Background
Ploughmans® first hit supermarket shelves in 1991. Ploughmans® was originally positioned around the generosity of the kiwi Southland. This is quite an evocative and desirable territory for kiwi brands. See kiwis have this love affair with the land and the south is held up as the crown jewel in people's minds. This territory was support by the fact that the brand has a country homestead style loaf that is generously topped. At the time Ploughmans® key competitor was 'Freya's. Freya's was positioned around being the brand with the bread flavours from Europe. In those days kiwis also looked up to European culture and food and saw it as aspirational.
The challenge & idea
Over the years Ploughmans® wavered from its heartland positioning. As it sought to leverage newer food trends to win over kiwis. The result of chasing the latest food trends was the brand lost its connection with the heartland and its relevance with kiwis. To make matters worse all the shifts in Ploughmans® positioning. Left the door wide open for a new brand to come in and occupy our heartland territory.
At the time of the relaunch, consumers had little connection to Ploughmans® and were yearning for the Ploughmans® of yester year. To put it in context, the consumer was desperately looking for any brand that could connect them to the warm nostalgic feelings of the past. As the world was feeling the effects of the 2008 - 2009 economic recession. Despite the recession George Weston Foods NZ still seized the moment and invested in the brands play for its heartland positioning.
What we did
So in March 2010, Ploughmans® was relaunched as Ploughmans Bakery®. The launch was supported with a heavy weight multimedia campaign. Which put the brand back on TV for the first time in years. Supporting the TV was a layer of heavy magazine and digital media. In 2010 Facebook was just reaching its critical mass tipping point, so this campaign didn't have any social components. However, the thing that I think really made the difference was the thematic sampling the brand did. Giving away thousands of loaves of bread is a great way to disrupt a consumers purchase cycle.
The outcome
This project was the catalyst that reignited this brands connection with kiwis. The brand's performance turned around within a matter of weeks and has gone from strength to strength.
Project Copyright
