Differentiating a brand in a crowded new category

LIVEKINDLY Collective uses deep-dive brand tracking from GfK to understand and improve awareness in a nascent market

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Sector

Food production and trade

Brands

Fry’s, Oumph!, The Dutch Weed Co, LikeMeat, No Meat

Facts & Figures

Düsseldorf, Germany

Established

2020

Funding

$335 million

Product used

GfK Brand Tracking

The market for meat substitutes is young and growing fast as consumers trial plant-based alternatives. However, customer loyalty is low and so are barriers to entry – making this a highly competitive category. We need to track and understand consumer behavior, attitudes, and awareness of our brand to encourage people to come back to our range. This intelligence from GfK underpins our strategic and tactical decision-making throughout the business. We trust the team to bring us closer to our customers.”

Eva Kampendonk

Key Account and Category Manager DACH, LIVEKINDLY Collective

Founded in 2020, LIVEKINDLY Collective is a collective of founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders on a mission to make plant-based living the new norm. The group is composed of plant-based food brands from across Europe, South Africa, Australia, UK and the US that are on a mission to make plant-based eating more accessible.

Finding ways to differentiate

In a new category like meat alternatives, trial is high but customer loyalty is low. To grow brand awareness and consideration, the LIVEKINDLY Collective team needed to understand the key variables that impact consumer choice and adjust their approach quickly to maximize emerging opportunities. This information is the basis of a brand-led approach to differentiate the collective’s product portfolio in a rapidly expanding category.

The depth of the insight we receive from GfK means we can evaluate numerous touchpoints and variables to understand consumer behavior. Appreciating our brand awareness and consideration has enabled us to refine every aspect of our strategy and activations. From the product to the packaging, brand messaging to promotions, we value the intelligence and support from our partnership with GfK and can see the difference it has made to our growing business.”

Eva Kampendonk

Key Account and Category Manager DACH, LIVEKINDLY Collective

Tracking the LIVEKINDLY Collective brand

The team at GfK established a tracking program to probe a wide range of topics around the meat alternatives category. The twice-yearly deep-dive brand tracking study for the main brand LikeMeat in Germany complements the collective’s sales intelligence by providing granular insights into a range of variables including why consumers buy the brand, barriers to purchase, levels of brand awareness, and their opinions of competitors. Running since 2021, the insight is delivered in a dashboard with analytic tools that aid the comparison of historical waves. This way, the teams can identify and respond to emerging patterns of behavior.

Identifying and maximizing opportunities

One finding from the research has been the importance of the taste and texture of the meat substitutes. As a result of this insight, the team continuously redeveloped its main range LikeMeat, launching a new recipe in March 2023 in direct response to feedback. The sales results have been extremely positive with more consumers returning to that brand after a trial. Another insight was that the target audience for meat alternatives does not consume mainstream media. The team refined media planning and has improved ROI on its marketing activities. This continual evaluation and re-evaluation of strategy ensures that the brand is growing faster than the category.

Working together

LIVEKINDLY Collective and GfK have been collaborating since 2021. In that relatively short space of time, the two teams have built a strong working relationship and the teams are in regular contact.