Salad Bowl Branding

Welcome! Salad Bowl Branding provides briefings on America's shifting specialty food markets, the changing tastes of consumers, demographic and industry trends and growth opportunities in the consumer packaged goods sector. Learn More about us.

Chobani Greek Yogurt, Product Review

Salad_Bowl_Brandin_Chiobani

http://www.chobani.com/

To develop a product launch strategy we were asked to try The 17 Day Diet. After 3 months, it has changed our eating habits for the long term.  Chobani Greek Yogurt is a big reason for that.

When polled, we found that most of our group thought they would not be able to live without eating pasta, bread, rice and many other carbohydrate rich products. For some, these types of foods are part of their culture, a flavor of their heritage, which posed other challenges.

However, after a lifetime of eating starchy foods, trying a higher protein, pro biotic and low fat eating choice was very inciting.  Our office began eating more cottage cheese, Kefir and Greek yogurt, especially Chobani.

We started with the plain and immediately noticed its unique thick, rich and creamy texture. Nothing like any yogurt on the shelf. This was a new flavor profile. And the packaging was elegant and clean with a unique profile using fine product illustration. Shortly after their demand exceeded production we hear that Dannon launched a copy cat line, albeit with a slightly slender profile.

The familiar “fruit on the bottom” concept so successful in the past is re-energized. Some may choose to stir it up. But many of us enjoyed the taste so much we ate it one slow spoonful at time with the tip coated in fruit on the bottom.

The brand has grown rapidly with a complete line of popular fruit flavors. We hear that Big box orders are up and the larger packs are selling out.

Thanks to the makers of Chobani for becoming part of a healthier lifestyle choice for our team and for inspiring new appreciations for authentic, specialty imported foods.

Visit the Chobani site: http://www.chobani.com

Get Chobani coupons: http://www.chobani.com/coupons

Ferrara Specialty Foods: Heritage Brand Finds Mainstream Appeal

Ferrara_cafe_artFor over 100 years the Ferrara brand restaurant/store in New York City’s Little Italy has been an icon offering pastries and imported confections. The store did so well that it began packaging and marketing many of its products outside to a broad market.

As the brand grew it had a very unorganized identity because so many different people influenced it over the years. Finally, a new sales distributor company purchased the brand and began to unify the image into a cohesive brand and set a solid marketing direction.

Italian specialty foods have been an influence on main stream consumer tastemakers for years. Internal brand research showed that the brand was known primarily as a confectionery brand but it did not have a very competitive identity. Poor photography, confusing logo, and uneven print quality contributed to the low cost identity.

The Problem

OLD_FerraraFerrara Before

Other brands of lesser quality looked more upscale and had better shelf impact. Line was old looking and lacked appetite appeal. Stock or poor photography detracted taste perceptions. Hard to read type with busy graphics – standard fare for production artists. Sales were down and front line brokers and buyers were unmotivated with line.

The solution

It was decided by management and supported by consumer research that the brand needed to compete at a higher level for to gain buyer and consumer attention. It was determined that the brand name had significant recognition but the packaging was not taking advantage of this benefit

OLD_Ferrara

Ferrara After

The brand packaging design agency, Arcanna was hired to enhance the value of the product line by strengthening the brand name on the packages.

A new logo was created, new product photography was taken and a complete new packaging identity using appealing bright blue colors with a subtle motif in the background to add to the upscale value of the brand.

The brand now is positioned to appeal to those consumers looking for a high quality imported Italian specialty product. The shelf impact has been greatly improved and brand name significantly strengthened.

Ferrara

It’s just what the brand needed, a new look, and an upscale identity for a quality imported product. Consumers now recognize the brand and our sales force is positive and confident when they market the Ferrara brand.” Rick Ciccotelli, President, AlanRic Distributors.


Southwestern Specialty Foods Line Gets A New Look...

And Shifts Focus to Mainstream Market Share

ElRio_Before_LowOffering an extensive line of sauces, seasonings, beans and shells, el Rio’s product line needed to be upgraded in order to reflect the company’s strategic initiatives to improve quality and provide “all natural appeal” due to newly added ingredients.

At the same time, the product line needed to be positioned more aggressively against challenger brands–like Old El Paso and Ortega—that were winning the lion’s share of mainstream dollars.

Findings and challenges:

Through internal brand research, Arcanna found the el Rio brand lacked any efforts at pushing the product through the sales cycle, with a tired look, lack of marketing programs and promotional budget resulting in flat sales. Further, the brand was suffering from a limited following and mainly being purchased by consumers looking for an inexpensive product not an appealing brand.

Most importantly, with Spanish foods a now-favorite and frequent purchase by mainstream audiences, el Rio management was not taking advantage of the dramatic increase in demand for ethnic foods by mainstream audiences.

ElRio_After_Low Solutions:

Reinvigorating brand image. The brand name el Rio (which translates to “the river” in Spanish) was featured more prominently on all product packaging to improve its recognition to consumers. Additionally, a new brand logo was created to reflect the name’s meaning with the  use of warm colors to enhance the Southwestern appeal, and improve perception of the product line’s quality.

Marketing the end-product benefit. The goal was to expand the audience and increase sales to consumers by making the category item more “appetite appealing” by developing a brand package that placed focus on the delicious end-product dishes that the products are pivotal in creating. Therefore, emphasis was placed on product photography and imagery than product name.

Positioning product as inexpensive but still appealing to variety. el Rio has been repositioned to target mainstream audiences with ever-expanding interests in Spanish products who are open to trying alternative brands due to their curiosity in ethnic offerings, desire for more variety in their diet and the product delivering quality at a reasonable price point.

Note: image at top left reflects brand packaging before brand and positioning enhancements, with image at center right reflecting work done by Arcanna.
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Visit the el Rio site, click here.

Seg 3 – Case Studies (6:15)