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client story

How Tyson Foods Used Conversational Insights to Predict Shifts in Morning Routines Amidst COVID-19

Tyson Foods - Header image Tyson Foods - Header image

About Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas. An innovator in the food industry, the company owns some of the most recognizable, household and commercial food brands, including Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee and Bosco’s. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork.

Challenge and objectives

Challenge and objectives

To help internal business units make innovation and messaging decisions that reflect changing consumer needs, Tyson Foods wanted to capture a fast, contextual understanding of the newly established morning routines. 

The big question they wanted to answer was “How are routines likely to change in a deep recession and what does this mean for consumption in the categories of Tyson’s brands?”

Tyson Foods knew that morning eating occasions were rooted in the habitual behaviors and routines of consumers. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many consumers had to adjust to a life centered at home, breaking many of the predictable habits around morning eating. New financial realities and anxieties about exposure to the virus were additional factors disrupting behaviors.  

Notable Wins

In-the-moment
engagement

Hundreds of morning meal diary entries captured via a modern, mobile messaging-based research solution

Authentic
feedback

Immersive blend of robust quantitative data and rich qual input, contextualized with video and photos

Long-term
outcomes

Driving Tyson's retail and foodservice's plans for innovation pipeline in the post-COVID world

The solution

Reach3 designed a multi-phase, iterative learning sprint using a conversational, mobile messaging-based approach.

The first phase included a week-long morning meal diary covering both weekday and weekend routines. To facilitate truly in-the-moment responses, Reach3 used the Rival Technologies platform to use SMS-based invitations instead of email. The natural and engaging user-interface prompted participants to share authentic feedback, allowing us to capture robust quantitative data as well as rich, qualitative inputs like photos and video selfies.

This was followed up with a series of virtual in-depth interviews with a selection of consumers from the first phase, re-engaged via text message notification. These 20-minute conversations via webcam or smartphone provided a richer understanding of the context behind evolving meal routines, as well as key drivers and barriers to consumption.

Outcomes - The new platform delivered big wins:

Tyson Foods - Outcomes
Tyson Foods - Outcomes

Outcomes - The new platform delivered big wins:

The project revealed a nuanced and detailed breakdown of shifting morning habits, which Tyson Foods used to support decisions around innovation and messaging. 

"The work also had implications for our targeting and messaging, and other positioning hypotheses that we can test with media and creative partners as we move forward," revealed the client. 

Tyson Foods now uses the deliverables from the research—dynamic mobile reports and video showreels—as onboarding tools for new hires. These innovative deliverables help to engage stakeholders and inspire action by bringing the data to life and humanizing the experiences of the consumers that Tyson Foods aims to serve.

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