WORKING PAPER

Innovation and Brand Strategy for Consumer Goods Companies

Most consumer goods innovations fail not because of poor execution, but because they target the wrong problem. Jobs to be Done gives you a sharper lens to understand what consumers truly need and turn that understanding into growth

Drive smarter innovation by uncovering the real functional and emotional jobs your consumers are trying to fulfill, so every new product starts with a problem worth solving

Find your next growth opportunity by mapping unmet consumer jobs across occasions, categories, and geographies before your competitors do

Build a brand that resonates by anchoring your strategy in the jobs that matter most to your consumers, creating deeper connections and a stronger case for premium pricing

Summary

The Power of Jobs to Be Done for Consumer-Oriented Businesses by Marielle De Blois shows how consumer brands can move beyond demographics and data to truly understand why people buy. The paper demonstrates how the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework unlocks new growth opportunities by uncovering functional and emotional motivations behind purchasing decisions. Through real-world examples—from toothpaste to Uber and PODS—it reveals how JTBD helps businesses design better products, identify whitespace, expand into adjacent categories, and build brands that connect emotionally while staying strategically grounded.

OVERVIEW

Why consumer goods companies need a better growth strategy?

85% of new CPG products fail in the marketplace (Nielsen)
The top 50 CPGs by revenue globally only posted 1.2% year-over-year revenue growth, while insurgents captured about 40% of the overall growth in the first half of 2024 (BCG)
Only 4% of launches hit 1% market penetration (Numerator)

Consumer goods companies are constantly seeking innovation to stay ahead. But without a clear understanding of what consumers truly need and want, developing new products is a risky endeavor. More often than not, innovations fail simply because they aren't solving a real consumer problem.

Traditional market research frameworks compound this challenge and frequently fall short at revealing the underlying motivations that drive consumer behavior. They rely on consumers articulating their needs precisely, on quantifiable measurements, or on framing everything solely through the lens of functional jobs.

Meanwhile, markets are growing more educated and sophisticated. Driving growth now demands that products forge deeper, more meaningful connections with the people who use them.

Jobs to be Done can fix this.

Jobs to be Done helps consumer goods companies refine their innovation approaches and brand strategy

Jobs to be Done (JTBD) explains what motivates people to decide and act the way they do. The approach looks beyond current behavior and asks, “What exactly is the consumer trying to get done?” By shifting focus away from behavior and towards motivation instead, you can tell what customers will respond to and what will fall flat.

For consumer-oriented businesses, the Jobs to be Done framework is especially beneficial on several fronts:

It helps companies precisely identify their consumers’ needs by looking at both emotional and functional aspects
It enables brands to communicate a consistent value proposition to both consumers and retailers
It allows for effective differentiation in crowded markets, even in seemingly stable ones
It supports brand expansion into new domains while preserving brand consistency, ensuring that the brand identity remains strong and recognizable

In the following sections, you are going to learn how to use Jobs to be Done to drive smarter innovation, uncover your next growth opportunity, and build a brand strategy that truly resonates with your consumers

Use customer insight to drive innovation in your company

Identify growth opportunities and unlock market expansion

How brand strategy drives growth in consumer products

Use customer insight to drive innovation in your company

Solve the actual consumer problem

Many companies make the mistake of diving straight into brainstorming ideas and bringing products or services to market without fully understanding the problem they are trying to solve.

By investing time to truly understand the problem your consumers face, you differentiate between surface-level symptoms and underlying issues. As Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt Famously said “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole!”

Understand the emotional and functional motivations behind purchase decisions

Consumers aren’t just data points or demographics; they’re driven by desires, motivations, and emotions. People often make emotional decisions first and rationalize them later. Jobs to Be Done helps unpack these emotions into distinct “Jobs,” revealing how they connect and interact with functional needs tied to your product. This allows companies to better understand what matters most and deliver solutions that resonate on both a functional and emotional level.

Case Study: Uncovering Whitespace Opportunities for a Consumer Goods Company

A large U.S. food and beverage company embarked on a mission to enhance its innovation process and develop high-quality products. Through interviews and ethnographic research, we discovered that consumers had six key high-level Jobs related to food choices in the relevant category — one of which was "Feel ready for whatever's next.”

By examining how specific jobs were prioritized across different meal occasions, we found that "Having energy to perform throughout the day" was highly relevant for breakfast and late-afternoon snacks, but not for evening ones. The research also revealed that consumers struggle to find snacks that strike the right balance: energizing enough to keep them going, yet light enough to avoid sluggishness or lethargy.

These insights had a far-reaching impact on the company's product portfolio and served as the foundation for innovative concepts brought to market. One key opportunity was an afternoon pick-me-up during the workweek. Consumers reported flagging energy levels hurting their productivity by late afternoon, and, reluctant to drink more coffee, they wanted something to help them finish the day strong. A workshop with key stakeholders generated ten product concepts within this opportunity area

Use customer insight to drive innovation in your company

Identify growth opportunities and unlock market expansion

Use customer insight to drive innovation in your company

Solve the actual consumer problem

Many companies make the mistake of diving straight into brainstorming ideas and bringing products or services to market without fully understanding the problem they are trying to solve.

Understand the emotional and functional motivations behind purchase decisions

Case Study: Uncovering Whitespace Opportunities for a Consumer Goods Company

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Our firm can help your organization uncover your customers' Jobs to be Done and turn that into a strategy. Explore our Jobs to be Done Research service page for more examples, FAQs, and insights into how JTBD drives growth for Consumer Oriented industries

Download This Working Paper Now

WORKING PAPER

Innovation and Brand Strategy for Consumer Goods Companies

By Marielle De Blois

Drive smarter innovation by uncovering the real functional and emotional jobs your consumers are trying to fulfill, so every new product starts with a problem worth solving

Find your next growth opportunity by mapping unmet consumer jobs across occasions, categories, and geographies before your competitors do

Build a brand that resonates by anchoring your strategy in the jobs that matter most to your consumers, creating deeper connections and a stronger case for premium pricing

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