Brand:
Clif
Redesigning the business of food for health equity and earth.
Mission:
Focus:
Better snacks for people and planet
Fortune 500 (2025):
#115 (Mondelez)
A values-driven, legacy food brand modernizing its purpose for a new era
Solving for:
Clif Bar had purpose in its DNA—but an evolving stakeholder landscape, growing portfolio, and incoming acquisition meant they needed clarity, cohesion, and proof points. Legacy leadership structures and inconsistent brand articulation risked watering down decades of values-led equity. We were brought in to unify, prioritize, and future-proof.
Resulting in:
Clarity of renewed purpose
Within one year, Clif Bar was acquired for $3 billion—triple its revenue—validating both its business potential and the clarity of its renewed purpose. Internally, teams reported stronger cohesion and faster, more confident decision-making, with playbooks becoming a go-to resource for navigating both day-to-day choices and long-range planning. Most importantly, Clif re-established itself as a modern leader in natural foods and corporate citizenship—grounded in purpose, guided by clarity, and built to lead across its expanding portfolio.
We partnered with internal senior leadership, social impact teams, and external strategy advisors across Clif’s entire brand architecture. Our work engaged decision-makers across departments and disciplines, from legacy leads to emerging brand owners, with the shared goal of building a unifying purpose framework that worked across the flagship and four emerging sub-brands. Through collaborative workshops, internal audits, and cultural landscape analysis, we helped define how Clif should show up now—and years into the future.
Working with:
Cross-portfolio leadership
Five strategic playbooks — for the parent and subrands
We delivered:
Our engagement resulted in the creation of five strategic Playbooks—one for the parent brand and four for its key sub-brands—each built to clarify purpose, codify behavior, and guide decision-making in a way that scaled across contexts. We developed a shared purpose strategy that served as a true north across business units, marketing, and product development. Custom-built brand scorecards enabled internal teams to quickly evaluate initiatives and investments, while a brand stewardship model gave Clif the tools to respond to unplanned cultural moments with alignment, speed, and integrity.
