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ASPIRE FOOD GROUP: MARKETING A CRICKET PROTEIN

BRAND
Professors Miranda Goode and Emily Moscato wrote this case
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Copyright © 2020, Ivey Business School Foundation Version:
2020-08-24
Mohammed Ashour, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-
founder of Aspire Food Group (Aspire), was in
Boston to attend the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 event and had a
half-hour coffee meeting with a colleague
on his calendar. He was meeting with Greg Sewitz, co-CEO and
co-founder of the protein bar company
Exo, who had also made the Forbes list in 2016. Aspire and Exo
were in the same small but growing sector
of the food industry: edible insects. Still in its infancy in North

America, the edible insect market involved
players who were open and willing to share information.
Because the idea of insects as food was not the
easiest concept to sell to Western palates, those in the business
knew that the category as a whole needed
promotion and acceptance in order for their companies to
succeed.
The meeting with Sewitz was not what Ashour had expected:
during a two-hour walk around downtown
Boston, Ashour learned about an opportunity to acquire Exo,
makers of cricket-based protein bars.
Although Exo was growing at a good pace, its board had
decided to find a buyer who would focus on
developing the consumer packaged goods side of the business.
Aspire’s own consumer brand, Aketta, did
not have the same brand recognition as Exo, and Ashour saw the
acquisition as a two-for-one deal that
offered both Exo’s brand equity and its development of a
protein isolate. Aspire was positioned in the
emerging food sector as a producer of ethically raised, high-
quality crickets, and this made it a compelling
prospective buyer. By the end of their meeting, Ashour and
Sewitz had an initial understanding for the
acquisition, and by March 2018, Aspire had acquired Exo.
Aspire’s acquisition of Exo’s assets came at a crucial time:
demand for insect-protein products in the United States
was expected to reach US$1,336 million by 20251 Exo had
focused its marketing on competitive athletes and
“weekend warriors,” who were interested in nutrition as part of
their training program. While these consumers
sought a natural performance edge and other functional
attributes of insect protein, the lower environmental impact
of its production did not rank as highly for this segment. “But
what about other potential segments?” wondered

Ashour. “There are consumers interested in a Paleo diet—who
already buy Aketta products. There are
environmentally conscious consumers, a growing flexitarian
market, and the broader segment of millennials as an
age group. We even have the opportunity to introduce Exo to
children as a healthy snack.”
1 Cision PR Newswire, Global Insect Protein Market Forecast to
2025: Focus on Food & Beverages, Animal Nutrition,
Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics, Research and Markets, accessed,
accessed July 8, 2020, www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/global-insect-protein-market-forecast-to-2025-focus-
on-food--beverages-animal-nutrition-pharmaceuticals--
cosmetics-
300897079.html; All currency amounts in US dollars unless
specified otherwise.
For the exclusive use of P. Rodriguez Gonzalez, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Pedro Rodriguez
Gonzalez in BCOR 3040 Spring 2021 taught by Sheena
McFarland, University of Utah from Jan 2021 to Jul 2021.
www.prnewswire.com/news
mailto:[email protected]
www.iveycases.com
mailto:[email protected]

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Following the acquisition, Ashour and co-founder and Chief
Operating Officer Gabe Mott met in the
conference area of their Austin, Texas, headquarters. Behind the
windowless interior wall of their office
was the cricket production operation: a state-of-the-art facility
that followed clean-space food safety
protocols and far surpassed regulation requirements. Here, they
not only raised and processed the micro-
livestock but also used data analytics to develop and test best
methods for humanely and efficiently farming
crickets while limiting resource consumption. At its 2,323-
square-metre farming facility, Aspire raised 22
million crickets each month, producing about 15,875 kilograms
of cricket protein powder annually.
Ashour was aware that the marketing and growth of Exo would

