Fix the colour, keep the claims.
Move from this blue-brown to warmer, more appetising tones, and keep the front-of-pack promises people already trust.
Consumer Research Report
Protein and Savoury Snack Bars
Shelf Perception and Purchase Drivers
How health-conscious young professionals in Mumbai see a protein bar and a new savoury snack bar, and what the shelf is costing them.
The question we were asked
Two products. Two different jobs.
How do the brand's protein bar and its new savoury snack bar land with the people they're built for? We put both next to the bars and snacks those people actually buy.
Q.01
Is the brand seen as a snack or a protein product?
Q.02
What wins at 4pm today, and what would this replace?
Q.03
Is protein a benefit or a barrier in a snacking context?
Q.04
What would it take to become an everyday choice?
Who we spoke to
💼Young professionals, 22 to 30, mostly women, across finance, UX and fitness
🏋🏽Gym regulars, and people who gave up on bars
🩺A certified sports nutritionist
🏪Kirana, grocery and pharmacy staff
🌊Passers-by on the promenade
How we found out
One-on-one interviewsGroup roast rooms3-second pack testsBlind taste testsShelf superlativesThis-or-that trade-offsIngredient ratingsEveryday-to-never sorting₹200 snack basketsUndercover store visitsVox pops
Part 1
The protein bar
01
The pack is losing before anyone reads it.
Nobody picked the bar first off the shelf, and "confusing" was the word people kept using. The pack is putting off the exact people the brand is built for.
This shade of blue is the first problem. The sports nutritionist said, without being asked, that it isn't an appetising colour. Warm tones got people to pick a bar up: SuperYou's red got the most spontaneous reactions on the shelf, and the brand's blue-brown got the fewest.
The design reads as busy and dated. Several people put the bar in the children's snack aisle on looks alone.
A puffed-up wrapper cost a sale outright. One woman said she wouldn't even open it.
The claims on the front work. "No maida, no added sugar" earned real trust from the people who stopped to read it, but the wrapper stops most people before they get there.
The 3-second pack test how long a shelf gets
3
We showed the bar for three seconds, then hid it. In that time, nobody chose it first.
This blue-brown
Warm tones
Fewest reactionsMost reactions
It looks like it is for children.
It just comes off very old-school in design and there's so much going on.
The packaging is not appealing. The blue and brown combination. It's just not aesthetic enough.
It looks like something reacted inside.On the puffed wrapper.
02
Stuck between trust and temptation.
We put the bars side by side and asked people to hand out shelf awards. The Whole Truth won on trust, SuperYou won on temptation, and the brand didn't win either.
Shelf superlatives who won what
Most trustworthy
The Whole Truth
In nearly every interview, for the name, the minimal pack and the ingredients on the front.
Most likely to buy
The Whole Truth
Most made for me
The Whole Truth
Especially among women.
Most tasty-looking
SuperYou
The red and the chocolate layer on the pack. One person compared it to a KitKat.
Most memorable
SuperYou
Hard to forget, even for people who don't trust it.
Most fake-healthy
MaxProtein
Almost unanimously. I don't believe MaxProtein when they say no sugar. I can taste that something is off.
A couple of people gave our client this label too.
Most confusing
Our client
Tied with an energy-bar-style competitor.
Trust vs temptation shelf map
↑ TrustTemptation →
Considered buyThe sweet spotImpulse buy
The Whole Truth
SuperYou
MaxProtein
Our client
Placed using the shelf superlatives, not a scored metric.
The Whole Truth owns trust and SuperYou owns impulse. Right now, the brand owns neither.
The Whole Truth didn't build a better bar. It built a clearer one.
Nobody said The Whole Truth's protein was better or that it tasted better. Every reason people gave was about how clearly it communicates: the name, the minimal pack, the ingredients on the front and the zero-sugar claim.
Clarity is what's winning this category. That's the threat, and it's also the blueprint.
Why people trust it reasons given
What they mentioned
- The name
- Minimal pack
- Ingredients on the front
- Zero-sugar claim
What nobody mentioned
- Better protein
- Better taste
It's minimal. No images. They've just given me the information straight up. What do you think I am, stupid? I know what a date looks like. You don't need to put a photo of it.
The taste is actually quite dry and acquired. But it feels healthier. So that wins.
03
They read ingredient lists like nutritionists.
These buyers flip the bar over, read every ingredient, and judge anything they can't pronounce. The decision gets made at the ingredient list, so that's where the brand has to win.
This or that what they chose
Fewer ingredientsoverA lower price
Plant proteinoverWhey
Better macrosoverBetter taste
More proteinoverMore flavours
A gym trainer's wordoverAn influencer's
How they feel about each ingredient love to hard no
Dates
Plant protein
Pea protein
Whey
Dairy, milk solids
Emulsifiers
Sweeteners
Sugar
LoveLikeMixedWaryHard no
Sugar and sweeteners are instant put-backs. People said they would put the bar down the moment they saw either on the label.
Whey quietly lost a customer. One woman stopped eating protein bars altogether because whey gave her breakouts, and she doesn't know whether that's every bar or just the whey ones. A loss like that never shows up in a rating. If the bar is whey-free, it should say so on the front.
The expert caught what consumers missed. The sports nutritionist spotted vegetable oil in every bar on the table except The Whole Truth. Consumers didn't notice, but nutritionists do, and they are the voice people trust most.
If I don't understand an ingredient on a protein bar, I just assume it's a chemical that's not good for me. So: one out of ten.
