In 1994, Perdue introduced Perdue Short Cuts—strips of fully cooked chicken breast—to the refrigerated aisle, creating a new category of meal ingredients. Despite a steady stream of competitive launches over the years, Perdue remained the category frontrunner for nearly two decades. However, around 2012, Perdue began losing 3-4% market share per year—and eventually lost its first-place standing, too.

“After two years of declining sales, we really started questioning what was going on in the category. Was our product still delivering on consumers’ needs? Through consumer research, we discovered that our buyers were satisfied with the product quality and taste. Our weakness was our packaging—consumers felt it wasn’t as convenient or easy-to-open as they would’ve liked. They also viewed the product as over-packaged; it was bulky, and it took up precious real estate in their refrigerators,” explained Gail McWilliam, vice president of marketing at Perdue.

In addition to wanting to delight its current buyers, the brand had aspirations to reach new consumers. “Through focus groups, we discovered that the current packaging was inhibiting us from attracting new buyers. To do that, we needed our package claims—such as the high protein content—to be stronger,” said McWilliam. Moreover, although Perdue Short Cuts carved breast strips was the only brand that offered resealable packaging at the time, non-buyers weren’t aware of this benefit.