• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, July 29, 2020

Phenotyping taste buds? That's what she said!

Rachel Drori, CEO of Daily Harvest (inset above), gave an energetic presentation at Wednesday's Brand Insider D2C Summit over Zoom. The company, which markets food, actually phenotypes what consumers like down to the ingredient level. "It starts with deep, emotional connections," she said.

Then, the brand identifies who is an innovator, and early adopter and an early majority along its product development curve, which is shaped like a bell, using information like dayparting usage, ingredient consumption, recipe ratings and a weekly in-person customer chat.

Daily Harvest is then ready to find out what people want that it doesn't have. This engine, as Drori described it, is powerful enough to illustrate the big picture and the white space within it. "It helps us understand the emotional and psychological reasons about why they want it."

The brand also partners with its identified innovators and early adopters to create food and bring it to market in eight weeks. "You get to ride this curve up," she said, "and it is a virtuous marketing cycle. You get more people into the loop, it gives you. more data to perfect the product, more people like it and ..."