From Three Breads to One Brand

Design Management Review, Summer 2004 by Kinsley, Pat

2. Internal marketing. Employees are valuable assets for all organizations. At Irish Pride, each employee should be informed and supportive of the re-positioning in order to help make it successful.

3. Increase sales. Irish Pride hoped to increase sales of their "hero" product-white sliced bread-by 300 percent within a year.

4. Packaging. Bread is a low-involvement purchase, with most consumers not even stopping when shopping the category. The repositioned brand would have to be able to cut through that detachment and engage the consumer directly. Moreover, if the sliced-bread offering improved awareness of the brand, other products in the company's portfolio would benefit.

Strategy

The next step for Neworld was putting a strategy together. After that, we hoped to convince Irish Pride that the company needed a brand audit if it were to build and strengthen its brand. We were well aware that this might be difficult. It's not often that clients feel comfortable with this level of inspection; it's a bit like going to the dentist. But as the saying goes: "No pain, no gain."

It took some time for Irish Pride to fully appreciate that we needed quite a bit of in-depth knowledge if we were to achieve our joint objectives. However-and this testifies to Irish Pride's understanding of the "big picture"-the company eventually passed up the allure of a "quick fix" approach in favor of looking for the most effective strategic direction in which to take its brand. It was clear there were underlying issues that would have to be addressed in order to deliver the brand promise.

Clients always seem to feel vulnerable at this point in the proceedings, and they need careful management to move forward. "People skills" are critical to building bridges at this point, gaining the client's trust and establishing that everyone is on the same team, sharing a common objective: creating a total brand experience.

The Brand Audit

The challenge was to clearly analyze the brand by carrying out a brand audit and tactical reviewresearching and assessing the competition.

A brand audit plots where a brand is situated in relation to the market, discovers what position it wishes to attain, and plots the best route to achieve that positioning. This involves a variety of strategic marketing tools, including:

* Brand assessment

* What does the brand stand for?

* What are the messages it communicates?

* What are its core business, core competencies, core values, ambition, and vision?

* Analyzing the current market focus

* Examining the effectiveness of the current marketing communication strategy

* Examining the visual and verbal presence of the brand through the brand signature

* Examining all contact points (customer service and staff relations, promotional material, printed matter, Web site, signage, internal and external public relations, advertising) and ensuring that the brand is presented through them in the most effective manner possible.

* Exploring potential routes, such as publicity, public relations, advertising, and sponsorship for future brand building