What was the problem?

A manufacturer wanted to change the process by which a product was made. But for legal reasons this would mean removing a key descriptor from the front of the pack - something that everyone had always assumed was vital to the brand.

How important was this descriptor? What would the effect be of removing it - if any? The consequences of getting it wrong would be serious.

What did we do?

We used a combination of semiotic/discourse analysis and focused consumer input to unpick the issue.

We looked at the sector discourse, the phrase itself and the cultural meanings it was drawing on for this brand.

What did they get out of it?

We concluded that the manufacturer could certainly go ahead and remove the phrase.

But we also gave some clear direction about what it would not be wise to fiddle with and suggested some precautionary measures, just in case ...