In 2012, there were more than 2,000 brands of energy bars on the market. So, Peter Rahal and his childhood friend, Jared Smith decided to market energy bars.
But Peter, who is dyslexic and is a self-admitted D student, had a critically important insight about the opportunity.
I like Cross Fit. I like the Paleo diet. Why isn’t anyone making an energy bar to serve that market?
He wondered, what if I only made energy bars for people like me who are doing Cross Fit and want a no sugar, energy bar without any B.S. in it.
RXBAR was born in Peter’s parent’s basement.
In a Cuisinart, he blended egg whites, figs and almonds to make a product for a specific and narrow group of people. He took the products to Cross Fit gyms and sold them as the solution to the problem that those individuals had – portable paleo energy. He wasn’t trying to sell everyone. He was trying to sell someone who also liked Cross Fit and Paleo.
Smallest Viable Audience
By selling the smallest, viable audience, Peter understood that if he could find 100 people who loved his product, he could eventually find 1,000. He wasn’t looking to make energy bars for everyone; he made them for a narrow, specific audience.
Packaging Zig Zag
Against everyone’s advice, Peter and Jared also defied the rules of the category and didn’t make a package that had ‘mouth appeal.’ Instead, they focused on a clean label with a simple product listing that used words like fig, date and egg whites. It also informed people that it was free of any B.S.
Marketing Lessons from RXBAR
- If you are starting out and trying to sell everyone, you’ll probably fail.
- The narrower the target, the higher the chance for success.
- Serve an audience, have discreet and specific customers and understand their community.
- Notice what everyone is doing. And then do something different that challenges how the category does business.
- Stay focused and don’t get distracted by too many line extensions or products that complicate decision making.
- Even in a crowded market, you can stand out by serving a small, viable audience.
Kellogg’s recently bought his business for 600 million dollars because they saw RXBAR as a platform to reach a specific, target audience. Not bad for a company started with $10,000. The RXBAR was the way in for Kellogg’s who acquired a successful brand and could then sell more paleo-based products to that audience leveraging the RXBAR brand.
RXBAR – a prescription of marketing success.
Want advice from someone who did something like Peter?
You can set up a time to chat with me about your foodpreneur marketing challenges using my calendar. Or, Email jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo courtesy of Rx Bars and Kelloggs.
Listen to a live podcast on How I Built This with Peter Rahal and Guy Raz for more details on this journey.