affect Aspire’s production capacity. The
two founders—who six years earlier had been graduate students
at McGill University, conjuring up the
business plan for Aspire—now needed to discuss a revenue
growth strategy for their company’s newly
acquired Exo brand of cricket-protein-based products. “Which
consumer segments should we target for
Exo, and what should our marketing plan look like?” asked
Ashour.
THE MARKET FOR INSECT PROTEIN
The global insect protein market was forecast to grow about 28
per cent per year and to achieve estimated
sales of $213 million by 2023 and $8 billion by 2030.2 The
United Nations and other organizations were
promoting entomophagy (eating insects) as a sustainable
alternative to consuming traditional livestock
protein and a way to feed the world’s growing population.
Among societal issues surrounding sustainability,
food security posed a significant challenge as the world
confronts growing global population, inefficiencies
in food production and consumption, and the influences of
climate change. The consumption of edible
insects offered one solution by providing a high-protein,
nutritional, and safe food source with a low
environmental impact. Insect protein had the advantages of
aligning with consumer values that favoured
clean ingredients and minimal processing.
Insects were more efficient at converting food (energy) into
protein than traditional livestock such as cows,
pigs, and poultry. There were over 2,000 varieties of edible
insects found on earth.3 Commercialization had
focused primarily on crickets, grasshoppers, and
mealworms/buffalo worms in North America. Insects

could be raised in smaller spaces, where food, water, heat, and
air could be controlled for maximum
efficacy. Aspire’s research found that raising beef required 38
times more land, 23 times more water, and
12 times more feed and produced 1,815 times more greenhouse
gases than producing the same amount of
insect protein. A gram of crickets delivered more protein than a
gram of beef. In a comparison of insect and
beef protein, 30 grams of Aketta crickets would provide 20.0
grams of protein, 43.0 milligrams of calcium,
and 2.3 milligrams of iron, while the same amount of beef
protein would yield 8.0 grams of protein, 3.6
milligrams of calcium, and 1.0 milligram of iron.4 Insects were
also a safer protein source, with a much
lower risk of transmitting zoonotic diseases to consumers. In
recognition of these lower risks, neither the
United States nor Canada regulated edible insects as meat
products—i.e., edible insect products were not
2 IndustryArc, Insect Protein Market: By Type (Beetles,
Caterpillars, Moths & Butterflies); By End User Industry (Food
and
Beverages, Biogas, Food Industry); & By Geography, December
12, 2018, accessed March 20, 2019,
https://industryarc.com/Report/17780/insect-protein-
market.html; Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd., Edible
Insects Market
by Product Type (Whole Insect, Insect Powder, Insect Meal,
Insect Type (Crickets, Black Soldier Fly, Mealworms),
Application
(Animal Feed, Protein Bar and Shakes, Bakery, Confectionery,
Beverages—Global Forecast to 2030,
www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xrqhr7/7_95_billion?w=
12, cited in Emily Morrison and Hiral Patel, “Insect Protein:
Bitten by the Bug,” Barclay Market Research, November 2019,
accessed July 7, 2020,

www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/insect-protein-
bitten-by-the-bug.html.
3 Yde Jongema, “List of Edible Insects of the World (April 1,
2017),” Wageningen University & Research, accessed July 7,
2020,
www.wur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Chair-groups/Plant-
Sciences/Laboratory-of-Entomology/Edible-insects/Worldwide-
species-list.htm.
4 Aspire Food Group, “Nutrition vs Environment,” Aketta,
accessed July 7, 2020, www.aketta.com/.
www.aketta.com
www.wur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Chair-groups/Plant-
Sciences/Laboratory-of-Entomology/Edible-insects/Worldwide-
species-list.htm
www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/insect-protein-
bitten-by-the-bug.html
www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xrqhr7/7_95_billion?w=
12
https://industryarc.com/Report/17780/insect-protein-
market.html

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subject to regulation by the United States Department of
Agriculture or the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency, so they had lighter compliance requirements and did
not require additional processing inspections.
In the global North (e.g. Europe, United States, Canada, and
Australia), most consumers were unfamiliar
with cuisine featuring insects, which was associated with a
learned “ick” factor. No traditional European
dishes contained insects, yet an estimated 80 per cent of the
world’s people purposefully ate insects—
whether in special-occasion dishes or as part of their weekly
diet.5 For example, chapulines (dry-roasted,
seasoned grasshoppers) were a popular snack and component of
dishes, especially in Oaxaca, Mexico, and
insect dishes were included in the diets of many North America

