Project Goals

Delavau came to us in the wake of major leadership changes, at a time when they were re-assessing the equity of their brand as a supplier of ingredient technologies to food and pharmaceutical brands. Despite having been around since 1847, the brand had little to no awareness, especially among food companies. Their offering was confusing given the two very different industries they worked for. And their visual look was tired and dated, not reflecting their technically advanced capabilities. Despite their challenges, we found Delavau a partner with impressive technical capabilities and warm, helpful people. We took it as our challenge to make sure their new brand reflected that.

Strategy

We began by assessing the existing brand and performing a situation analysis to inform next steps. Our research showed that Delavau would be best off divided into two brands, one for food and one for pharmaceuticals. We also realized that Delavau’s greatest strength lay in their know-how and problem solving, highlighted by their excellent food lab.

Therefore we conducted a thorough naming and branding process. We aimed to maintain equity and communicate warmth while still highlighting their expertise, and so we named the two new company divisions Delavau Food Partners and Delavau Pharmaceutical Partners.

Branding

With analysis and naming complete, we developed a logo and identity for the new food brand keyed to their main audience in the baking industry. The logo mimics the score marks a baker makes on the top of a loaf of bread, marks that historically were specialized and represented a baker’s special expertise. Combined with a warm, welcoming color palette and art direction, the new look positioned Delavau as an expert partner for their key audience.

Since the brand lacked a web presence entirely, we launched a new, custom site and built it out with new assets, including video and photography. The custom imagery highlighted their space and people, the key sites of their expertise.

We also branded their key technology lines, the Encore and Accent lines (and sub-brands) that have since become well known in the food industry. And we crafted a tagline — Smarter Fresher Better — that has gone beyond pure marketing uses to widespread internal adoption, serving as a key to how the company talks about themselves as a whole.

Sales Support

When a large opportunity with a major foodservice chain came Delavau’s way, we used our expertise in the brand to quickly develop a pitch book that promoted their story and how their ingredients would improve the client’s menu in health, clean label, and sensory quality. We wrote the copy, designed the booklet, and coordinated with printers to ensure the quality of the final product. Rather than simply promoting Delavau’s product, we linked their story and the potential customer’s to help visualize the benefits of their partnership.

We have also developed many sales tools for Delavau, including brochures, applications bulletins, custom presentations, and sell sheets, which their staff has used extensively in customer relationships.

CUSTOMER RESEARCH

To help develop the brand’s business strategy and expertise, we conducted research on consumer awareness of calcium, decision making in food purchases, and views on specific industries. The research supported development of other assets for the brand, informed brand strategy, and supported customer conversations.

Native Content

Drawing on our research, we coordinated a native content campaign for Delavau, partnering with a group of consumer bloggers to increase awareness of the benefits of calcium, benefitting Delavau’s relationship with their own customers by increasing demand for products drawing on Delavau’s ingredients. The program garnered significant consumer engagement, including thousands of post views, comments in the triple digits, and social shares on several platforms.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND EVENT MARKETING

Delavau needed a new booth presence to launch their brand and generate leads at a major triennial trade show. Drawing on our knowledge of the show, we put together a differentiating presence that allowed their booth to stand out on the show floor despite a modest booth footprint. We employed unconventional imagery that stood out among the most common types of images in the industry, highlighted by oversized infographics and subtle lifestyle imagery.

We also coordinated the services of a pancake artist to perform at the booth, offering samples of Delavau’s calcium-fortified batter. For additional engagement, we created a video loop featuring Delavau’s food lab, highlighting their key expertise and bringing it into the show. To support further sales conversations, we developed a printed sales tool for the event that achieved such success it has since been adopted for general use. Altogether, these materials and tactics resulted in a show that was one of Delavau’s most successful.

MEDIA MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

As Delavau’s media management partner, we have been intimately involved in taking them from a brand with virtually no industry awareness to a talked-about fixture in the industry. Before working with us, Delavau had received little to no earned media attention. Our relationships in the industry have brought them much increased attention, including coverage in dozens of articles. Our efforts for them in white paper placements and PR have also secured them thousands of leads and PR pickups.

We also developed ad concepts for the brand, offering several options for evolving the brand and pursuing distinct product strategies. The final ads have been successful in engaging the audience and in establishing their new brands in the industry.

Nurturing

Our continued partnership with Delavau has brought them numerous leads and increased attention in the industry, so we developed a lead nurturing campaign for them allowing increased engagement with their email list. We continue to work closely with their sales team to ensure that they have the resources they need to follow up with leads appropriately and grow the brand.

OUTCOME

Over the course of our partnership, Delavau’s brand has grown (in the words of the tagline we created for them) smarter, fresher, and better. We have been thrilled to collaborate with Delavau in taking their brand from virtually unknown to a dynamic presence in the industry. With a sales team that has fully bought in to the new positioning and many new conversations ongoing with major brands, we look forward to a bright future for Delavau.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

WE’RE READY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS. Let’s talk.