What customer-obsessed brands actually do

Most marketers say they’re consumer-centric. Far fewer operate as if a real human being is sitting in the meeting with them. This is the biggest lesson Debbie Epstein, Marketing Director at THIS!, hammered home during our UpTalk event.

Below are the most powerful insights Debbie shared, with the real brand examples to show you how the brands Debbie has worked at (THIS!, Bounce, Ella’s Kitchen…) have put it all into practice.

1. You don’t “already know your customer”

When Debbie joined Ella’s Kitchen and asked who the core consumer was, the answer seemed confident:

“A Surrey mum who has some disposable income.”

But the team couldn’t explain why, or even describe her.

So Debbie went straight into sales and category data to check. The truth floored the team:

“Asda was our fastest growing customer… and Surrey mums don’t shop in Asda.”

This triggered a full segmentation project, revealing two powerful personas:

• Happy Haley – spontaneous, convenience-led, memory-driven

• Confident Kate – by-the-book, homemade-food-first, but trusts Ella’s on the go

And crucially:

“Confident Kate was the influencer for Happy Haley.”

This single insight, as Debbie put it, was “game-changing.”

Ella’s then:

• sampled products in ASDA cafés to appeal to the Happy Haley

• launched a lenticular display

• shifted trade spend into ASDA

• activated cross-brand promotions

• built retailer partnerships based on real consumer insight

Before anything else, this is where you’ll want to begin when building consumer-centricity brand.

2. When you don’t listen to the consumer, the consumer lets you know

Before Debbie joined THIS!, the brand shifted away from its cheeky, gritty, disruptive personality into softer clouds and blue skies; the team had a sense that the initial iteration of THIS! was too stunts-focused – too masculine, even. There was an internal instinct to move away from this and take a more commercial, positive approach.

Except something was wrong.

“Our sales took a hit… standout on shelf and visibility have been issues.”

The team realised they hadn’t tested the new design and tone with consumers. As a result engagement was down, frozen aisle performance was down, and distinctiveness had slipped.

So Debbie initiated a new consumer-led evolution:

“At every stage we are doing dip tests… claims, colours, fonts, emotions, semiotics.”

And for the first time internally, they realised they had to go back to go forwards again. This is the cost of drifting from your core – but something like this is not beyond repair.

3. You don’t need £30k demographic testing to be consumer-centric

At Bounce, Debbie’s CEO wanted to sponsor football. Debbie felt the brand was more rugby-aligned. So she ran a simple Instagram pulse test:

“Football or rugby?”

Rugby won hands down… the CEO wasn’t happy.

One poll settled what weeks of debate couldn’t.

Cheap insight can be transformational if you’re brave enough to use it.

4. Segmentation isn’t static

In fact, it ages REALLY fast. So Debbie’s rule of thumb when it comes to reassessing is that ideally, every six months you do a refresh.

In the market THIS! are in, consumer motivations are shifting rapidly thanks to GLP-1s, debates on ultra-processed foods, high-protein trends, wholefood interest and economic pressure. That means their personas are only as good as their last refresh.

5. Sometimes the consumer isn’t who you think it is

THIS! uncovered the surprising insight that while younger consumers eat plant-based, it’s the older consumers who buy it.

“Parents buy it for their kids coming over for barbecues… they need something in the freezer.”

And they’re not a small group. They represent 66% of the open market.

So the insight shifted strategy: to grow penetration, the brand now had to influence up the generations, not down.

This is the kind of nuance only consumer-centric teams uncover.

6. Make consumer-centrism unavoidable

When someone in ops stops a meeting and says ‘I think we need to check this – I’m not sure the consumer would like it,’ that’s a good sign.

A consumer-obsessed culture is built like any other cultural shift – through visibility, repetition, and reinforcement.

At THIS!, Debbie’s team bring up their consumer personas:

• in presentations

• in meeting rooms

• around the office

• in launch decks

• in NPD meetings

The signal is clear.

The takeaway here is that to become a customer-centric brand that wins brand love, you have to become the person who brings the consumer into every conversation.

Do it consistently, confidently, and unapologetically.

As Debbie puts it:

“If we don’t deliver what the consumer wants, there’s no sustainable business.”

Catch up on the full talk here!