Sodalite Creative communicates a Hot, Quick and Tasty message
The challenge
Rustler’s burgers are a common sight in many fridges that teenagers and young adults visit. It’s a snack that’s quick and easy to cook and many Mums have it on standby for the kids. The question that Kepak Convenience Foods faced was how do they encourage Mum to buy more and how can they make it easier to eat the product when their consumer is “on the go”?
This was a challenge faced by Roger Harrop, Kepak’s Category Controller. He wanted Kepak to be recognized as category leaders and experts in Micro Snacking, often referred to as Hot, Quick and Tasty.
Roger was keen to present a consistent message to the industry, he wanted Kepak to stand out from the competition. It was a challenge that required a little outside help.
Whilst the product quality was best in class, it was important to have a trade presentation that was also class leading. It was at this point that Roger enlisted the help of Sodalite Creative. Roger said, “we needed to have a point of difference when we went to the trade and Sodalite Creative’s experience meant that we could create something class leading”.
The approach
Sodalite Creative’s experience in virtual reality animation had been honed over 10 years and was put to the test by the Kepak team as they went to work on a variety of animations to bring to life convenience, forecourt and on-the-go missions.
The animations had to showcase Kepak’s best in class merchandising solutions to raise shopper awareness. These included a wide variety of POS outside the store, such as A-frames and window posters. In-store items were also visualised making it easy to understand how the range could “pop” from the shelf.
The animations were also supplemented by Sodalite’s real-time virtual reality environment which allows free flight through a virtual store. This virtual store included the Sodalite X-Access menu system allowing the user to present a variety of options directly with the retailer allowing collaborative working.
It was imperative that a consistent message was shared with the trade and that the facts behind the category were clearly communicated. The potential for the category was huge and the animations ensured this message was clearly conveyed.
The result
The Kepak team presented to Retail Buyers and Category Directors over the following months receiving highly positive feedback.
In addition to this, they were also presented to independent retailers so that they had a vision of best in class retailing. This made it much easier for the sales rep to confidently deliver a consistent category message and the Kepak vision.
It wasn’t enough to just present face to face, Kepak also wanted to maximise the impact of the animations. They did this by utilising the animations at trade shows and in their reception, communicating a clear message to all viewers of Kepak’s commitment to the micro snacking category.
So what was the result of this new approach? Well, the Kepak team managed to minimise the impact of the “me too” micro snacking brands that were appearing in the market.
In the top 3 retailers, sales of Micro Snacking grew and Kepak had a stronger relationship with many of the retailers allowing them to maintain their listings.
The animations also helped open dialogue with retailers not currently stocking the range.
Roger Harrop said
“We had never ventured into the world of VR in the past but Sodalite made the whole process very easy. They listened to our needs, recommended ways we could improve our message and guided us through the whole process. We were thrilled with the result. It definitely positioned Kepak as the thought leaders within the Micro Snacking category which is exactly what we wanted.”