Indigenous communities.6 It was also
commonly noted that almost all of the world’s population
unwittingly ate insect parts in products such as
peanut butter, tomato sauce, and chocolate; the levels in these
products were controlled by government food
standards, mostly for aesthetic reasons.7 Against this backdrop,
entrepreneurial companies faced a
challenge in attempting to move consumers’ responses from
“eww” to “ooh!” when introducing edible
insect products that supported trends in consumer values and
lifestyle choices.
Consumers commonly asked if edible insect products could be
part of vegetarian or vegan diets.8
Vegetarians typically did not eat meat or seafood but consumed
animal by-products such as eggs, milk, and
honey. Vegans did not eat any animals or their by-products.
While insects were living creatures, vegetarian
and vegan labels were self-applied and might be defined
differently by each individual—for example, some
vegetarians ate fish, and some vegans consumed honey. Many
vegetarians and vegans were willing to try
insects; based on its experience with sampling events, Aspire
estimated these people represented around 40
per cent of such consumers.
COMPANY HISTORY
Aspire Food Group and the Aketta Brand
In 2012, Ashour conceived the idea behind Aspire Food Group
after learning of the Hult Prize, which
challenged master of business administration (MBA) students
“to solve the world’s toughest issues by
empowering them to make money, do good and make life better
for millions of people through the creation

of for-good for-profit businesses.”9 The focus of that year’s
prize was food insecurity, and a conversation
with a friend on the subject of edible insects prompted Ashour
to work with Mott and three other McGill
MBA students to compete. Along the way, they incorporated a
company and travelled to Thailand for field
research. The team won the $1 million Hult Prize on September
23, 2013.
Ashour and Mott moved their headquarters to Austin and
established operations in the United States, while
another co-founder, Shobhita Soor, moved to Ghana to produce
a variety of micro-livestock, including palm
weevil larvae. Aspire’s approach to solving food insecurity and
sustainability was to apply technology and
automation to farming insects. Because they understood the
barriers to acceptance of edible insects among
customers, Aspire created the consumer-facing brand Aketta to
help build marketplace awareness (see
Exhibit 1). The name Aketta was derived from the scientific
name for the house cricket, Acheta domesticus,
5 S.K. Srivastava, Naresh Babu, and Hema Pandey, “Traditional
Insect Bioprospecting–As Human Food and Medicine,” Indian
Journal of Traditional Knowledge 8, no. 4 (2009): 485–494.
6 Donald Callaway, Joel Janetski, and Omer C. Stewart, “Ute,”
in Handbook of North American Indians: Great Basin, Volume
11, ed. Warren L. D’Azevedo (Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Institution, 1986), 334–367.
7 US Food and Drug Administration, “Food Defect Levels
Handbook: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods
that
Present No Health Hazards for Humans,” FDA, accessed July 8,
2020, www.fda.gov/food/ingredients-additives-gras-
packaging-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/food-
defect-levels-handbook.

8 “FAQs,” Exo, accessed July 8, 2020,
https://exoprotein.com/pages/faqs.
9 “Intersection of Purpose and Profit, Hult Prize, accessed July
8, 2020, www.hultprize.org/why-hp-2/.
www.hultprize.org/why-hp-2
https://exoprotein.com/pages/faqs
www.fda.gov/food/ingredients-additives-gras

