Rio Mare is the number one canned tuna brand in Italy — a household name with decades of European heritage. But in the U.S., the brand was starting from scratch. As Rio Mare worked to introduce itself to American shoppers and secure retail listings, they needed more than a great product. They needed proof.

Entering a crowded, price-sensitive category dominated by well-established conventional brands, Rio Mare faced the challenge of earning shelf space at retailers who had no data on how their shoppers would respond to a premium, imported tuna. Without a track record in the U.S. market, every buyer conversation was an uphill climb.

Rio Mare partnered with Social Nature to run a geo-targeted sampling campaign through their Kroger distribution, using a carefully designed pre-trial survey to capture not just purchase intent, but where shoppers also buy their groceries. That intentional question meant the campaign data could be segmented by retailer — giving Rio Mare Sprouts-specific insights from shoppers who already shop there, without ever having been on a Sprouts shelf.

Using Social Nature’s retailer-specific reports, the team packaged those insights into a ready-made sell-in deck — built around the storyline a buyer needs to hear in a 20-minute meeting. The deck showed how many Sprouts shoppers tried Rio Mare, what they thought of it and how likely they were to buy it again. As Dana Lusted, Digital Brand Manager at Wild Planet (Rio Mare’s sister brand), explained, “We were able to put together an informational deck that showed, hey, Sprouts, we don’t have to bring up Kroger at all — but here’s all of the information from a sampling campaign that shows how many people would actually be interested in buying it in your store.”

With over 3,000 units sold and 82% repurchase intent, the campaign proved the brand’s immediate appeal. Rio Mare also collected over 1,300 verified reviews to be syndicated across their brand and retailer sites, strengthening their credibility as they establish a foothold in the U.S. market. But beyond the numbers, the retailer-specific report generated through Social Nature gave Rio Mare’s sales team something far more powerful than a pitch deck: a data-backed narrative built entirely around the Sprouts shopper.

Even though Sprouts had already passed, the deck gave Rio Mare a compelling reason to go back. “I think it’s really valuable to have a follow-up conversation showing the buyer — sorry that you missed out, but we want to show you all of this supporting information that clearly states people like to shop at Sprouts and they would buy this product,” Dana noted.