Context
Story Listening
Story
Telling
Story Making
Results
Regional Heritage Brand Seeking National Expansion
Tillamook wanted to expand nationally, but strong regional equity in the Northwest couldn’t alone build the brand in new markets. And although the brand had always connected farm-quality food to discerning individuals, it nevertheless focused communications on its cheese, yogurt, ice cream rather than the emotional context of the masterbrand in people’s lives. They told a product story, rather than a brand story.
“Savoring and enjoying a small treat is not a guilty pleasure, but a respite from the chaos of life.”
The team listened to the story of the category, company, culture, and consumer. We conducted 15 stakeholder interviews, farm tours, 14 in-depth consumer interviews, and digitally collected 5000 consumer stories.
“Unconventional creativity to savor the sense of slow”
The brand rediscovered its truth through a new positioning that celebrated the company’s challenger roots. The masterbrand narrative created a story that gave all Tillamook product offerings a role to play against peoples’ need states. These roles were articulated in 7 consumer journey maps that choreographed how every ‘character’ in the product portfolio could play a part in the overall story of the brand.
Developed full suite marketing activation idea playbook to translate the story into action across all levers
Leaders were facilitated through a series of design thinking sessions to develop activation ideas for content, partnerships, advertising, social media, events, retailers, philanthropy, DTC, packaging, etc. This armed the marketing team with a catalogue of ideas for use in expanding the brand into new regions.
In 2019, its first year of national expansion, Tillamook realized +7.5% in net sales v PY.
