LIGHTLIFE FOODS - BRAND RELAUNCH

After a three year sales decline in the “meat alternative” category, Lightlife was looking to sell more meat alts to vegans and vegetarians. The problem with that plan? Vegans and vegetarians made up only about 7% of the US population at the time. Also, who wants an “alternative” anything? It is inherently second best, or less-than.

Research showed that about 70% of US millennials were turning their diets toward “flexitarianism” or just consuming less animal products. So we set out to speak to these folks by appealing to their meat-eating taste with something new: meat made from plants.

Lightlife and meat share many of the same characteristics - they are both delicious, juicy, satisfying sources of protein. Lightlife simply makes meat directly from plants instead of the animals who eat the plants. It is Meat Without The Middleman.

Sales increased by 18% in the first year. By year 4, sales were up 35% year over year.

Need more proof that the definition of meat has changed? After four years, the brand was purchased by the largest meat company in Canada.

So we went into Lightlife's office and declared that their brand, their industry-heck, the whole world-was completely wrong. After an awkward pause during which we were pretty sure they would call security, they agreed wholeheartedly, hired us and had us make this video.

Only 9% of the U.S. population is vegan or vegetarian, 91% eats meat. With Lightlife's competitors using bigger budgets to talk about how healthy and animal-free they were, it felt like the right time to change the conversation, and the definition of meat.

Juicy and Delicious

Lightlife is meat made from plants so they had to walk the walk. Photo and video guidelines were reset to ensure they fit in the meat category.