In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Stefan Lagerqvist, Group CEO of Nick’s, a Swedish food tech company revolutionizing the healthy snacking space. Nick’s has carved out a unique position by focusing on eliminating the gap between indulgent and healthy, creating products that taste great without the traditional health food compromise. After a major brand pivot based on data-driven consumer insights, Nick’s transformed from an angry activist brand to one that celebrates joy and removes guilt from snacking, targeting young urban females who prioritize looking good on social media over traditional health messaging.

Topics Discussed:

• Pivoting from activist messaging to joy-focused brand positioning based on consumer research

• Using quantitative research to identify and validate target audiences beyond existing customers

• Balancing risk-taking in startup marketing versus playing it safe at large corporations

• Strategic distribution across physical retail, Amazon, and direct-to-consumer channels

• Managing rapid US expansion during COVID with geo-targeted performance marketing

• Transitioning from growth-at-all-costs to profitability-focused business model

• Leveraging brand building over pure performance marketing in competitive markets

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

Challenge Your Initial Target Audience Assumptions Through Data

Nick’s discovered their original target group (progressive families buying sugar-free products for kids) had the lowest brand awareness and zero purchase intent. Through quantitative research, they identified their actual buyers: young urban females motivated by social media appearance rather than health activism. This pivot required abandoning existing customers to pursue a more viable market segment.

Use Size of Prize vs Right to Win Framework for Strategic Decisions

When evaluating target audiences, Nick’s applies a mathematical approach analyzing market size potential and competitive advantages. They score parameters like social media activity, follower counts, and attitudes toward sugar alternatives to make data-driven decisions about where to focus resources rather than relying on intuition.

Design for Primary Target But Acknowledge Secondary Audiences

While Nick’s designs primarily for their core demographic, they remain mindful that their target group is always evolving and may outpace the brand’s coolness factor. They maintain awareness of secondary and tertiary audiences who will also purchase, ensuring they don’t alienate broader appeal while staying focused.

Replace Guilt-Based Messaging with Joy-Centered Communication

Instead of typical “guilt-free” or “you’ve earned this” messaging common in better-for-you brands, Nick’s adopted a philosophy of pure enjoyment. They recognized their target audience faces constant social media pressure to be perfect, so they deliberately avoid adding to that stress by focusing on simple pleasure rather than justification for indulgence.

Prioritize Geographic Focus Over Wide Distribution

Nick’s learned that expanding to 17,000 US stores nationally was impossible to support effectively with marketing. They emphasize doing fewer things exceptionally well rather than spreading resources thin across multiple markets, especially given the complexity of treating the US as 50 different markets rather than one country.

Leverage Category-Specific Shopping Behaviors

Understanding that ice cream is a planned purchase (people must get it home quickly) versus protein bars being impulse buys helped Nick’s optimize their retail strategy. They focus on freezer placement for ice cream where traffic naturally flows, while recognizing protein bars need checkout display positioning for maximum visibility.

Return to Brand Building Fundamentals Despite Tech Trends

After the performance marketing boom, Stefan advocates returning to core brand-building principles: understanding consumer needs and being relevant to them. He believes over-reliance on AI tools and performance marketing creates a race to zero margins since everyone uses the same playbooks, making authentic brand experiences more valuable.

Invest in Consumer Research Before Everything Else

Stefan’s primary advice is spending resources to deeply understand your target group beyond personal assumptions. Many founders design for themselves rather than their actual customers, missing fundamental insights about passion points, challenges, and barriers that drive purchase decisions.