Sales Concepts
Food sector 2018-2019
Developing core ideas for food product sales.
Rol: Copywriter.
Starting point
In the world of small businesses, it is very common for companies to launch with a “bare” product or service: no clear line of communication, no marketing strategy for what they are offering.
In these cases, one of the most useful tools is the sales concept: the idea that highlights the unique benefit of a product or service and gives a business enough personality to build a solid, distinctive brand identity.
It is conceptual work based, on one hand, on user research and target audience analysis and, on the other, on information provided by the company itself. The end result is a piece of copy, generally supported by a visual identity (name and logo) and sometimes a tagline, that will serve as the foundation for all future communications.
The challenges
Naturalbana is a family business that produces meat products using 100% natural raw ingredients and spices. It needs a sales concept to help it position itself as a manufacturer and distributor for other businesses (butchers, supermarkets, restaurants) as well as for the end consumer.
Embrujo del Sur is a small winery producing wines with a protected designation of origin. It needs to stand out on the shelf against competing bottles through a new visual identity and a unique sales concept aimed at distributors.
Working approach
To identify the unique selling proposition each brand needed, I used two methods:
- I worked with the briefs provided by each company to extract the relevant information and conceptualise the most compelling ideas.
- I carried out desk research to understand the competitive landscape and each brand’s target audience.
The briefs also served as the starting point for the art department to begin developing the new visual identities.
Naturalbana
Once the company brief had been analysed and the research completed, the sales concept emerged alongside a tagline.
Sales concept for Naturalbana:
Lo natural sale de dentro (Naturalness comes from within).
This sales concept revolves around the brand’s key differentiator: the quality of a production process that is entirely natural, with no preservatives or artificial ingredients.
Naturalbana grew out of a family tradition rooted in the meat industry. Their way of working, producing using quality raw ingredients and no unnecessary additives, is intrinsic to the company’s philosophy. It is a production method so natural and instinctive that it comes from within: from the DNA of craftspeople who know how to work with raw ingredients and bring out the best in them, without shortcuts or artificial aids.
At the same time, the concept also speaks to the healthy lifestyle that end consumers are looking for when they pick up the product in a supermarket or local butcher’s. Natural is instinctively associated with healthy, and what is most natural and healthy is always what comes from within: the organic, the authentic.
In this way, the concept communicates a single, unique benefit to two different audiences: wholesale clients and end consumers alike.
Embrujo del Sur
The company brief and prior research led me to the right sales concept for the wines.
Sales concept for Embrujo del Sur:
La magia del arte hecha vino (The magic of art, made into wine).
Passion, creativity, energy, duende, art. Magic, in a word.
Flamenco is a way of being and understanding the world that seeps into every corner of life in the South. It is far more than the energetic music that sings of love and longing, of friendship and heartbreak; far more than the dance that shows us how ancient the wound in the human soul is, and how to heal it through the rhythm of a heel striking the floor.
Everyone who travels south falls under its spell, and we wanted to bottle that spell and give it to the world. A conjuring that is invoked on full-moon nights, between the violet of ripening grapes and the intricate arabesque of hands dancing to malagueñas. The sweet treasure of Embrujo del Sur is a gift for any palate thirsting for beauty, magic, and art in a glass of wine.
Applications
Both sales concepts serve as the starting point for all communication materials required by each brand: from the website to product labelling, through to signage, merchandise, point-of-sale displays, brochures, press kits, and more. I also worked as copywriter across these materials.
Lessons learnt
On this project I learnt that emotions play an important role in the purchasing process and in how we connect with our users. It is worth weaving them into a brand’s identity, especially for products or services with a strong traditional element.
I also discovered that producing natural, high-quality food products requires far more technology than you might expect.