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which was used in the micro-livestock production. Knowing that
the majority of people in North America
currently resisted the idea of eating insects, Aspire sought to
popularize the name Aketta as an alternative
to “crickets” when referring to the protein source. This
paralleled the terms used to describe other animal
proteins, as Ashour noted: “We eat beef, not cows; pork, not
pigs. Using Aketta helps consumers distinguish
carefully sourced cricket protein from the broader category of
insects.” In reflecting on their position in the
food industry, Ashour also noted,
When we initially started, we focused on supply chain, but it
quickly became apparent that if we
really wanted to seriously grow this industry, we needed a voice
in front of consumers to educate
consumers—and to make greater, better products available. I
think part of the criticisms that we
have had, and generally speaking of the industry, is that the
quality of products historically hasn’t
been the greatest. Ultimatel y we are selling food, and food is a
very emotional experience. And the
experience has to be excellent.
Aketta offered products in three forms: cricket powder; whole
roasted cricket, in various flavours (including
bestsellers sour cream and onion, sea salt, and sriracha); and
granola protein bites made with cricket powder,
also in various flavours (e.g., maple cashew, nutty chocolate
chip, and pumpkin spice). Each of the products

provided an excellent source of well-balanced protein and
nutrients. Additionally, Aspire highlighted its
innovative farming techniques: compared to conventional
livestock, crickets were safer to consume,
allowed for better animal welfare, and had a lower resource
impact.
The Aspire team reviewed its sales efforts for the Aketta brand
and identified elements of marketing that
could be improved:
Perhaps our product format could have been improved. Perhaps
we could have gone after another
consumer group. We were predominantly focused not so much
on getting these products to gain traction
in the market; we were using them to create awareness in the
market and to educate consumers.
Ashour pointed to the popularity of sushi in North America as
an example of a foreign delicacy that was
adopted over time. He continued,
Sushi, 20 years ago, was a foreign concept to most Americans.
In fact, the very idea of eating raw
fish, for a lot of people, was border-line offensive. Yet what
happened was that you had a very
clever chef in LA who was able to infuse his passion for this
really wonderful Japanese cuisine
with an American style. He came up with the California roll.
This was, essentially, the gateway
product that allowed Americans to taste and experience sushi —
even if we can all agree that
California rolls aren’t really sushi in the traditional sense. So
for us, the question, historically, has
been this: “What is the California roll for the cricket industry?”

Ashour recalled that the Aketta line of products represented the
company’s attempt to do some rapid
prototyping and to test market responses to a variety of product
formats. “I don’t want to give the impression
that we invested a tremendous amount of time and resources
into those products being launched, because
that is not really what happened.”
The Exo Brand
With the Exo opportunity, Aspire decided that its Aketta
products would be rebranded using the Exo name,
and the Aketta name would be used for educational purposes.
Exo’s cricket protein bars (see Exhibit 2)

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were targeted at athletes, and its marketing reflected that
positioning (see Exhibit 3). Ashour added, “Exo’s
target audience is predominantly a US, millennial, CrossFit, and
Paleo audience. What matters to this group
is that they know their product includes clean ingredients, it is
ethically sourced, and there is a very
transparent supply chain. But the key benefit is ‘clean
ingredients.’” Exo sold its bars primarily through
e-commerce channels and through its website, and it dedicated
marketing resources to maintaining a social
media presence. The US snack, nutrition, and performance bar
market was worth $7.0 billion in 2018 and
forecast to grow to $7.7 billion by 2023.10 The average
performance protein bar had a retail cost of $3.00.
With retail margins at about 35 per cent, Exo’s wholesale
revenues per bar were $1.95. Exo’s cost of goods
sold was about half of the wholesale selling price.
Throughout the strategic discussions for the brand, one thing
remained consistent: Aspire’s dedication to
its founding principle of fighting food insecurity. As Ashour
said,

