Marketing Director
Pivoting the entire business, not just the position.
When I joined FitJoy in January 2020, the operational infrastructure was already there. The supply chain worked. The logistics systems were established. The product — a grain-free protein bar — could be made.
The problem was the category. Protein bars are one of the most competitive shelves in natural channel grocery. FitJoy had no clear USP that could break through. The product wasn't failing because the operations were broken. It was failing because the strategic position was wrong.
That diagnosis changes everything. You're not fixing what exists — you're deciding whether to abandon it.
Made the call to exit the category. The honest read was that no amount of optimization was going to rescue the protein bar position in a category that crowded. The right move wasn't to invest further in the current strategy — it was to pivot to a less competitive category where FitJoy had a genuine, ownable USP. That is a CEO call. Most marketing leaders would have proposed a new campaign. I proposed a new category.
Chose the landing spot: grain-free pretzels. The salty snack category offered a real opening. Grain-free as a positioning had clear consumer demand and far fewer established competitors than protein bars. The USP was defensible — the same grain-free credential, applied to a category where it was still differentiated.
Rebuilt everything from the logo out. Logo, brand positioning, packaging architecture, and label design — designed specifically to stand out on a pretzel shelf, not a protein shelf. Different visual environments, different dominant brands, different consumer eye path. We designed for the shelf we were entering.
Launched three SKUs into natural channel grocery. Took the rebuilt brand to market with a focused three-SKU launch. Velocity picked up quickly after hitting the shelf — a direct result of the packaging doing the job it was designed to do.
Made the exit cleanly. When the pandemic hit, I made the deliberate call to step away and join CLEAN Cause — a brand with a stronger operating track record and a more durable position. The pivot work was complete and in-market. I handed it off with the new brand on shelf and moving.
Full category pivot executed in under 10 months — from failing protein bar to grain-free pretzel, brand rebuilt and in-market.
Three SKUs launched into natural channel grocery across multiple retailers.
Top-quartile shelf velocities achieved quickly after launch, driven by packaging designed specifically for the pretzel shelf.
Brand repositioned with a defensible USP in a meaningfully less competitive category landscape.
The hardest thing in CPG isn't executing a plan — it's deciding to abandon a plan when the evidence says it isn't working. FitJoy had supply chain. It had logistics. It had investment behind it. The existing infrastructure represented real sunk cost and organizational inertia. The right call was to walk away from it and rebuild from a new strategic position in a new category.
That is not a marketing decision. It's a business strategy decision. And making it — clearly, quickly, with a specific landing spot and a defensible rationale — is the kind of thinking a CEO or GM brings to a brand that's stuck.
Whether you’re building something, running something, or thinking about what’s next — I’m worth a conversation.