Brand Blueprint:SoKY Marketplace

Nathaniel Hutcheson Madison Keller Ben Nally Sabrina Stice. ..

Creative Brief

Table of Contents1 - Creative Brief2 - Team Intro3 - Discovery4 - Overview5 - Industry Analysis7 - Competitor Analysis8 - Company Analysis, Brand Audit9 - Consumer Analysis10 - Personas11 - S.W.O.T Analysis13 - The Challenge14 - Branding Strategies15 - Comm. Framework17 - Budget18 - Summary

Bowling Green, KY is fortunate to have 4 farmer’s markets to choose from. The newest of those being the SoKY Marketplace located at the corner of 7th Avenue and Center St. The manager of the SoKY Marketplace, Alan Bush, wants to gain information on the market. The objectives for this project are to discover how well current vendors and customers like what SoKY Marketplace is doing, as well as why other vendors and customers don’t use the facility. Through our research we plan on developing vendor “profiles” of who we find to be likely candidates for the SoKY Marketplace. We also plan on developing different strategies through advertising, marketing, and public relations efforts to reach out to vendors and consumers alike.

Team IntroductionPurebredRED consists of Madison Keller, Ben Nally, Sabrina Stice, and Nathaniel Hutcheson. All four are currently juniors enrolled at Western Kentucky University.

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Madison Keller is a Public Relations major, with a minor in Political Science.

Ben Nally is a Public Relations major, with a minor in Food Service Management.

Sabrina Stice is an Advertising major, concentrating in Branding, with a minor in sales.

Nathaniel Hutcheson is an Advertising major, concentrating in Creative Interactive (or IXD), with a minor in Graphic Design.

The SoKY Marketplace is a local farmer’s market in Bowling Green that provides local produce, artisanal cheeses, fresh eggs, and homemade soaps to the people of Warren and surrounding counties. Because Bowling Green is a growing suburban area, many grocery chains including Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, and Sam’s Club have a domineering presence. This creates major competition for the farm-to-table industry such as farmer’s markets. The farming industry is also on a national decline, so farmers have to work to provide enough sustenance to the local community, and in some cases, to the surrounding region. Internally, a community farmer’s market like the one in Bowling Green has a much smaller advertising budget and customer base than its nationwide competitors. The campaigns are local radio or newspaper ads, and farmer’s markets are only open during peak harvest seasons where most national grocers are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The grocery chains have a major advantage over the local markets. There are many customers who avoid farmer’s market for a multitude of reasons.

Discovery

many shoppers shop at the same store because they are familiar with the layout and the prices of specific products

the food can generally be purchased cheaper at a national grocery chain that at a community farmer’s market, and coupons have become a staple of the supermarket experience.

most grocery stores offer almost anything a shopper could need all in a one-stop layout and these stores are air conditioned, which Americans have become accustomed to, and finally

Brand Loyalty

Convenience

Price

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OverviewThe case assignment for this project is to develop two vendor profiles for the SOKY Marketplace. The profiles will concentrate on the vendors, or the people who sell products to the consumers who visit the marketplace. These individuals include farmers, artisans, and other types of vendors. The purpose of this project is for marketplace manager, Alan Bush, who is interested in knowing what SOKY Marketplace vendors enjoy about the market location and what can be done to further improve the way things operate. He also wants to know why he hasn’t connected to certain demographics in Bowling Green yet, which could be attributed to location, advertising, publicity, etc. We plan to create vendor personas that fully represent the individuals who make their livelihood through the SOKY Marketplace that Alan Bush, as well as others in the management of SOKY Marketplace can use to operate their business most effectively. This information will be collected through electronic surveys sent via email, for focus group questionnaires, and for branding purposes like social media and other types of campaigning.

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Industry AnalysisPolitical—the political aspects of the farmer’s market include providing nutrition to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds in Warren county and the surrounding region; people in lower level income housing and children on the free lunch plan in the public school system should be able to purchase healthy fruits and vegetables in order to maintain an adequate diet. To build on this, the SOKY Marketplace has already started donating some of the leftover produce to local charities. One of the political challenges Alan has faced lately is the desire to have a hot food stand. He believes this would bring in more customers, and he would like a local chef to cook food using the produce from the market. The local health department has made this vision of his difficult. The permits to serve food in a public space are only good for 14 days and cost $100, but the Marketplace is only open for 4 days, so any food vendor would lose money on the deal, and they would have to reapply every two weeks to serve food.

