In November 2013, the 301 Inc. division of General Mills, Inc. jumped into the emerging "subscription economy" with nibblr, a personalized snacking service. Customers utilized online tools to select and rate their deliveries. The nibblr team reached these consumers primarily through interactive marketing. It was a completely a new approach for the company: a small entrepreneurial team learning as it worked, direct response mechanisms of the consumers, technology that enabled product delivery, and lots of experimentation. In the first four months, nibblr wasn't acquiring customers as quickly as it had hoped. The 301 Inc. team was considering a number of other marketing ideas for getting the word out about nibblr, but which ones would succeed? This case has been used in Darden's required marketing course.
