INTRO
Just live a little was a dusty, boutique and slightly naive brand with lovely humble beginnings but with less room on shelf was being elbowed off the shelf in most retailers by those with big budgets, or a more clearly defined story to tell. The granola was baked in Ireland, from local oats and now wanted to lean into using carbon neutral oats to be more sustainable and take the brand over time to a more regenerative state of play.  As an advocate of healthy eating, regeneration and sustainability it was a brand I felt I could help reinvent itself and ultimately do some good. I believe brands and businesses having a responsibility to provide better choices for people to lead more fuller and healthier lives, from food, energy to services. IIts was a dream project to work with Kestrel Foods on and the collaborators I brought in to help form the team with the Kestrel team were equally passionate about creating a brand that has a place in today’s retail environment..

THE CHALLENGE

To develop a positioning and brand identity relevant to the  target audience. The discover phase up front helped us define the target audience, their needs, and ensure the brand was speaking in the right way to the right people. Granola is seen as a sugary snack and keeps it in the treat category and and as the focus on gut health grows, up to 33% of consumers now reduce or avoid gluten/wheat. The next challenge was to communicate this visually and verbally in the free-from category that gluten free doesn’t mean, free from taste and enjoyment. Logistically our clients in Kestrel, were based in Ireland and Australia. So the project was designed to be sprinted in bite sized chunks and sessions on line. With a clear 4 phase project methodology, clear timeline, goals and deliverables at each phase. We designed tasks, homework and sprint sessions, bespoke to the project needs to as we worked through the project together virtually. 

THE OPPORTUNITY
Healthier products in the market often lack taste appeal or can be specialised, medicinal or simply too exclusive for everyone to try.  Just live a little had a new way to bring a better for you and your family more exciting element of choice to the dusty, quite bland and lacking taste appeal free-from category. Mainstream competitors were still pumping the aisle full of sugar and the free-from aisle lacked taste appeal. So from a clear insight and human truth My free-from food choices can sometimes be a bit dull and boring – not just to me, but the rest of the family as well. It means we miss out on the joy of delicious food experiences together. 

THE IMPACT
The initial feedback of the overall brand identity and its activation firstly on packaging has been well received not just internally in the business but from those retailer buyers who know people are looking to them to stock healthier choices for both themselves and their families. The Just live a little philosophy will be developed into other products developed from carbon neutral oats and the success will be a range of products that all create healthier options during all parts to people’s day. A reduction in sugar, increase in fibre and a carbon footprint can also be measured to ensure the impact we wanted to have in working with Kestrel is being realised. For us its about the long term impact not a flashy sales figure.