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.

TASKS

• Openminds was engaged to provide marketing leadership support and assist with a brand segmentation initiative.
• We facilitated widespread stakeholder engagement through a series of brand ideation workshops with the entire Senior Leadership team which revealed key positioning and messaging insights.
• Openminds were tasked with liaising with Colcom’s creative agency to create and approve budget for and launch three major brand marketing initiatives and develop a robust value proposition for the bacon line. The task involved developing a wholesale and retail pricing strategy and an upgrade to the layout of the Colcom Factory Shop.

ACTIONS

• Colcom’s 250 product lines were housed into four segmented brands as follows: Colcom, Oscars, Danmeats, and Value.
• Facing competitors winning by price point, Colcom now laid claim as the superior bacon of choice by virtue of unmatched product quality, under a supremely bold claim of being The World’s Greatest Bacon, to which Colcom was confident as being supported by the product itself, and was so audacious by design, that the consumer would be forced to stand up, take notice and test it.
• Colcom’s Bacon packaging was revamped, and in launching this new look to market, The World’s Greatest Bacon rolled out through a series of out-of-home communications including billboards and moving truck branding, strategically placed posters and print executions, supported very effectively in the digital space through quirky social media content and via a custom game, The Bacon Fry-Off (supported by awesome bacon related prizes with the grand prize of “Win a Year’s Supply of Bacon”).
• On radio, a nostalgic jingle was played, and in addition a multi-sensory, experiential video spot was aired at cinema, supported by the Openminds-originated Colcom Bacon Salt, which was launched to much aplomb, and heightened the overall experience, and subsequent revitalization of the Colcom legacy brand.
• Openminds facilitated pre-launch product trial and sampling through targeted sponsorships of the Nomads Golf Club Nationals event and through the Italian Food Week which involved private cooking lessons at the Colcom Kitchen with celebrity chefs and invited guests comprising retail chain and restaurant owners, reinforcing Colcom’s commitment to key suppliers.

RESULTS

• Colcom Bacon sales by volume were up by over 25% for the same period versus the previous year, which far exceeded the campaign objective of a 10% sales volume increase. This translated to an increase of US$1.2M.
• Colcom’s market share in the segment went up to over 60%, setting them once again as the clear leader of bacon producers in not only Southern Africa, but possibly the World’s Greatest.

Colcom won:

• Ngoma Creative Awards for Campaign of the Year.
• Ngoma Innovation Award for the launch of the Multi-Sensory Bacon Salt.