How Tilray Brands evolves a 28-year-old brand without losing its core
That's exactly where Tilray Brands found themselves with Manitoba Harvest. A 28-year-old hemp-food brand with a loyal base, sitting at the intersection of two fast-growing categories - plant-based protein and functional superfoods — with a real question to answer: could they evolve the brand to capture that growth without unsettling the consumers who made it what it is?
They used Ideally to find out.
The Approach
Rather than make the call on instinct, Tilray put it to consumers. Using Ideally, the team ran a connected series of category-grounded tests, each one building on the last:
Mapped the category. They started by profiling ground-flax users: who's buying, how often, and what drives them. This became the always-on foundation every later test was read against, rather than a one-off sample.
Pressure-tested the proposition. They ran motivation and benefit questions to see what the category actually wants (fiber, digestive health, protein) and which product attributes carry the most weight, so the repositioning leaned on real demand, not assumption.
Tested the claims. Candidate claims were put head-to-head to find which ones move purchase intent, and a brand-switch question gauged appetite for a higher-protein proposition before a single word hit a pack.
Compared concepts. Two product concepts went up against each other so the stronger nutritional story was chosen on evidence, not preference.
Validated the name. Shortlisted names were tested with consumers, with an open-ended follow-up capturing why each name resonated, so the final choice signalled the new positioning without alienating the loyal base.
They then zoomed into the specific geographies where Manitoba Harvest over-indexes, confirming the evolved range would land with the core consumer in the markets that matter most. Every read came back overnight, so the brand could move with confidence.
Why Ideally
For a brand team managing a high-stakes repositioning, two things mattered: speed and trust in the data. Ideally replaced a slow, expensive custom research study with overnight results grounded in category context - so what came back was actionable, not just directional.
Equally important: marketers could explore the data themselves. Test a positioning angle. Check confusion risk on a pack visual. Push on a specific claim. Without waiting on a research team to run the analysis for them.
Results
→ Repositioned a 28-year-old brand into a high-growth superfood category — without losing the consumer base that built it
→ Backed the creative direction with real consumer evidence before anything reached market, removing the guesswork from a high-stakes call
→ Confirmed geographic fit in the markets that matter most, so launch investment went where it would land
→ Caught confusion risk early — the kind of finding that typically only surfaces after you've already shipped
