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Brand Development, Market Research, Product Development for the Conscious Foodie

Presented by egg Nov 19, 2014

1. Us

2. Everything you need to know about branding

3. Diving into the universe of your audience

4. How to bring your brand to life

5. Some product development stories

Who we are

A full-service brand communications firm that helps sustainable brands succeed

Our services

Full service branding and communications agency:

• Brand development • Market research: quantitative

and qualitative • Design • Product development • Product / service naming

• Packaging • Digital / social marketing • Events, guerilla, on-the-ground • Advertising – old / new school • Shopper marketing

Before egg

egg food experience

Foundations

Why do 85% of new products and services fail within six months or fall significantly short of forecasted profits? Believe it or not, the reasons for failure boil down to a common, deceptively simple truth. Too many marketers don’t understand how their own and their consumers’ minds interact.

— How Customers Think, Gerald Zaltman

Integral approach

What is a brand?

• A brand is not the mark or logo, the product, the service, the company

• Brand = set of attributes that exists in the heart and the mind of the consumer

• Engages emotions and rationality

Why build a brand?

$4$1

• Determine what is relevant and compelling about your brand

• Make certain that communications engage both “sides” of the brain: rational and emotional

• Tell your story in a way that builds emotional connections to change attitudes and behavior

How we build brands

company / product / culture

competition customer

BRAND

Every point of contact

C

COMMUNITYEVENTS

INTERACTIVE

OUTREACH, GRASSROOTS

BRAND IDENTITY

COLLATERAL

RETAIL

PACK DESIGN

ADVERTISING

PR

NEWSLETTERPROMOTIONS

BRAND IDEA

Branding 2.0

1. Replaces the old model of a separate and controllable external brand image.

2. In the new model, an organization’s true values replace the external brand image.

3. It’s all about authenticity and transparency.

Branding 1.0 / external image

Branding 2.0 / image circumvented

Branding 2.0 / brand as expression of values

Branding 2.0 / customer compatability

Who is driving interest in your product?

> Environmental responsibility > Social responsibility, including fair trade and worker fairness > Overall health, including physical, emotional and spiritual well-being > A sense of authenticity and “realness,” simple living > Impact on local communities and small, independent businesses > Corporate reputation and ethical responsibility > Seeking control in an increasingly chaotic world

Who is the conscious consumer?

7% 70%

deep green recyclebuy some organic

Audience: the conscious consumer

The Conscious Foodie

Here’s what they care about:

– Local / artisanal / heritage – Handmade / craft / DIY / homegrown / indie – CSA / farmer’s market / food co-op / farm-to-table – Organic / grass-fed / natural / fresh / sustainable – Unprocessed / whole / real – Authentic / honest / simple – Deep / raw / textured / urban rustic

At the vanguard of a deep revolutionary shift:

Redefining cultural norms

• Bigger-is-better to small-is-beautiful • Global brand to local brand

• Imperfect-is-good • Small farms-as-hotspots, farmers-as-hipsters,

street food-as-fine dining, high unpretentiousness-as-high-sophistication, traditionalism-as-cool

• Gardens, not lawns. The Gen-Y farmer. The olde-country aesthetic. Apron/beard revival. Lumbersexual.

• Voluntary and not-quite-so-voluntary simplicity

The Conscious Foodie

Hipster farmers

Hipster butchers

Hipster food producers

Hipster food producers

Incubators galore

A deep yearning: Farmville

How to create a brand new brand

Bringing a brand to life

1. Product idea - “white space” 2. Research / Brand platform 3. Look and feel (design)

Product development primer

1. Ready-to-eat differentiates a brand

2. Ready-to-eat can mean higher margins

3. Tap into ingredients you already have easy access to

4. Look for white spaces in the marketplace

5. Look for trends and countertrends

6. Tap into history, traditions

7. Consider velocity

The role of research, and how to get it right

• Good research is vital to product success

• You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do good research

• But it’s really easy to do bad research, even if you do spend

a lot of money

• Today’s goal: to help you do smart inexpensive research

Amy’s: a $300MM Company that hasn’t spent a dime on research

The role of research, and how to get it right

1. Types of research

2. Audience psychology

3. Product development

4. Brand platform development

5. Design development

6. Post-deployment observationand action

The role of research: types

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

• Ethnographic

The role of research: audience psychology

• People are creatures of habit

• People are afraid of new things

• People have little ability to introspect

• People react emotionally and rationalize afterwards

• People do not (generally) want to “rock the boat” or look foolish in front of peers

• Some people will be contrarian for reasons that have nothing to do with you

and your products

• People are most honest when they don’t think they’re being observed or judged

• The conscious foodie is ego-entwined with food, and thrills for exciting and

wonderful new stuff to talk about.

