Freybe

Operationalizing brand strategy

The Client

Freybe Gourmet Foods is Canada’s leading brand for premium Germanic deli specialties and snack foods. Since 1844, they have won over 600 international gold medals for their dry cure products. And since 2013, Freybe has been part of the Premium Brands group of companies. 

The Challenge

In 2020, Freybe set its sights on ambitious growth. 

They planned to expand into new markets and shift their sales and product development focus to lead with consumer wants and needs. The timing coincided with a rise in demand. More people were looking for better products to cook and entertain at home due to pandemic restrictions. 

To build a foundation for change and keep the organization aligned, Freybe tapped Modern Craft to help sharpen their brand strategy. They also asked us to develop a plan to operationalize it. This work was critical to ensuring the brand took root across the organization. That it was understood and lived by employees. And, importantly, it enabled Freybe to stand out more on grocery store shelves.

The Solution

After defining the new brand strategy, Modern Craft helped leadership understand the importance of properly rolling out the brand to gain employee buy-in and ensure alignment. 

Modern Craft gained consensus with leadership on the answers to a set of key questions that informed the roll out. These included: in an ideal world, how would the brand be applied in various ways across the organization? What are some misconceptions around what a brand is? What barriers do our employees face in adopting the brand? What outcomes are we hoping for? 

We used the answers to these questions as the basis for a series of working sessions with each team about how the brand impacts their work. The sessions resulted in a deeper understanding of the new brand strategy by team members. 

We also identified a need to rethink the internal language used around the role of the brand in the organization—moving away from “brand-led” to “brand-powered.” The intent was to position the brand as something that gives a source of energy to all departments—rather than taking freedom or autonomy away. Insights from these sessions were used in a brand guidebook as concrete examples of how each team should apply the brand.

Lastly, we designed an agenda for an all staff meeting to launch the new brand strategy. It covered a range of topics around the brand and key messages for all staff—each one centered on the role of the brand as a key to Freybe’s plans for growth. The all staff launch culminated with a pledge and pin moment where each employee committed to living the core brand idea.

Other work for this client has included:

  • Annual marketing planning
  • Website strategy
  • US expansion strategy
  • Five-year vision
  • Category strategy
  • Sub-brand launch
  • Customer research
“For many years our business was good at strategic planning, but we needed work to bring our plans to life in a more effective way. Modern Craft helped us to set reasonable priorities each quarter to move our business plans forward. They helped us understand and plan for future needs so our technologies and resources evolved with us proactively. Modern Craft has impacted the alignment of our business departments so we are quicker to market and very effective and efficient in meeting our strategies.”
Angela Doro
President, Freybe Gourmet Foods

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Further Reading