We help industry leaders solve the problems of the world’s biggest brands.

GOALS: Invent new business and product solutions and disrupt the status quo.

QUESTION: In the face of cratering sales of a brand staple, a major CPG sought to identify opportunity areas in the category to win back its lost and lapsing consumers.

APPROACH: Using online netnography (data collection related to social interactions), Ignite 360 focused on light or lapsed consumers of the various product sub-lines. We further collected behavior and sentiment data via an ethnographic deep dive with an identified subset in order to uncover where our client lost these consumers and what offerings could bring them back.

RECOMMENDATION: Our in-depth analysis identified three archetypes of consumers and provided the basis for customized strategies to win each segment back. These recommendations included a focus on product purity and simplicity as well as guidance on how to create a premium offering.

RESULT: A new product was launched and within 3 months, went on allocation. It was the largest launch in the dairy category in years, generating over $100M in revenue in year 1.

GOAL: Win in the marketplace through the introduction of differentiated, breakthrough, consumer-need-based innovation.

QUESTION: How do we create a program that brings in design thinking principles into our engineering oriented environment? We need a way to provide leadership with apples to apples comparisons.

APPROACH: Leverage Ignite 360’s design thinking and facilitation abilities to create a program that engages across functions – from engineering to product managers to insights – while placing the consumer front and center.

RECOMMENDATION: Developed a 3-step, turn-key program to Co-Create, Evaluate and Co-Refine how the company engages consumers at the right moments with the right questions in order to build stronger ideas and concepts.

RESULT: Once the program was implemented, company leadership was better informed and equipped for critical decision-making around how they committed resources and greenlit implementation. The program runs monthly with custom cycles added regularly. Training on-going to build a Human Centered Design thinking culture.

GOAL: Build a new product pipeline for the still bottled water category by generating new concepts that solve consumer problems.

QUESTIONS: How do we innovate compelling products by identifying and leveraging the latest consumer trending flavors, benefits and packaging?

APPROACH: Utilize a custom Design Sprint to focus efforts on quickly gathering customer insights, prototyping new ideas, and validating them while simultaneously flexing to fit busy client schedules and looming deadlines.

RECOMMENDATION: Design Sprints don’t have to happen on sequential days. Ignite 360 developed a clear plan for alignment, consumer pre-work, team immersion into the category, and then followed up with interaction, ideation, evaluation and refinement.

RESULT: The lead concept that was generated from the Sprint ultimately passed stage gate criteria and won the Game Changer award from the client’s Executive Leadership Team.

GOALS: Identify the spaces to play and successfully compete in the crowded QSR breakfast landscape

QUESTIONS: What are the consumer jobs of away-from-home breakfast and which needs and jobs are most viable opportunities for innovation?

APPROACH: Depth qualitative discovery to unearth four key consumer need states and corresponding jobs. Online survey of 1,000 target consumers to assess job relevance and satisfaction with current offerings in the marketplace as well as brand fit. Data, combined with the team's business perspective and brand strategy in a facilitated session, was used to prioritize where to play and ways to win.

RECOMMENDATION: Several jobs arose as more relevant and underserved with most centered in one particular need state. Recommendations to further invest in bolstering credibility in this area by emphasizing key reasons to believe in messaging and brand touchpoints.

RESULT: Innovation pipeline established with a concentrated focus on priority jobs and the launch of successful new menu items designed against the job requirements.

GOALS: Provide the Executive Management Team with consumer input on new service models and the tactical experience of various features being considered. Develop empathy and a deeper understanding of consumer needs, both met and unmet. Break down organizational silos in order to better serve customers.

QUESTION: How do we leverage the breadth and depth of our products and services, across the enterprise, in a way that feels consumer-centric and differentiated? How can we provide a more holistic point of view to our diverse customer base by identifying common themes, needs and barriers?

Approach: Ignite 360 worked directly with marketing and business leaders by bringing them into the field to interact with key consumer segments. We trained the cross-functional client team on how to build empathy and more effectively listen to consumer stories to better identify delighters and opportunities.

Recommendation: Our approach identified a unique and differentiated service model that directly addressed consumer needs and expectations, thereby improving the customer experience and brand sentiment.

Result: The Chief Marketing Officer leveraged the insights and learning we provided in order to facilitate a dialogue with the bank Operating Committee - all direct reports to the CEO. This led to a focused effort to break down organizational silos and provide a more universal perspective with human truths that could apply more broadly across segments.

GOALS: A growing, regional healthcare system set on a journey to further improve its position as a preferred provider by bettering access touchpoints and navigation for its patients. A secondary goal was to help the team on its path to become a more consumer-obsessed learning culture.

QUESTIONS: What is the current experience of healthcare access across segments and patient needs and what are the moments of consideration, choice and decision where help can best be offered to smooth the path ahead?

APPROACH: Stakeholder interviews were conducted to understand success criteria and factors impacting eventual activation on our insights. Next, a cross-section of healthcare users were engaged for immersive, in-depth interviews from which a comprehensive journey map was developed and insights socialized within the organization.

RECOMMENDATION: Key areas along the access journey were identified as opportunities for improved connection via personnel, revised processes as well as enhanced technology solutions.

RESULT: Ignite 360 provided clear direction and prescriptive guidance on the most essential moments for intervention and improvement. Insights helped the team plan their priorities of investment and action going forward. Program served as a model to build upon for future consumer-first initiatives.

GOAL: Establish leadership in a new category of products.

QUESTION: How can the brand break out from its existing customer allegiance and association as a go-to provider of home storage to include the bigger, and growing, life organization and custom closet segment?

APPROACH: We outlined the journey from need, planning, shopping, choice, purchase and project completion for three target segments. Specifically, we gained a deep understanding of consumer needs via online immersion and depth in-home and in-store ethnography, mapped the journey, investigated perceptions and explored needs and feelings. We also conducted a robust online survey to measure importance and satisfaction of key moments and influencers along the path.

RECOMMENDATION: Our insights identified specific opportunities to modify marketing as well as in-store and customer experience strategies. Our recommendations were focused on increasing brand awareness and expanding understanding of product offerings to elevate the perception of the brand’s position in the custom closet category.

RESULT: Learning influenced the brand’s rollout of re-branded and dedicated custom closet stores as well as a 3-year growth and marketing plan.

GOAL: Identify and map the shopper journey and develop a shopper segmentation to improve communication and merchandising toward a more sharply targeted audience in both legacy and new entrant markets.

QUESTION: What shopper groups best align with the shoe retailer’s format and what marketing actions should be taken to increase share of purchase among these key groups.

APPROACH: Depth online and shop-along ethnographies were followed by a robust quantitative online survey that explored the shopper journey and specific attitudes, behaviors and needs when shopping for shoes. A cluster analysis of attitudinal and behavioral ratings about shoe shopping were used to identify shopper segments.

RECOMMENDATION: Among six shopper segments uncovered, three segments were identified as primary targets for the shoe retailer based on their focus on value, functional practicality, and comfort. Among each of the three segments, specific actions were recommended related to deals and promotions, assortment and highlighting mom’s ability to win via enhancing kid-appeal.

RESULT: The client used this learning to inform their content marketing strategy and has reported annual net sales increases and the largest growth gains in the company’s history.