Stage 1:
Groundwork
The Bord Bia Consumer Insight & Innovation
team have worked with Flahavan’s to understand
their consumers better and maintain their strong
brand position in the marketplace. This case study
details how consumer insight has been integral to
keeping the brand relevant and fresh in all aspects
of design and communications.
BRANDING WORKBOOK
Flahavan’s
Growing the success of Irish food & horticulture
Stage 2:
Building Brands
Stage 3:
Expression
Stage 4:
Launching
BRANDING WORKBOOK
Flahavan’s
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Flahavan’s brand of porridge has been around since 1785 when
the great-great-great-grandfather of the current managing director, John
Flahavan, began milling in Kilmacthomas in Co Waterford. Despite
increasing competition from global players and an ever changing retail
landscape, Ireland’s oldest family owned food business has built up
their brand leadership position in the hot breakfast cereal category.
The company wanted to ensure the Flahavan’s brand maintained this
leadership position by understanding its core consumers and remain
relevant to them. The company approached Bord Bia’s Insight and
Innovation team to conduct a root and branch review of the brand in
order to prepare a roadmap for the brand going forward.
BUSINESS ISSUE
The market for breakfast cereals in Ireland
is worth €170m and within that hot
cereals (porridge type products) is worth
€27m. Big box cereals are in decline due
to consumer concerns regarding their
nutritional content while consumers
switch to healthier options. This has
driven growth of porridge over the last
few years as its significant health benefits
have been recognised by consumers.
CONSUMER ISSUE
Flahavan’s enjoy 50%+ market share of
this hot cereals category making it the
clear market leader. However, recently
new competition has entered the
category from global players like Kellogg’s
Special K porridge and Alpen Porridge.
In addition private label brands have
grown in the category predominately
due to increasing number of shoppers
shopping in discounters. The business
challenge for the Flahavan’s brand is
to stay relevant to consumers and in
doing so to retain its No 1 position in
category. Further, as the brand expands
into export markets, understanding the
local cultural nuances of these markets is
critical to ensuring a relevant positioning
for Flahavan’s in those markets.
In approaching Bord Bia’s Insight and
Innovation team Flahavan’s wanted a
root and branch review of the brand and
in particular answers to the following:
• How do we defend this strong
brand against new competitors
and new retail landscape?
• How can we better explain this
brand to consumers so that they are
willing to pay a premium for it?
• What sort of innovation fits with the
brand and is most likely to appeal
to consumers (current and new)?
• Help us understand the nuances of
the market in each territory and what
the brand means in each market
and how it needs to mutate to
accommodate market differences?
Stage 1:
Groundwork
Stage 2:
Building Brands
Stage 3:
Expression
Stage 4:
Launching
THE PROCESS
The role of the Consumer Insight & Innovation team has been
to work alongside the Flahavan’s team and take a consumer
focused approach to maintaining their strong brand. We worked
through Branding Workbook from Stage 1: Groundwork, right
up to Stage 4: Launch.
HOW DID WE HELP?
Stage 1: Groundwork:
We started with GROUNDWORK stage
so as to understand from primary and
secondary sources the key breakfast
occasion, competitor strategies and
new developments globally. Using the
Bord Bia library and Flahavan’s own
bank of previous research we reviewed
all existing knowledge.
Using Bord Bia’s Brand Health Check we
could measure quantitatively consumer
loyalty to the brand as well as the
drivers underlying this loyalty.
Stage 2: Building brands:
The team accompanied shoppers on
their weekly shop and probed how
they interacted with the breakfast
cereal category to understand the
drivers of purchase decision making.
Qualitative research groups were
undertaken in all the key markets
to get inside the hearts and minds
of consumers to help define
what lay at the core of the brand.
Bord Bia undertook an extensive
programme of consumer and shopper
engagement across key markets.
Stage 3: Expression:
Insights gathered in the consumer
and shopper work fed into the
Expression Stage of the brand. A pack
design brief and communications
brief were prepared with the aim of
communicating the core values of
the brand in a contemporary context.
Various pack design routes were tested
with consumers to ensure a fit with the
brand’s core.
WHAT WERE OUR
INSIGHTS?
Stage 4: Launching:
New look pack designs were
implemented across the full range of
Flahavan’s products. New advertising
around the slogan “energy for life” was
aired on TV and radio showing how
the brand fits with today’s consumers’
lifestyles. New product introductions
such as Golden Syrup flavour and
Apple, Raisin and Cinnamon were
launched. Market specific actions were
undertaken in export markets which
took on board the learning local to
those markets.
There is a real movement among
consumers to return to basic values
in recessionary times, a desire for
simple living – we call it “keeping
it real”. Products like porridge
have benefited from this trend.
To guide the New Product
Development agenda within Flahavan’s
consumers were invited to input
into which ideas best fitted with
their perceptions of the brand and
how far the brand could stretch.
The brand consolidated
its leadership position and
held its price premium
Strong local brands like Flahavan’s
still have a huge connection
with consumers against global
players. A heritage brand can
leverage its history in a positive
way by talking in a contemporary
way to today’s consumers.
WHAT WAS THE IMPACT
ON BUSINESS?
As a result of the joint work between
Bord Bia’s Insight and Innovation
team and the team at Flahavan’s the
brand consolidated its leadership
position and held its price premium
despite intense international
competition and challenges posed
by a changing retail landscape.
Bord Bia’s Branding Workbook
This process was developed using best practice techniques detailed in Bord Bia’s
Branding Workbook.
For more information contact:
E-mail: info@bordbia.ie
Telephone: (01) 6885155
Growing the success of Irish food & horticulture