Strategy that produces results

Walden Farms — Calorie Free Foods

Brand Physical: Key Findings. Since 1972, New Jersey–based Walden Farms — a family-owned company — has been a leader in the healthy foods category. Walden Farms was among the first to bring delicious reduced-calorie, reduced-fat salad dressings to healthy eaters more than 36 years ago.

"Reduced Calorie" was a brand promise consumers could believe. But when Walden Farms Calorie Free Specialties expanded to the only complete line of over 50 different salad dressings, sweet syrups, fruit dips, veggie & chip dips, BBQ sauces, ketchup and pasta sauces — all with no calories, fat, carbs, gluten or sugars of any kind — it sounded too good to be true. And that was a problem… but not insurmountable.

Brand Core. Walden Farms is the only line of over 50 delicious foods made with natural flavors and real ingredients, but no calories, fat, carbs, gluten or sugars of any kind.

Desired Brand Perception. By simply switching to Walden Farms, you can save hundreds of calories every day to help achieve your healthy-eating goals.

Influencer-Driven Communication. To engage dedicated, like-minded dieters, Walden Farms expanded its long relationship with Weight Watchers magazine — a 12-month media commitment, a presence in the "On The Watch" new-product page, classroom materials for meeting rooms, and a relationship with instructors. A strategic partnership with Curves reached its national community of women, and presences in Diabetes Forecast and Diabetes Self-Management plus a Today's Dietitian sampling program extended the brand into every corner of good nutrition. A national Lifetime program, The Balancing Act, reached 93,000,000 households.

Strategic Creative. Every execution explained how the specialties could taste delicious yet have no calories — concentrated natural flavors, real fruit, premium cocoa and natural ingredients — and demonstrated the calorie savings: "Simply by switching, you can easily save 330 calories a day, 10,000 a month, to lose 34 pounds a year… the Walden Way." A new web site reinforced the promise on every page, with appetite-appeal imagery, nutritional support, reviews, a shopping cart, store finder, SEO and recipe e-blast programs.

Imported GranGala — Italy's Answer to Grand Marnier

Brand Physical. Distillerie Stock's primary brand, Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur, was a much less expensive head-to-head competitor to category icon Grand Marnier. Rather than shy away from the giant, management embraced the comparison. The challenge: position GranGala as better, not the same — to both consumers and the trade.

Key Insight. The industry-standard Beverage Testing Institute taste test ranked Imported GranGala #1 in a margarita with 94 points — ahead of Cointreau (89) and Grand Marnier (86). The decision was made to compare only to the leader, Grand Marnier, and never to lead on price (a lower price implies lower quality). GranGala also offered retailers far better margins.

Desired Brand Perception. "Italy's Answer to Grand Marnier." Straight up, on the rocks or in a cocktail, Imported GranGala is better tasting and more enjoyable than Grand Marnier. The Brand Sweet Spot: GranGala as the key ingredient in a margarita — America's favorite cocktail — via a mixologist's "Ultimate Margarita" recipe.

Influencer-Driven Plan (40% consumer / 60% trade). Lacking the $8M and $5M budgets of Grand Marnier and Cointreau, GranGala built a national lifestyle media blanket (a Wine Enthusiast advertorial, in-flight GranGala TV on Delta) and then test-marketed program mixes in high-distribution states. The Texas Plan — driven by nearly 5 million opted-in recipe e-blasts, regional city books, cable TV, radio, pouring events and wild postings — was measured and replicated. Trade efforts added profit-oriented ads, "Publisher's Letters" to the Top 100 retailers, distributor brand videos, national bartender and Hotel F&B recipe contests, and a "Trade-Only Profit Calculator" web site.

Distillerie Stock — Italy's Gift to the World

Distillerie Stock USA celebrated its 60th US anniversary in 2006, with roots going back to 1884 when founder Lionello Stock established Distillerie Stock S.p.A in Trieste, Italy. While 95% of the marketing budget went to Imported GranGala, a dedicated trade-oriented program supported the company's other key brands.

Brand Positioning. Building on a 60-year US history, Distillerie Stock is an importer of superior Italian spirits — an international brand with an Italian heritage, supported by long tradition (since 1884), consistent quality (the founder's "recipe originale") and extraordinary value: "Distillerie Stock. Italy's Gift to the World. Tradition, Quality, Value… Since 1884." A two-page advertorial told the full brand story in The Wine Spectator.

