From D2C to National Shelves: Relaunching Festive as a Snack Culture Brand

The Challenge

When Festive came to us, they weren’t on shelf. The brand was selling only through Amazon and their own D2C site — a quiet presence in a booming snack market. The product had undeniable crunch and flavor, but the brand lacked identity, a clear audience, and the strategic foundation to break into retail.

Festive needed more than a packaging facelift. They needed a complete relaunch that would:

• Define their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for the first time
• Build a brand that earned trust with families while exciting new consumers
• Scale from digital channels into national retail distribution

The Solution

We helped Festive find their true audience: the Snack-Obsessed Mom. She’s a Millennial parent, shopping at Walmart and Amazon, looking for snacks that check all the boxes: fun enough for kids, flavorful enough for adults, and clean enough to trust.

With Mom as the anchor ICP — and Gen Z snack adventurers as a secondary audience — we rebuilt Festive’s brand from the ground up:

• Brand Identity: Crafted a bold, animated aesthetic — vibrant colors, dynamic illustrations, and anti-vanilla energy designed to cut through the clutter.
• Packaging System: Relaunched six flavors, and launched two new flavors with packaging that radiates flavor and fun, using unique emblems (flames, waves, spirals) to make each variety unforgettable. Packaging covered individual bags, shelf ready cases, D2C mailers, and in-store display units.
• Digital Expansion: Built the new website snackfestive.com as the hub of Festive’s brand world, developed an Amazon A+ storefront, launched on Walmart.com (now one of the fastest-growing channels), and activated TikTok Shop to meet consumers where they are.
• Sales & Retail Strategy: Developed pricing models, retailer pitch decks, and launch plans that translated Festive’s new brand into shelf-ready execution.
• Operational Backbone: Partnered with leadership on an end-to-end operations plan — aligning production, logistics, and fulfillment with Festive’s new retail and digital growth strategy.

"Melinda has never lost sight of the team, meaning Brandtender as a whole. That's been really good for me personally because I know she's got my back."

• Creative Platform: Campaigns like “Feel the Crunch” and “Crave the Crunch” turned snacking into a lifestyle, leaning into archetypes of The Jester, The Lover, and The Innocent.
• Content Strategy: Photography and video built around real, playful, unfiltered moments — snack rituals that felt authentic whether captured in a kid’s lunchbox or a college dorm hangout.
• Retail Readiness: End-to-end support for packaging, retailer collateral, and trade show presence to secure new distribution.
• Omnichannel Push: Bridged Amazon, Walmart.com, and social media to unify the consumer journey.
• Ops Enablement: Created systems and processes that ensured the brand could scale smoothly from D2C and Amazon into big-box retail.

The Results

• +1,870% YOY revenue growth
• 35+ SKUs launched with bold, family-friendly packaging
• Expanded distribution from Amazon/D2C into Walmart.com and retail partners
• Built snackfestive.com as the digital home for the brand
• Operational plan implemented to support supply chain, inventory, and fulfillment at scale
• Brand voice amplified through influencer campaigns, TikTok activations, and digital-first storytelling

Festive is no longer just a chickpea snack company — it’s a snack culture brand. By centering the Snack-Obsessed Mom while still resonating with younger secondary audiences, Festive built trust at home while sparking discovery online.

The result: a brand that earns a place in the lunchbox, the pantry, and the TikTok feed — proving that better-for-you snacking can be bold, fun, and unstoppable.

"Having Brandtender, not just with us but also at the forefront is allowing me to do what I'm good at, which is quarterbacking. I know what I have, I know all the tools, I just need the help to distribute and put everything together.”