“Sustainability is at the core of our brand strategy and is integral in every decision that we make. Partnering with NIQ for the packaging, communication and pricing research has helped us define how to communicate about sustainability in a way that resonates with consumers.”
London, September 8, 2025: Founded in 2016, sustainable, affordable luxury bamboo tissue paper brand Cheeky Panda has grown into a business with an eight-figure turnover in just nine years. Currently at a pivotal moment in the company’s growth journey and poised to take the ‘bamboo revolution’ mainstream, the brand owners partnered with NIQ for support with its packaging, communication and pricing strategy.
Julie Chen, CEO and co-founder of The Cheeky Panda, explains the primary objectives of this collaboration: “We wanted to root our rebrand strategy in insights into people’s key priorities when shopping our categories to tailor our offer to genuine needs. As a fast-growing challenger brand, we have lots of messages we want to communicate on a limited media budget. This research will ensure we are laser-focused on the elements of our brand proposition that resonate with consumers to help fuel our growth in the next phase of the brand’s journey. Also, as we are at a key stage in our story, having powerful insights from NIQ could help us unlock further retail opportunities and fuel our expansion.”
Driving brand recognition and visibility through optimal pack design.
Cheeky Panda had several messages it wanted the redesign to communicate:
- commitment to using sustainable bamboo in its products
- excellent quality and, in particular, the softness of the paper
- the brand’s playful personality.
At the same time, it was essential to maintain key elements of the previous look and feel to protect the positive brand equity built over the last nine years. For instance, Cheeky Panda knew from qualitative consumer feedback that the panda mascot is memorable, so it was essential to elevate this distinctive, fun character and make him iconic.
NIQ tested three new potential design routes against the previous packaging to evaluate their impact on consumer perception. Using NIQ Pack Survey+, the team assessed all aspects of the new designs. NIQ used eye-tracking to measure findability on the shelf, including the hierarchy of messages on the front of packs, consumer sentiment compared to competitors, and purchase preference. From this work, Cheeky Panda optimised the design, prioritising the message that consumers felt was most important – product softness – and adjusting the front-of-pack design.
Julie says: “One of the most valuable insights from NIQ’s packaging research was confirming that, first and foremost, consumers want to ensure that a product works well. We have so many sustainability-related messages that it was beneficial for us to test that we were using the right claims in the right places to resonate with our consumers.”
Communicating that the switch to sustainable toilet paper does not compromise on quality.
Cheeky Panda had two potential communication routes to test in the second phase of the research programme for the back of the packs and leading marketing messages. NIQ used its Quick Predict Restage solution to test the two proposed options against the current content.
The first route was ‘Join the Bamboo Revolution’, embodying the brand’s goal to help stop deforestation by switching to sustainable bamboo. The second was ‘Be More Panda’, which encourages consumers to make small, sustainable swaps that, together with other customers’ actions, can lead to significant change.
The research identified a clear winner – ‘Join the Bamboo Revolution’. For Cheeky Panda, this messaging helps consumers understand the exceptional properties of bamboo and why it is perfect for everyday paper essentials such as toilet paper. The research revealed that through emphasising why it uses bamboo, alongside the product’s silky soft texture and its gentleness on the skin, customers had a strong reason to believe in the Cheeky Panda brand and felt connected to its mission.
Messaging highlighting Cheeky Panda’s passion for ending deforestation and the role bamboo plays in that is therefore prominent on the new pack designs. Boosted by the confidence that this positioning resonates with consumers, inspires brand trust and can drive a volumetric uplift if executed correctly, the brand team implemented the learnings from the research immediately, aligning all communications with the ‘Bamboo Revolution’ positioning.
Driving growth through an effective pricing strategy.
In the third phase of the project, NIQ used its Restage Volume Forecast and Price Advisor solution to help Cheeky Panda determine the best way to price the product to drive mainstream appeal. NIQ was able to demonstrate that a lower price point would increase the brand’s attractiveness, encouraging shoppers to try it.
This insight encouraged the Cheeky Panda team to launch a new pack with a slightly lower sheet count comparable to that of market leaders. Although this idea had been proposed before, there was no data-backed evidence to support it. This change has helped the brand improve the outcome of retailer conversations, demonstrating its ability to deliver incremental sales and resulting in some potential new product listings.
This phase of the project illustrated the level of promotional pricing required to unlock sufficient growth to offset the decrease in revenue per unit. Cheeky Panda are now confident in the commercial viability of the new pricing strategy and that it offers the best value to our consumers.
Julie Chen, CEO and co-founder of The Cheeky Panda, says: “The research has had a significant impact on our business at a pivotal time – from refining how we communicate on our packs, to our primary brand messaging and our entire pricing strategy. Utilising data and insights from a trusted source like NIQ has increased the quality of our customer meetings and has opened up some new opportunities for us. NIQ tailored the research to our exact business requirements. Crucially, as a small company, we thought that insights of this quality, scale and scope were out of our price range, so we’ve been delighted by the outcome of the collaboration.”
The research showed that while being environmentally friendly is a driver of purchase, it has a low impact on purchase intent. Consumers want brands that are good value and that they trust to meet their needs.
About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behaviour and revealing new pathways to growth. Our global reach spans over 90 countries covering approximately 85% of the world’s population and more than $7.2 trillion in global consumer spend. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™.
For more information, please visit www.niq.com
