In better-for-you foods, consumers are often forced into a trade-off: nutrition or taste.
Barilla saw an opportunity to deliver both, without compromise. Delivering protein consumers want while preserving the taste experience they expect.
Reignite growth for Barilla Protein+ by recruiting health-conscious consumers who had migrated toward protein-forward alternatives.
Objective
ROLE
Commerce Strategy + Integrated Media Planning + Shopper Activation
CHANNELS
Digital • Social • Retail Media • Shopper Marketing • E-commerce • CRM
PARTNERSHIPS
Strava
For health-conscious consumers, pasta had become a trade-off between taste and nutrition and were increasingly abandoning the pasta aisle in favor of protein-forward alternatives.
Barilla needed to reposition Protein+ pasta as a credible option for active lifestyles, reinforcing taste while communicating the functional benefits of protein.
The Challenge
Extend the brand platform into a U.S. commerce strategy that connected everyday movement with meal occasions, positioning Protein+ as the fuel behind active lifestyles for the everyday athletes balancing workouts, workdays, and busy lives.
Opportunity
Today’s athletes aren’t just professionals.
They’re everyday people balancing workouts, workdays, and busy lives, often tracking those activities through fitness apps and digital communities.
Meeting consumers inside those behaviors created a natural way to connect Protein+ to real-life movement.
Strategic Insight
The Idea
Protein+ Energy Challenge
A commerce-driven platform connecting movement, nutrition, and everyday athletic achievement.
The program localized Barilla’s brand campaign into a U.S. activation plan spanning media, retail, and digital engagement, positioning Protein+ as the fuel behind active lifestyles.
Execution
Commerce Strategy
Developed a full-funnel activation plan translating the global campaign into a U.S. media and shopper framework.
The program prioritized key retailers and leveraged retail media, contextual targeting, and conversion-focused messaging to guide consumers from awareness to purchase.
Cultural Engagement
To connect the brand authentically to movement culture, Barilla partnered with Strava, meeting active consumers where they already tracked their workouts.
The Protein+ Energy Challenge invited participants to log runs, rides, and workouts; linking everyday athletic effort to the brand’s nutrition message.
Shopper Conversion
Retail activations, digital media, and e-commerce integrations connected participation to product discovery and purchase across priority retailers.
Together the program created a connected commerce ecosystem linking brand storytelling, engagement, and conversion.
The program successfully repositioned Protein+ as fuel for active lifestyles, reconnecting the brand with health-conscious consumers while delivering measurable business results.
Impact
119,949
Participants joined the Strava challenge
15M+
Exercise miles logged during the program
+25.7%
Sales growth vs. PY
+4%
Category growth vs. PY
90%
Future purchase intent among participants