Rebranding an icon: Nestlé Case Study

Role: Creative Director
Client: Nestlé
Agency: OIC

Brought Nestlé’s PowerBar back to its endurance-athlete roots. We talked to ultra-marathoners. Wrote 136 taglines. I even bought running shoes — but graciously allowed my creative partner to run that half-marathon without me. What a stud. We eventually presented five ideas and the winner, “You’re Stronger Than You Think” tested in the top 15% of all Nestlé brands for impact and retention. Earlier this year, Nestlé’ sold PowerBar to Post Holdings for around 200 million Swiss francs. That’s a lot of Kit Kats. (And they kept our tagline.)

A marathoner starts baking bars in his kitchen and selling them out of his trunk at events. Almost singlehandedly, “PowerBar” invents an entirely new food category. In 2000, one of the largest food companies in the world acquires it. And as more products are added to the brand its core audience drifts away to competitors.

The challenge was to bring endurance athletes back to PowerBar with a re-branding that remembered its roots and honored its most important consumers.

We interviewed triathletes. I hung out at the local running shoe store and talked with customers and staff. Over time, we crafted our observations into a Consolidated Portrait and then analyzed the gap between the core audience and where the brand was today. What emerged was a Key insight that guided the creative: We only find our strength as we defy our boundaries. And we only overcome as we declare our limits irrelevant. 

Hundreds of ideas were created. A select batch were reviewed with endurance athletes. A final five were presented to Nestlé. The chosen tagline was aimed directly at PowerBar’s true believers. You’re Stronger than You Think spoke to their deepest desire — to accomplish what seems impossible to everyone else. It separated PowerBar from the pack. And reinvigorated one of Nestlé’s most vital brands.

When it was submitted to Nestlé’s rigorous testing regime, our process paid off. You’re Stronger than You Think tested in the top 15 percent for impact and retention when compared to hundreds of Nestlé brands globally — and continues to live on to this day.

As Nestlé’s AVP of global creative and media said at the time: “Some agencies can create a ‘big idea,’ some can develop the ‘brand expression,’ very few can do both as well as OIC does.”