Economic—this type of grocer is great economically because it promotes the local economy. It creates revenue and brings money into the city of Bowling Green that was lost before. Because Warren county is a semi-rural area, there are also many local farmers who can benefit economically from the revenue that is created. The issue that comes with this is how the economy of the area that hosts the farmer’s markets. As we know, a farmer’s market is typically a seasonal practice, so how does the local economy compensate for the months when crops aren’t being cultivated?

Social—eating healthily has become an upward trend in the recent years. Many Americans are looking for local, fresher ingredients to cook with and as a result, they are turning to their local farmer’s markets. It’s recently become popular to consume in a farm-to-table way, but nationwide grocers are still bigger than ever. A possible social aspect to the SOKY Marketplace is the competition that is created by corporate grocery chains, and how the local grocers and the corporate grocers interact to reach customers.

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Technological—some of the technological issues facing the SOKY Marketplace is the elec-tronic competition with other food vendors. For every 1 radio ad the marketplace runs, there are triple the amount of fast food commercials that convince Americans to eat out of conve-nience rather than nutrition. There are also several television ads for stores like Walmart and Meijer that promote big businesses while the smaller markets are glazed over. Without proper representation in the public arena, the American public has little information to make educated dietary decisions and relies on what corporations dictate to them.

Legal—legal aspects of farmer’s markets include the food that is grown and purchased. There are many illnesses that can come with eating improperly cleaned produce such as E. Coli or Salmonella especially if this food is grown organically, or without pesticides or chemicals. The SOKY Marketplace allows sampling to some extent, so the consumers as well as the vendors all have a responsibility to be cautious when consuming products they buy and sell there. There are many local laws to consider when serving food, so the marketplace has had several challenges in getting a hot food vendor to cook and bring customers in.

Environmental—as with the legal aspects, the environmental aspects are hand-in-hand. The chemicals put into the soil and the affect they have on the local environment are something local farmers, as well as the SOKY Marketplace, must consider when they are promoting their brand and products. In order for produce to be clean, it has to be grown organically and must be free of any genetically manufactured organisms. The soil must be maintained properly in order for the produce that is grown there to be viable, so farmers have to be tactful when it comes to crop rotation in order to create a quality product, and in turn, a quality brand.

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Competitor AnalysisThere are many competitors to the SOKY Marketplace. These competitors are both direct and indirect; direct competitors include national grocery chains, while indirect competitors include private gardens on private property. There are multiple other farmer’s markets located through-out the city of Bowling Green. All operate on the same days, with roughly the same time sched-ule. Many vendors split their times between these various markets. Additionally, the farmer’s market is only present for a portion of the year.

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Company AnalysisThe SOKY Marketplace is a nonprofit organization. The only income generated is a one-time $125 membership fee each vendor must pay at the start of the season and a $10 fee for daily booth reservation when a vendor sets up to sell their products. A majority of the leftover produce that isn’t sold in a day has been donated to charities in Bowling Green. The infrastructure of the SOKY Marketplace includes the pavilion where the merchants sell their goods, and this was payed for by the city of Bowling Green; this allows the marketplace to operate when the weather may be less than amiable--a frequent occurrence in the southeast. Since the marketplace is a non-profit organization, it is exempt from paying the taxes other organizations have to pay.

Brand AuditFarmers pay a $125 membership fee and Saturday booth rent is an extra $10. The marketplace allows free booth space to charity events to allow them to have a space.While they bring in their group or crowd of people, it brings in shoppers for the farmers who are selling their produce, proteins and plants. Currently, SOKY Marketplace is planning a WKU vs. Vandy tailgate venue when Vandy comes to play WKU. The vendors promote a healthy lifestyle, with food knowledge while creating a community of people. Alan would like to recreate the logo for the SOKY Marketplace because he believes it is misleading; he feels like potential consumers are confused as to what his business does. He feels like many people think it’s a restaurant because of the fork in the logo.