Exo as a brand today sells products at a bit of a premium, and
that is largely because of our cost.
As an industry, farming crickets is something that has only been
around for a few years, and despite
our tiny size as a company, we happen to be a global leader,
which just tells you how much more
we have to go. Unlike the cattle and poultry industries, which
have had hundreds of years to hone
and refine their practices and achieve efficiency, we are still in
the very top of our cost curve. So
unfortunately, for a few years, the cost will be high; but if we
achieve our objectives, which we
fundamentally believe we will, this will become one of the most
affordable sources of protein in
the world, and hopefully our products will become a lot more
widely available to every type of
social economic bracket, not just people who can actually afford
a $3 bar.
COMPETITION
Competition in the insect protein food sector came primarily
from entrepreneurs in two categories:
wholesale farmers and brand manufacturers. Millennial -driven
start-ups such as Aspire and Exo; family
farms, including Entomo Farms in Canada; and venture
capitalists had jumped on the opportunity to be
involved in this nascent market. Aspire had the advantage of
vertical integration. Most other entrepreneurial
food companies were reliant on insect protein suppliers, such as
Aspire, Entomo Farms, or numerous
overseas operations. Ingredient sourcing had been an issue for
smaller brands, creating inconsistency with
supply and various quality concerns.

Because of North American consumers’ lack of familiarity and
negative associations with eating insects,
brands strove to deliver insect protein in familiar formats. The
edible insect industry had been primarily
focused on the snack category, specifically the protein bar
category. Insect protein bars from brands such
as Chapul (from the United States), which was featured on the
show Shark Tank; Landish (from Canada);
Näak (from Canada); Eat Grub (from the United Kingdom);
Jimini’s (from France); and Wholi (from
Denmark) were currently competing on the market. Importantly,
these brands were competing not only
among themselves but also with established companies and
brands such as Cliff Bar (see Exhibits 4 and 5).
The majority of competitors focused on crickets, but other
insects such as mealworms, buffalo worms, and
grasshoppers were also used to create bars, snacks, centre-of-
the-plate proteins, and powders. In North
America, products included protein powder (e.g., Crik
Nutrition), tortilla chips (e.g., Chirps Chips), snack
mixes (e.g., Don Bugito), pasta (e.g., Bugsolutely), snack bites
(e.g., Seek), jerky (e.g., Rocky Mountain
Micro Ranch), and cookies (e.g., Cowboy Cricket Farms). In
Europe, supermarket chains sold a variety of
10 Mintel Group Ltd., Snack, Nutrition, and Performance
Bars—US, Industry Report, Mintel, February 2019, accessed
July 7,
2019, from Mintel academic database.

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insect products, notably burger patties from brands like Insecta
(the Netherlands) and Bold Foods
(Germany). A number of brands had also entered the market but
not survived. The website Bug Burger
listed over 90 “insect startups that disappeared” from around the
globe; these included Canadian companies

Coast Protein, which made cricket energy bars, and C-fu Foods,
which created Bolognese pasta sauce with
textured protein made from crickets.11 The future of brands like
Chapul was unclear. Ashour and Mott had
seen numerous competitors come in, make a splash, gain
investors, and fizzle out, and they were determined
to achieve wider distribution with their eyes open.
CONSUMERS
Attitudes, Motivations, and Behaviours
Consumer attitudes and preferences in the insect market were
tricky to assess, as Ashour pointed out:
The challenge is, our industry, first of all, consists of a lot of
first time entrepreneurs: not just food
entrepreneurs, but just entrepreneurs, period. You’re talking
about people who are learning and having
to come up with a food product and how to incorporate the new,
novel ingredient into a new food
product and then how to market that new food product with the
novel ingredient to a new market. That’s
a lot of layers of challenges to ask of any seasoned
entrepreneur, much less of a first-time entrepreneur.
So, there were clear gaps. There was an experience gap and a
product-development gap as well as the
consumer-product-market-fit gap that we saw. For example, you
have companies that are making chips
using cricket protein. Is there a lot of data indicating that chips
are a robust protein delivery system?
Because if people aren’t buying into this concept, how can we
really conclude that they are not interested
in crickets? Maybe they just don’t want chips, and it is the fact
that you are using protein in chips that
is the wrong decision, not the crickets themselves.

