USER PROBLEM

Dog parents struggle with keeping their dogs busy while they’re preoccupied, but feel guilty about resorting to long lasting chews meant only to distract dogs for extended amounts of time.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

Meanwhile, we observed macro trends around urbanization, dog ownership amongst younger, dual-income households, and growth at double digits in a long lasting chews category which JMS had virtually no share. Multiple previous attempts at entering the category had failed due to the inability to execute meaningful points of difference or poor product-to-concept fit.

APPROACH

My approach started with uncovering and articulating the Jobs-to-Be-Done in the long lasting chews category. Mapping out the consumer’s context led to the discovery that, while extended chewing time was important, our consumer actually experienced their lowest low point at the end of the treating moment. Dog parents carried an overwhelming amount of guilt for leaving their well-behaved dogs alone all day, only to come home and hurriedly give their dog a treat meant to just keep them “busy” while dinner was being prepared.

I championed a deviation from the category’s focus from functional benefits to emotional benefits—releasing the baggage of feeding long lasting chews and focusing on how we could assure a dog parent that they were giving their dog a treat that actually brought fun and enjoyment. I advocated for the consumer voice in concept development and after several rounds of concept and product iterations, we gained outstanding purchase intent amongst our target audience.

OUTCOMEs

In the end, we created a roadmap for a long lasting chews platform that spans the portfolio of JMS’ dog treat brands, expected to bring incrementality to the business. In January 2019, Milk-Bone® Wonder Bones™ and Milk-Bone® GnawBones™ launched nationwide.

RESPONSIBILITIES & KEY ACTIVITIES

Category Audit
Business Assessment
In-Home Ethnographies
Jobs-to-Be-Done
User Journey Mapping
Concept Development
Iterative Concept Refinement Focus Groups
Habits & Practices Quant
Concept Testing
Naming & Nomenclature
Product Roadmap Strategy