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Consumer AnalysisThe people who are most likely interested in buying from the SOKY Marketplace are ones who enjoy farm-to-table eating and living. They like to cook with fresh ingredients and they enjoy supporting the local economy. These people are educated about the agriculture industry, and they want to know what is involved in getting their food from the farm, to the marketplace, to their dining room table. The people try to eat organically in order to avoid any genetically engineered fruits or vegetables, any produce that has been doused in pesticides, or any eggs or meat that has been injected with hormones to appear larger than it really is.

Personas

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S.W.O.T. AnalysisStrengths

WeaknessesOther vendors who sell crafts such as soaps or candles are less consistent than farmers

There is a lack of consistent vendors

While there is a variety of produce throughout the growing season, there is not a constant supply of each food like there is in a commercial marketplace

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Centrally located and easy to access

Near big venues such as SkyPAC and WKU

Pavilion for shelter and public restrooms for conve-nience

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Many festivals have been created as a way to generate business and to increase over-all awareness

Opportunities

ThreatsNational grocers are a major competition with the SOKY Marketplace

Brand loyalty is also another competitor: consumers like convenience, so they shop where they are familiar with products and layout

Since the marketplace is outside, weather can hinder business; on colder days, there are fewer customers who come to shop

Fresh, local produce is only available at certain times of the year

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The Challenge(s)Specific

Measurable

Realistic

Actionable

Timely

produce due to season

money being spent vs. money being generated

create more events that highlight farmers and their produce, and also bring in new customers

weak social media presence

Have social media and website fixed, or even the logo changed before Memorial Day Weekend.

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Branding Strategies *The SoKY Marketplace has been struggling to get new and consistent vendors since its conception, as well consumers throughout the commu-nity.

*In order to generate more consistent vendors, we plan to partner with local new stations or newspapers

*Use social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

*Create a loyalty program that rewards consistent vendors

*Partner with local food pantries by donating excess produce to churches, or University groups

*Create new night events with local eateries and live music to create buzz and more consistent consumers as well.

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Communications Framework

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We would like to create a family friendly farmers market that has its community behind it.

Our message is to convey a healthy choice farmers market, that has many venders with plenty of choices to pick from. This farmers market has a lack of participation in the community of bowling green and also has many competitors. We would like to make this farmers market everyone’s first choice, by having as many participating farmers as possible. We would also like to create events that draw the community in and cater to our most loyal customers.

Our ideal target market is the local community. The venders want as many college students and Bowling Green locals to come buy their products as possible. The SoKY marketplace is downtown so they can bridge that gap with that side of the town and the WKU students so they have access to fresh products that they haven’t had access to before.

We would like to change the logo, into something more applicable to the market-place, and the community around. Instead of an overall youtube video of the Mar-ketplace, create a Periscope account and develop a feed of real-time footage of Mar-ketplace, and keep the history of it on the website so when people access the website they can click on the feed and view the feed.

We plan to use mostly shared media to communicate our message. We will use social media platforms like facebook, twitter, and instagram to get the word out of the SoKy marketplace. We will also be using owned media like our website that we would like to update and make sure there are plenty of visual aids for our consumers to see what the marketplace is all about. Our main and most important way we plan to communicate is by the stories of our vendors and of our consumers. The word of mouth will be the best way to get the city of Bowling Green more familiar with this farmers market

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BudgetThe costs associated with this plan concern re-branding. Our client currently believes the logo is more befitting of a restaurant The website and any advertisements would need to be redesigned, so the cost would include hiring a designer to recreate the logo. A cheaper option would be to consult a WKU student; he or she could do the work for free or at a reduced cost. The SoKY Marketplace would save money, and the student would receive experience they could add to their résumé or portfolio. Any other expenses would include new shirts for Alan and any other market administrators to carry the streamlined, professional look. The cost of using social media such as Periscope, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are absolutely free; the budget of the marketplace will not be affected. As a result of this, our team predicts the overall cost of this rebranding project would be approximately $500.

Potential Expendatures -website -advertisements -logo design -apparel

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UniformsDesign Consultant

Summary

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Reaching out to college students looking to develop experience in graphic design, and or marketing and PR. Develop relationships between farmers and and WKU students, in order to launch a new brand for SoKY Marketplace. When doing so, it closes the gap between generations and creates awareness of all events, and opportunities the community can utilize when tabling a booth under the pavilion.