Research on motivations and attitudes revealed that 67 per cent
of consumers in the United States were
driven by flavour when choosing their snacks, follow ed by 33
per cent who were driven by the lowest price,
30 per cent who were driven by calories, 27 per cent by brand,
27 per cent by natural ingredients, and 26
per cent by protein content. A total of 66 per cent of consumers
wished for more healthy snack options, and
52 per cent also believed taste was more important than health
when eating snacks.12
Consumer Segments
Research showed that the snack bar market within the United
States continued to be strong, with more than
two-thirds of adults reporting that they ate bars. The most
popular type of bars was snack bars, which had
a 48 per cent penetration, followed by nutrition bars (40 per
cent) and performance bars (11 per cent). The
majority of bar eaters were under the age of 45, and both men
and women equally likely to eat bars.13
However, men made up a significantly larger share of
performance bar eaters. In considering which
segments the company should go after, Ashour noted that the
current Exo target was the sports individual
who valued performance and nutrition, above all else. He added,
“This is the endurance, CrossFit, weight-
lifting, weekend warrior crowd. They are willing to pay a
significant premium to get an edge in their
competition or in their lifestyle. There isn’t an X-factor for this
group because fundamentally they are
functional eaters. They’re not gourmet eaters.”
11 “Insect Startups that Disappeared,” Bug Burger, accessed
July 7, 2020, www.bugburger.se/foretag/the-eating-insects-

startups-here-is-the-list-of-entopreneurs-around-the-
world/#gone.
12 Mintel Group Ltd., US Snacking Motivations and Attitudes,
Market report, Mintel, January 2019, accessed July 7, 2020.
13 Mintel Group Ltd., Snack, Nutrition and Performance Bars—
US, op. cit.
www.bugburger.se/foretag/the-eating-insects

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Aspire estimated that the sports performance crowd represented
4 per cent of the market and consumed about five
bars each per week, while weekend warriors, who comprised
about 3 per cent of the total adult US population of
254 million people, were each eating one to two bars during
weekend activities.14 About one in 20 within this
segment and the sports-performance segment could be
persuaded to buy Exo bars on a regular basis.
A second target segment was made up of eco-conscious
consumers who were looking for a sustainably
produced protein source. “You can call them ethical
vegetarians. You can call them flexitarians,” said
Ashour. “Basically, these are people who are trying to limit
meat in their diets, and they are looking for
creative, exciting food to replace meat.” With growing concern
over the environment and animal welfare,
meat alternatives had been increasing in popularity and had
become established in the consumer psyche.
Aspire estimated that the eco-conscious crowd was 5 per cent of
the market (47 per cent of the total US
population, or about 327 million people) and consumed about
three to five bars each a week as snacks.15
About one in 20 within this segment could be persuaded to buy
Exo bars on a regular basis.

Outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers made up a third
segment (21 per cent of the total US population) and
consumed one to two bars each per week during weekend
activities.16 This group included consumers involved
in activities such as rock climbing, skiing, long-distance hiking,
backcountry hunting, and kayaking—and the
people who aspired to this lifestyle. These individuals saw
themselves as having a personal connection to the
natural world, and they looked for products with a high calorie-
to-weight ratio for easy transport over long
distances. Although this was a smaller market, these individuals
tended to be very brand loyal, and the segment
contained a large number of influencers, who attracted attention
beyond the segment.
Children (10 per cent of total US population) were the fourth
segment being considered; they consumed
about one bar per school day.17 “Typically, we’re thinking that
kids between the ages of two and eight
would be willing to try our product,” said Ashour.
I think it has to do with the fact that they have not been socially
programmed to dislike certain
foods. They might try our cricket snacks with an open mind:
they come for the curiosity, and they
stay for the taste. Because our products are high in protein,
parents would be happy for their kids
to embrace healthier snack choices.
Aspire estimated that children were 5 per cent of the market and
consumed about two bars each a week.
About one in 20 in this segment could be persuaded to buy Exo
bars on a regular basis.
A fifth segment were consumers with food sensitivities or
allergies. While cricket protein could be a