Product Positioning. Each product used the brand platform, then competed in its own category, each with a core strategy, point-of-purchase education and a trade brand-presentation video:

• Imported Stock Vermouth — the #2 imported vermouth: "Makes a good drink a great cocktail," crystal-clear "water white," infused with 50 natural herbs.
• Imported Stock '84 VSOP Brandy — among the world's top five brandies: "Hold greatness in your hand," repositioned for a younger, social audience.
• Imported Stock Liqueurs — the #1 line of imported liqueurs: "After dinner is just the beginning…," 14 renowned liqueurs, recipe originale since 1884.
• Imported Limonce Limoncello — Italy's #1 Limoncello: "This lemon is a winner," promoted via the "Limonce Limonrita" cocktail.

Each line was supported by an all-encompassing trade program — sell sheets, case cards, one-case bins, targeted shelf talkers, wire and freezer racks — to drive sell-through at the point of purchase.

Inner Imaging — The Heart Scan Authority

Brand Physical. Inner Imaging was a start-up conceived as a state-of-the-art medical laser imaging facility to help physicians evaluate coronary artery disease. The "body scanning" market carried negative publicity over accuracy and false alarms — but the public didn't know the difference between lesser-accurate CT scanning and the 99%-accurate EBT (Electron Beam Technology) that Inner Imaging would use, against the backdrop that heart disease is America's #1 killer of men and women.

Brand Nucleus. Inner Imaging is the only heart-scanning facility affiliated with a leading national Heart Institute — the Continuum Heart Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center — with one of America's leading cardiologists as Medical Director.

Desired Brand Perception. You can put your trust in Inner Imaging because we are the Heart Scanning Authority. The strategy: invest only in the most advanced branded technology, anchor the Beth Israel affiliation, specialize in heart scans (leaving tainted "body scanning" to others), and market to physicians to prescribe the scan as part of a yearly physical.

Influencer-Driven Plan. Research showed men neglect their health, and women drive their medical appointments. The program leveraged the influential power of women to get men — and themselves — to have a heart scan. Highly dramatic radio drew a frightening analogy to heart disease; a Valentine's "two scans" promotion became an ongoing tactic; a 12-page brochure and authority-driven web site sealed confidence.

Helmsley Hotels — Classic New York in the European Tradition

Brand Physical. Helmsley's five unique New York properties were well known to upscale travelers worldwide. The famous 1980s "Queen of the Palace" campaign is one of the most enduring in marketing history — but Mrs. Helmsley's legal troubles made her the "Queen of Mean," and post-9/11 travel slumped while the hotels' "old world style" felt dated against contemporary competitors. Helmsley needed re-branding.

Brand Nucleus. Helmsley Hotels offer the sophistication and elegance of a better European hotel, with the uncompromising quality and service synonymous with the Helmsley name. The flagship Helmsley Park Lane on Central Park South became the brand anchor — without Mrs. Helmsley.

Strategic Creative. If not Mrs. Helmsley, then who? Her little dog — truly named "Trouble" — became the ideal ambassador, greeting heads of state, dignitaries and families in the lobby and embodying the friendly, welcoming attitude of an elegant European-style hotel. The plan shifted from small black-and-white ads in the back of the Travel section to full four-color pages in the main news section, plus regional city books within driving distance of New York.

Cohen's Fashion Optical — Fashions for Your Face

Brand Physical. Cohen's was a 75-year-old, 100-store optical retailer in the New York Tri-State area, known for discount prices — suddenly challenged by two category killers, LensCrafters and Pearle Vision, who entered with $40 million in combined marketing versus Cohen's $4 million. Cohen's needed a preemptive, defensible position — and a media strategy that created impact from a budget one-tenth its competitors'.

Insight. There are two kinds of eyeglass wearers: those who see glasses as purely functional, and those who see them as fashion accessories. Consumers perceived the giants as "cookie-cutter" production lines with limited choice and little personal attention. The fashion-minded would pay 10–25% more for the right look.

Brand Sweet Spot. Reposition Cohen's away from "discount" to the "Eyewear Fashion Leader" — even putting the word into the name: Cohen's Optical became Cohen's Fashion Optical, "For the best dressed eyes in New York," stocked with designer frames (Gucci, Dior, Ralph Lauren, FRED, Versace) at great value.

Strategic Creative. Co-branded ads used vendors' photography to piggyback on the large budgets of fashion brands, establishing Cohen's as a designer eyewear retailer while dramatically leveraging its own spend. Free-standing inserts carried the value story; localized headlines made Cohen's the "home town" store, not an impersonal national chain. Brand Ambassadors earned "fashion rewards" for referrals.