THE OVERVIEW
Dafgårds
CLIENT
Dafgårds
Dafgårds
INDUSTRY
Food & Beverage
Food & Beverage
SOLUTIONS
Category Insight
Brand Tracking
Brand Asset Study
Campaign Measurement
Category Insight
Brand Tracking
Brand Asset Study
Campaign Measurement
THE CHALLENGE
Rebuilding trust after a crisis
In 2013, Dafgårds was impacted by the horse meat scandal. The response was silence – years of low-profile communication while focus turned inwards. By 2019, leadership saw a new opportunity: to unlock the brand’s full potential. But the question remained, where to start?
Frozen food gets crowded
The frozen food category had become a more competitive space. New players entered the scene, and traditional strengths like quality and locality were no longer enough. Dafgårds needed to move beyond heritage and claim a position built on relevance, differentiation and growth.
New expectations, new demands
Consumers were shifting their focus, towards health, sustainability and convenience. For Dafgårds, this meant walking a fine line: modernise the brand and meet new expectations, while staying true to the values that had built long-term trust. A new image had to be built without compromising the foundation.
Awareness without conversion
Despite high brand recognition, there was a clear gap when it came to actual purchase behaviour. The challenge: turn awareness into action. How could Dafgårds convert familiarity into sales, and keep customers coming back?
The solution
From data to direction
A strategic compass built on insight
In 2019, Dafgårds partnered with Nepa to conduct a comprehensive Category Insight study. The goal was to gain a clearer understanding of the frozen food landscape, what drives consumer choice, and how Dafgårds was positioned. The results laid the foundation for a unified direction and became a long-term reference point across the organisation.
Brand tracking that evolves with the market
To stay relevant in a changing category, Nepa implemented ongoing brand tracking. This allowed Dafgårds to monitor shifts in perception, identify trends early, and adapt quickly. Insights weren’t just used for campaign tweaks, they informed strategic planning and helped optimise resource allocation.
Strengthening brand equity with Brand Asset Study
In 2024, Nepa conducted a Brand Asset Study to map out Dafgårds’ most valuable brand elements and uncover areas of untapped potential. The study gave the team a sharper understanding of how sub-brands and key personalities were perceived, and helped prioritise creative and strategic efforts.
Test. Learn. Scale.
Dafgårds moved away from relying solely on pre-testing. Instead, they embraced a test-and-learn approach, launching new concepts directly into the market and using Nepa’s campaign measurement tools to evaluate real-world performance. What worked was scaled. What didn’t was refined or shelved. And with all media produced in-house, Dafgårds could move quickly, closing the gap between insight and execution.
THE RESULT
From recovery to market leader
Dafgårds’ commitment to research-driven brand building paid off. With confidence in the insights, the company increased its marketing investment by 600 percent. And the results followed: where a key competitor had once dominated market share, Dafgårds now leads the category by a wide margin.
While market dynamics played a role, Dafgårds’ consistent and systematic approach was central to its turnaround. Insights became a daily tool – not just for campaign decisions, but for board-level planning and long-term vision work.
One example: the decision to pause and later relaunch Billys and Gorbys was backed by research. That meant the brands could return to market stronger, more relevant – and better positioned to grow.
The lesson: insights that drive action
Dafgårds is proof of what happens when insights are used the right way. By embedding data and analysis into everything from creative to investment strategy, they’ve built a stronger brand and a platform for long-term growth.
“What makes our partnership with Nepa so valuable is that insights never gather dust. They are used continuously, both for major strategic decisions and to optimise our campaigns. It has given us the courage to invest and the confidence to know we’re making the right choices.”
Matilda Ward, Head of Marketing at Dafgårds
50+
Markets researched globally
300+
Blue chip clients worked with annually
7,500+
Brands and campaigns tracked daily
CASE STUDIES
Advancing together strongly
Learn from successful collaborations how our insights fuel transformation and drive sustained business growth.
Standing out in a sea of sameness: Hemköp’s strategic transformation with Nepa. Read the full client case with results here.
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From insight to impact: How SBAB transformed its market strategy and accelerated growth with Nepa’s analytics suite
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Measuring brand advertising impact for If Insurance across the Nordics — and turning insight into momentum
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Transform data into Business success
Turn complex data into clear, actionable strategies that drive
business growth and customer satisfaction.
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