.
To begin with, I’ve found a book that will be crucial to my research: “Raising the Bar: The Story of Clif Bar Inc”. In addition, there are quite a few articles online and available from the library database. Here are a few I've already looked at:
1. Energy bars examine strategy as entries hike competition. Pollack, Judann; Cuneo, Alice Z.. Advertising Age, 11/02/98, Vol. 69 Issue 44, p3-56
2. From Hippie To Hip. Paoletta, Michael. Billboard, 6/23/2007, Vol. 119 Issue 25, p30-30
3. Not Your Father's Snack. Walter, Claire. Skiing, Jan 2000, Vol. 52 Issue 5, p40 (Luna Bar)
4. Clif Bar Goes Global. American Forests, Spring2006, Vol. 112 Issue 1, p12
5. Landmarks. Advertising Age, 04/09/2001, Vol. 72 Issue 15, p40
I am a bit concerned that because there is so much information, I will have a little trouble to limit the scope of my paper. There is a temptation to write too much from a broader perspective without going into enough depth. I also hope to find more articles addressing the marketing and customer insights topics discussed in class. I’m looking forward to reading the story of Clif Bar Inc. and to writing this paper. Now time to go start working on it!