problem for those with shellfish allergies, it had the benefit of
being free from all other major allergens,
including gluten, soy, nut, and dairy. Many cricket bars
(including Exo’s) contained nuts, but Aspire’s
cricket powder and whole-roasted crickets were free from these
allergens. Because of the high risk
14 Amby Burfoot, “Large Study Supports ‘Weekend Warrior’
Approach to Lifetime Fitness, Washington Post, January 24,
2017,
accessed March 31, 2020,
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/large-study-
supports-weekend-warrior-approach-to-
lifetime-fitness/2017/01/23/65c77fb6-dce1-11e6-918c-
99ede3c8cafa_story.html; Kids Count Data Center, “Total
Population
by Child and Adult Populations in the United States,” The
Annie E. Casey Foundation, August 2019, accessed May 4,
2020,
https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/99-total-population-
by-child-and-adult-populations#detailed/1/any/fals e/37,871,
870,573,869,36,868,867,133,38/39,40,41/416,417.
15 Ibid.; CGS, “Consumer Expectations are High for Eco-
Friendly Products, especially with Gen Z Buyers,” News
release,
GlobeNewswire, January 10, 2019, accessed April 3, 2020,
www.globenewswire.com/news-
release/2019/01/10/1686144/0/en/CGS-Survey-Reveals-
Sustainability-Is-Driving-Demand-and-Customer-Loyalty.html.
16 Outdoor Foundation, Outdoor Participation Report 2017, 1,
May 2017, accessed April 3, 2020,
https://outdoorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-
Outdoor-Recreation-Participation-Report_FINAL.pdf.
17 Kids Count Data Center, “Child Population by Age Group in
the United States,” The Annie E. Casey Foundation, August
2019, accessed April 3, 2020,

https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/101-child-
population-by-age-
group#detailed/1/any/false/37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867,133,
38/62,63,64,6,4693/419,420.
https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/101-child-
population-by-age
https://outdoorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-
Outdoor-Recreation-Participation-Report_FINAL.pdf
www.globenewswire.com/news
https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/99-total-population-
by-child-and-adult-populations#detailed/1/any/false/37,871
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/large-study-
supports-weekend-warrior-approach-to

9B20A071
associated with consuming the wrong foods, consumers with
food allergies typically spent extensive time
researching available options and sharing ideas in online
communities, and they became loyal to brands
and companies that provided viable options.
Another possibility would be to broaden the target group to
include millennials in general (24 per cent of
the total US population), who consumed approximately three to
five bars each per week.18 According to a
report on millennials and marketing, “In the US alone there are
about 80 million millennials, making them
larger than any other demographic in the country. There are also
more millennials in the workforce than
other generations, with an expected $1.4 trillion in disposable
income by the year 2020.”19 Aspire believed
the millennial demographic could be a valuable market segment
to target, especially based on the
assumptions that this broad consumer segment was more eco-
friendly and more open to new experiences,
enjoyed innovative products, and consumed trendy foods.
Indeed, the millennial market was attractive to
Aspire for many reasons, especially its size—but the trick was
to figure out who in this large consumer
segment would be most receptive to the company’s message and
evolving product lines.

The Aspire team estimated that it would cost the company a
total of $1 million to target any particular
consumer segment for a one-year period. This would include the
cost of hiring a social media manager and
a brand manager and of carrying out a consistent marketing
campaign that would include search engine
optimization, advertisements on key social media properties,
engagement with influencers and bloggers,
and attendance at conferences.
MAKING A DECISION
The Aspire team wondered which consumers to pursue. They
wanted to take the next few days to analyze
the segments and to finalize their marketing plan. Ashour
summarized their task:
Our challenge, obviously, is, how do we create a brand i dentity
that suits all of these demographics?
Well, the truth is, we can’t. Exo stylistically seems to fit the
first, second, and maybe third group,
but it is not really a kid-friendly looking brand. So there have
been questions about, how do we
reach these targets? Do we have a sub-brand that focuses on
kids? Do we take a different approach?
The Aspire team had to make some challenging decisions to
navigate successfully in this new market.
18 Erin Duffin, “U.S. Population by Generation 2017,” Statista,
August 9, 2019, accessed April 3, 2020,
www.statista.com/statistics/797321/us-population-by-
generation/.
19 Kim Speier, “Why Are Marketers So Obsessed with
Millennials,” Social Media Today, June 10, 2016, accessed
March 31,

