PediaSure targets mothers of young children aged between 1 and 4 years of age, although is suited for children aged 1 to 10 years old. The client defined the consumer as: ‘career mums with young children aged 1-4 years, middle-upper class, living on-the-go lives and wanting the best for their children’. While helpful, this description didn’t distinguish between mothers with children needing PediaSure and those who did not, nor did it capture how those mothers whose children could benefit from PediaSure perceive themselves and their children.

We identified the core target as ‘mums with young fussy eaters’. This term captured a sufficiently wide group of mothers while also tapping into language that mothers themselves used to describe their child’s eating struggles.

In Australia, formulated dietary products such as PediaSure are regulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) under the Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP) Food Standards Code. This code states FSMP advertising must ‘assist consumer understanding of the specific nature of the food, the intended population group and intended special purpose of the food; and provide for safe use by the intended population and to help prevent inappropriate use by those for whom the special purpose food is not intended’. Advertising of FSMP products must also meet broader FSANZ guidelines pertaining to product claims.

PediaSure is a powdered liquid nutritional supplement for children aged 1-10. The brand has had a presence in the Australian market for 30 years, however the potential and expectation for the brand is much higher than the reality given its significant scale in overseas markets. The brand growth has been limited due to parents confusing PediaSure with infant formulas or otherwise failing to see the need for a nutritional supplement. The PediaSure competitor is Sustagen Kid Essentials, which is marketed by the world’s largest food manufacturer in Nestle, and so has significant investment and support behind the brand. The brief from the client was intended for the Australian market initially, but needed to be translatable to other markets, and so had a wide range of global stakeholders.