Sugar, I would put the bar back immediately. Any form of it.
04
The bar's real rival is makhana, not protein powder.
Nobody uses a bar to hit their protein target; they use a shake for that. The bar gets bought when there's no time and no blender, usually around 4pm. That puts it up against makhana, toast and chips, and nobody we spoke to loves any of them.
Around 4pmAt a desk or between meetings
On the goTravelling or commuting
At workWhen there's no time to make a shake
What it's really up against at 4pm
MakhanaBoring
ToastLazy
ChipsGuilty
Nobody has claimed the always-in-my-bag 4pm slot yet.
You're looking for something fun, something that fills you up. But makhana is just... not fun.
It's 4pm, I'm hungry, and there's nothing. So I just go for toast. Because at least it's something.
I know The Whole Truth could be my 4pm thing. Sit in my bag, have one, be set for five hours. It just hasn't been able to do that for me yet.
05
How a protein bar earns trust.
The path to a first purchase four steps
1Discover it
Through a gym trainer or on Reels.
2Check it on the website
This is where trust gets built. The sale happens later.
3Read the ingredient list
The top purchase driver, ahead of protein grams, price and brand.
4Buy it on quick commerce
A single bar first, then a box once they're loyal.
The trust ladder most to least trusted
Gym trainer and nutritionist
Fitness-minded friend
Instagram discovery
Influencer
Celebrity
Marketing spend will go furthest with trainers and nutritionists at the top of this ladder.
I don't trust influencers. If a friend I look up to for fitness recommended it, then yes. Or my gym trainer.
I saw The Whole Truth ad, then I went to their website and actually read through the whole thing. That's when I trusted it.
Part 2
The savoury snack bar
06
From first look to final verdict.
Nobody had seen anything like it before, which makes it the brand's biggest opportunity and its biggest risk. Being new is on its side: most people said they would rather try a new healthy brand than a legacy brand going healthy.
The room, before and after the blind taste test how opinions moved
Before tastingSplit down the middle
Half the room was intrigued and half was suspicious.
→
After tastingMost people liked it
Some rated it very highly, and only one person actively disliked it.
Taste is its biggest asset, and too few people get to it. Confusion about what it is and doubts about the pack put people off before the first bite.
It tastes too good to feel healthy. "It tastes very tasty, so I doubt the healthy part."
An unfamiliar format makes people suspicious before it makes them curious. "If they've turned this into a bar, what are they using to hold it together?"
Novelty gets one try. Buying it again needs a reason. "More protein, fewer calories, and I'd have this every day."
Its pack is working harder than the protein bar's. For snacks, packaging was the first reason anyone picked something up, and brand loyalty barely came up. That's the opposite of protein bars, where brand trust matters a lot.
It looks very appealing. All the elements are nicely placed.On the snack bar's pack.
07
The "fake healthy" checklist.
People carry a mental checklist that tells them whether a snack is actually healthy or just pretending. Here's what's on it, with the flags the snack bar trips highlighted.
Red flags
- Masala or heavy seasoning Tripped
- A long ingredient list
- Tasting too good Tripped
- An unfamiliar format Tripped
- Vague claims without a number
- Childlike packaging
- Loud or unappetising colours
Green flags
- A short, readable ingredient list
- No flavouring, no palm oil
- A familiar base like dates, chana or ragi
- A clean, minimal pack
- A premium feel
- Specific numbers, like "10g protein"
Masala reads as unhealthy whatever the ingredients are, so the snack bar starts on the back foot. Leading with its ingredient story rather than its flavour story would fix all three flags.
Even when I've tried ragi bites or soya sticks, I still feel like I'm eating unhealthy, because at the end of the day it looks like a masala chip.
08
How snacks get into the rotation.
Discovery routes strongest to weakest
1
Nutritionist recommendation
The most trusted route. One woman has bought the same date snack for months because her nutritionist suggested it once.
2
A premium retail shelf
Gourmet grocers and airports signal health before anyone reads the pack.
3
Quick-commerce search
Works for people who are already looking, but rarely for discovering something new.
4
Instagram
Builds awareness, but there's a wide gap to purchase: "I've seen it, I've thought about buying it, I just haven't got around to it."
How someone finds a brand decides how long they stay.
The nutritionist route produced the longest loyalty we saw. Nobody who found a brand on Instagram came close.
Nobody discovers a new snack at a kirana.
People buy familiar things there. Kiranas are good at keeping loyal customers and poor at winning new ones.
What we recommended
Seven changes to make next.
Be as easy to read as The Whole Truth.
Clarity is what's winning this category. Say what's in the bar plainly, on the front.
Put whey-free or plant-based on the front.
If the bar is whey-free, say so clearly. It can win back people who quietly gave up on bars.
Own the 4pm bag slot.
Position the bar as the guilt-free afternoon snack people keep in their bag, rather than as gym nutrition.
Win trainers and nutritionists first.
They sit at the top of the trust ladder, and the people they recommend a brand to stay loyal the longest.
Get the snack bar tasted, and lead with ingredients.
Taste is what converts people. Clear ingredients remove the doubt that comes with something tasting this good.
Find out why the wrapper puffs up.
A swollen wrapper makes people think the bar has gone off, so it loses the sale before anyone reads the label. Packs usually swell when gas builds up inside, often from moisture or microbial activity, or from heat and pressure changes in transit. That makes it worth reviewing the formulation, the preservatives and the packaging film together.