Cornish Sea Salt Co.
Defining your brand
Hello, I’m Edward.
I work for Proximity London.
We are part of the BBDO network - the most awarded advertising network in the world.
Recently, I was researching recipes online when I stumbled upon your business.
Sampling your sea salt a few days later I was soon converted! Living in the awe-inspiring Cornwall for a year has also fuelled my excitement for all things Cornish!
In my spare time I work on extra projects that I’m passionate about. I’ve already worked with Lola’s Cupcakes, a now well-established cupcake chain….
…Cookery School, a long-established London-based cooking school located on Little Portland Street…
…and St. Martins Coffee Shop, a great little coffee shop that’s just opened in my home town, Leicester.
Why do I do it? I love working with independent businesses. They are more forward-thinking and agile.
I love your sea salt and your story but when browsing your website I couldn’t help but notice that your current communications could be better.
As such, I’ve come up with a communications idea which I believe will massively better your brand and product awareness.
Currently, you guys are sharing a lot of product features and benefits about your salt in order to promote it. Here are some of them:
1. “It’s pure and natural.”
2. “It retains over sixty naturally occurring trace elements such as potassium, calcium and magnesium which help to both metabolise the sodium better and maintain a healthy balance of electrolytes in the body.”
3. “It is typically 5 to 10% lower in sodium than processed table salt (it is lower in sodium than most other sea salts too, but that’s another story). This difference is due to the other minerals being present.”
4. “It is really salty and has wonderfully intense flavour.”
5. “The majority of table salt is highly processed with anti-caking agents added (some sea salts use anti-caking agents as well). The production process leaves the table salt with little or none of its original trace elements and minerals - which are essential for wellbeing - but with a number of added chemicals instead which makes it virtually impossible for the body to digest and harsh in flavour too.”
These are all interesting points. However, this is not effective communication.
Firstly, there are too many messages being delivered, meaning that a lot of information has to be processed.
Secondly, these messages are all abstract, specialist, or subjective, meaning that your communications isn’t memorable.
Cornish Sea Salt Co. need a message that wraps up all of the above product features and benefits into one single thought.
A thought that is:
Simple.Unexpected.
Concrete. Credible.
Emotional.And Story-like.
After researching your business, I realised that the thought is this: your factory is a stone’s throw from the sea. You produce the freshest, healthiest and most natural sea salt from the Cornish coast straight from the Atlantic Ocean.
Although you currently make reference to this in your marketing it is getting lost in the mix. It needs to be foregrounded and the clutter cut away in order for your communications to be effective.
The thought is incredibly powerful because it hits all of the vital qualities needed on the head.
It’s simple. Everyone can understand and remember that your factory is next to the sea.
It’s unexpected. In a world of processed food manufactured on vast industrial estates, a company that produces at source from modest, aesthetic premises is very surprising.
It’s concrete. The thought is tangible. There are no abstract trace elements and anti-caking agents mentioned here.
It’s credible. The claim that your sea salt is fresh, healthy and unprocessed is much more believable when it is clear that you produce it directly from the sea.
It’s emotional. Your factory wedged between the raw, rolling waves and the rugged Cornish coast is an expressive image.
It’s a story. Your factory is a testament of your founder’s commitment to creating quality sea salt.
Furthermore, I’ve condensed and crafted this thought into the campaign thought:
Cornish Sea Salt Co.
Straight from the Sea
This is the statement you should declare to the world. It should be the first thing you say to a restauranteur, a supermarket retailer, a food critic, or the food enthusiast like me. It should be at the heart of all your communications.
It should be at the heart of all your communications – from your local and national advertising to your website.
I’d recommend starting this by commissioning a collection of dramatic, high-quality photographs of your factory. You could then use these assets in any further communications.
With a new and powerful brand message get ready to get ready to inspire the nation about the uniqueness of your Cornish Sea Salt!
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
If you like the idea, and would like to discuss it further, please feel free to get in touch.
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