How Colcom increased their bacon portfolio sales by over 25% which translated to an additional US$1.2m in sales

SITUATION

Colcom, part of Innscor Africa, is an established legacy brand, which for decades enjoyed a monopoly as the pork products producer of choice. With over 250 product lines, Colcom consistently exceeds US$100M in annual revenue.
In recent years, the brand faced increasing competition from up-and-coming challenger brands, specifically in the bacon arena, and the company’s conservative approach to advertising and marketing led to major in-roads being made by these competitors.
In a price-sensitive market, new players in the industry were cutting into Colcom’s market share, where retail fridge space was becoming cluttered with cheaper options for the consumer.
Colcom was not playing to its strength in the sector, which is the exceptional and consistent quality of the product, where it was even identified by Colcom leadership that they had every reason to believe this product was the “best in the world”.
The Board and Senior Management were more product than brand-focused, resulting in a decision-making vacuum with respect to the abundance of creative branding activities proposed by their creative agency. Colcom, needed to wake up from this state of paralysis and prove again why it was the market go-to for quality pork products, particularly through its flagship bacon line.

Volumes had shrunk to 1.4% of the total domestic premium lager portfolio.
Product trial had fallen to 0.25%.
No above-the-line, below-the-line or social media presence.
Pitching against 8 large creative agencies, Openminds successfully won the business.

Irvine's is Zimbabwe's largest chicken and egg manufacturer.
Studies found that egg protein provided the most cost-effective way of nourishing the nation with high quality protein.
Irvine's wanted to increase awareness about the health benefits of egg consumption.
Their marketing budget was exhausted, limiting awareness to their "owned" social media channels - primarily Facebook.
Their Facebook following was very small, with just under 2,000 followers.
Openminds was engaged to see if there was anything we could do to help on a shoestring budget.

Cimas is the largest independent healthcare provider in Zimbabwe, comprising medical aid, laboratories, clinics, dialysis, optical, drug and emergency rescue services.
Cimas was viewed by its members as 'old-world' from recent research findings.
- The Cimas master brand was 75 years old, and the five divisional brand identities were made up of uninspiring clipart.
Stiff competition existed in the healthcare sector and regulatory issues were challenging as Government launched their own national healthcare service (mandatory for Civil Servants).
Cimas had a high claims/loss ratio (94.2%).
They had recently lost their Group Marketing Director, resulting in a decision-making vacuum.
The Board had recently appointed a visionary CEO, who engaged Openminds for consultancy and to perform the role of their Group Marketing Director.