The role of research: product development

• Some products are just plain bad, some are too far behind the

times, some are too far ahead of the times.

• Pay attention to who is giving you information

• Most people have little ability to discriminate tastes

• Look for spontaneous glimmers and moans

The role of research: brand platform development

THE BRAND PLATFORM

• The foundation for all marketing materials

• Comes out of the discovery phase

• Serves as the foundation for all marketing communications

• Ensures the consistency of communication that is the hallmark of all successful brands

company / product / culture

competition customer

BRAND



1. Positioning: Defines the business you’re in, your competitive

advantage, and your key consumer benefit

2. Audience needs: What your target audience both needs to have

and would like to have with the company they do business with

3. Brand attributes: Your core functional characteristics that meet

your audience needs


THE BRAND PLATFORM


THE BRAND PLATFORM

4. Brand promise: Your commitment to your target audience

5. Brand promise support: Why you can make that commitment

6. Brand values: The core beliefs by which your company

operates

7. Brand essence: Why you do what you do

Positioning

Brand X is a _____________________________________ That ___________________________________________ For ____________________________________________

Business you’re in, competitive advantage, key benefit, target audience

• “For the conscious foodie who needs special food

experiences, Alter Eco is an integrally-oriented,

sustainability-directed food company that discovers and

provides natural foods with deep and unique stories from

locales around the world.”

• “Guayaki yerba mate is a life-changing plant-based stimulant

for people who are alive to themselves and the world.”

Positioning

“Guayaki yerba mate is a life-changing plant based stimulant

for people who are alive to themselves and the world.”

Brand X is a ______________________________________

That ____________________________________________

For _____________________________________________

Positioning

The role of research: design development

• Imagine that your brand is a room, a person, a car, etc.

• Develop designs

• Think through information and messaging

• Make sure that people see and feel what you want them to see and

feel (brand-wise)

• Make sure that key information and messaging is processed the

way you want it to be.

The role of research: post-deployment observation and action

• Be nimble. Plan for change.

• Listen carefully to feedback. Take it with many grains of salt.

• What do people tell you spontaneously? (positive and negative)

• Repeat sales tell you almost everything you need to know (but

consider velocity)

• Use sales data and consumer feedback to inform new product

development.

Bringing the brand to life: look and feel


Name and logo

• Stand out; be original

• Be relevant to your product and story

• Be memorable

• Be pronouncable

• Appeal to emotions and sense of taste

• Be true to who and what you are

• Embrace the quirky / unique wherever possible






• Breakthrough!

• Be honest and open — tell your story

• Be expressive and appeal to emotions

• Embrace the rustic / rough (if appropriate)

• Embrace the quirky / unique wherever possible


Packaging










Communications


Communications

Farmers Market or other retail

• Mouth model: sampling is key!

• Serve thoughtfully and generously

• Give away brochures, recipes

• Signage/education. People love

stories.

• Signage/brochure concept: break

everything down into steps


Merchandising

some product development stories

Identity and Pack Design

Tomato Goodness

• Whole jarred heirloom tomatoes • Bacon, caramelized onion, merlot • Roasted garlic and basil • Spicy red pepper vodka cream

Identity and Pack Design

Tomato Goodness

Goodness is: The sheer sensual delight of eating rapturously delicious foods at their peak Growing foods with love and care, in a rich terroir, using only organic methods to ensure the optimal purity and taste Eating foods that are grown locally, so that everything is harvested at peak, nothing has to travel very far, and dollars go right back into the local economy Supporting the next generation of young farmers and building the much-needed agrarian renaissance

Some branding exercises

Exercise #1

Brand personality and values

Imagine that brand X is a person. Write a paragraph or two about that person. What do they look like? Act like? Do for a living? For fun? What do they believe in? What’s their personality? Their cultural background? What do they believe in?

Brand personality and values

Exercise #2

Positioning

Brand X is a _____________________________________ That ___________________________________________ For ____________________________________________

Business you’re in, competitive advantage, key benefit, target audience

• “For the conscious foodie who needs special food experiences, Alter Eco is an integrally-oriented, sustainability-directed food company that discovers and provides natural foods with deep and unique stories from locales around the world.”

• “Guayaki yerba mate is a life-changing plant-based stimulant for people who are alive to themselves and the world.”

Positioning

“Guayaki yerba mate is a life-changing plant based stimulant for people who are alive to themselves and the world.”

Brand X is a ______________________________________ That ____________________________________________ For _____________________________________________

Positioning

"Eating is an agricultural act." – Wendell Berry

Thanks

[email protected]@eggbranding.com

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