Good Foods Grocery

VCU Brandcenter Live Client

The Ask

Conduct research to determine key messaging for a local health foods store to get new customers while also supporting the cause of its parent company.

Industry

Food and Beverage, Grocery

Contributors

Josh LaJoie, Jared Montgomery, Aggie Prakash

Role

Brand Strategy, Research

Background

Commonwealth Autism recently purchased Good Foods Grocery. Both entities are local and operate on strong community-focused values. But, with the recent acquisition, Commonwealth Autism was unsure how to message its new grocery store under Commonwealth Autism and its cause—supporting those with Autism in Virginia.

Approach

The first step involved understanding (1) what matters most to people in choosing a grocery store and (2) why people specifically choose to shop at Good Foods Grocery.

  • 350+ survey respondents

  • 25 interviews

Following data collection, messaging was developed based on themes. Messages were shared broadly for testing to determine sentiment.

  • 100+ survey respondents

Insight

Most people don’t want to think hard about their food, they just want it to be good.

Key Message

Simply Good Food

Identifying Locality and Food Quality as Key Differentiators

For the general grocery shopper, price and convenience are most important when deciding where to shop. For the Good Foods Grocery shopper, locality and food quality are essential—marking key differentiators for the brand.

Classifying Shoppers into 4 Types

Good Conscience and Dietician type shoppers are marked as key targets for growth. These types align with the store’s strengths as a natural foods grocery store and the causal support for Commonwealth Autism.

Separating Key Functions of Commonwealth Autism and Good Foods Grocery

There is a benefit for Good Foods Grocery to develop a single clear message focused on locality and its natural food selection. By allowing the grocery store to message and succeed as a grocery store first, it will better be able to support Commonwealth Autism long term.

A Straight-Forward Message about Natural Food

Grocery shopper interest was combined with Good Foods Grocery’s differentiators to develop 10 message prototypes. The messages were shared broadly in a survey to collect sentiment and a clear winner emerged: “Simply Good Food.” Reviewers said they preferred this messaged because it was clear and relatable. In a commoditized category, people don’t want their grocery shopping to be complicated—they wanted it to be simple and good.