I had the privilege of hearing the SuperJam story at the FSB national conference. Fraser Doherty took the jam making skills he learnt form his Gran at the age of 14 to develop a jam made of 100% fruit and get it on the shelves of Waitrose, all before the age of 20!
But the journey had its challenges. The biggest was getting the brand right. The first two times pitching the product to the X-factor of supermarkets, the meet the buyer event, the brand got a firm thumbs down.
A ‘NO’ to superheroes
The first time the brand was almost non-existent. Their second attempt, a year in the making, looked great and fun. Superhero based, it was loved by his teenage mates but not by Waitrose buyers. “Suprisingly” teenagers aren’t big buyers of jam, so appealing to them wasn’t going to sell those jars.
What did they do to fix it?
Rather than thinking what they liked they had to think more about what their target customers were looking for and would compel them to pick their jar off the shelves rather than a competitors. Taking inspiration from Innocent and others they developed a simple brand with a single clear message and the rest as they say is histrory.
So what about you, is your brand to your taste or your customers? Have you listened to their challenges and the problems they are looking to solve and made sure your brand appeals to them and simply and clearly says “we get it” and “we can help”.
If you need help with your brand we’d love to be involved, just get in touch.