2020, www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/why-are-
marketers-so-obsessed-millennials.
www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/why-are-marketers-so-
obsessed-millennials
www.statista.com/statistics/797321/us-population-by-generation
Page 9 9B20A071
EXHIBIT 1: AKETTA CRICKET FLOUR AND WHOLE
ROASTED CRICKETS
Source: Company files.
EXHIBIT 2: EXO PROTEIN BARS

Page 10 9B20A071
EXHIBIT 3: EXO MARKETING

9B20A071
EXHIBIT 4: TOTAL RETAIL SELLING PRICE OF TOP
PROTEIN BAR BRANDS IN SPORTS
NUTRITION CATEGORY (US$ MILLIONS)
Brand Name 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Cliff Bar 774.5 889.8 975.2 1,011.5 1,037.4
Optimum Nutrition 664.3 745.8 834.0 913.4 1,010.3
BSN 477.6 513.1 560.6 612.3 673.4
Quest 337.5 413.5 429.0 443.5 477.3
RXBar 8.7 48.1 173.6 333.5 353.0
GNC 311.8 289.4 273.4 257.1 242.2
Pure Protein 189.6 189.5 184.4 171.1 172.8
Luna Bar 113.6 115.3 119.1 115.9 115.1
Labrada 72.4 69.8 70.9 57.2 56.0
Herbalife 30.1 32.2 30.7 31.9 33.0
Allmax 14.8 14.8 16.0 16.7 17.0
Champion Nutrition 9.3 8.6 9.1 9.3 9.3
Balance Bar 38.8 29.8 19.9 8.0 6.4
Source: Euromonitor International, Sports Nutrition in North
America Market Sizes, 2019, accessed April 3, 2020.
EXHIBIT 5: TOTAL MANUFACTURER SELLING PRICE OF
TOP PROTEIN BAR BRANDS IN
SPORTS NUTRITION CATEGORY (US$ MILLIONS)
Brand Name 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Cliff Bar 440.4 506.1 554.6 575.2 589.8
Optimum Nutrition 376.6 423.1 473.2 518.3 573.5

BSN 272.1 292.3 319.4 348.8 383.7
Quest 192.3 235.6 244.4 252.7 272.0
RXBar 4.9 27.4 98.9 190.0 201.1
GNC 176.5 163.7 154.5 145.3 137.0
Pure Protein 108.0 107.9 104.9 97.3 98.2
Luna Bar 64.2 65.2 67.3 65.4 64.9
Labrada 41.3 39.8 40.4 32.6 31.9
Herbalife 17.1 18.4 17.5 18.2 18.8
Allmax 6.9 6.9 7.5 7.8 7.9
Champion Nutrition 4.3 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.4
Balance Bar 22.1 17.0 11.3 4.6 3.6
Source: Euromonitor International, Sports Nutrition in North
America Market Sizes, 2019, accessed April 3, 2020.
ASPIRE FOOD GROUP: MARKETING A CRICKET PROTEIN
BRAND THE MARKET FOR INSECT PROTEIN COMPANY
HISTORY Aspire Food Group and the Aketta Brand The Exo
Brand COMPETITION CONSUMERS Consumer Segments
MAKING A DECISION EXHIBIT 1: AKETTA CRICKET
FLOUR AND WHOLE ROASTED CRICKETS EXHIBIT 2:
EXO PROTEIN BARS EXHIBIT 3: EXO MARKETING
EXHIBIT 4: TOTAL RETAIL SELLING PRICE OF TOP
PROTEIN BAR BRANDS IN SPORTS NUTRITION
CATEGORY (US$ MILLIONS) EXHIBIT 5: TOTAL
MANUFACTURER SELLING PRICE OF TOP PROTEIN BAR
BRANDS IN SPORTS NUTRITION CATEGORY (US$
MILLIONS)

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