Expanding Brand Development
Rebecca Niehus,
Director of Technical Sales and Distribution Management,
Solazyme
Solazyme is revolutionizing the way the world makes oil. They are tackling some of today’s biggest issues — like sustainability, resource scarcity and traceability — with microalgae, the world’s original oil producer. After identifying oil profiles that can improve both the health profiles and performance of products, they develop those oils with microalgae, providing alternatives to limited resources like petroleum, vegetable oils and animal fats. The result? First-of-a-kind, high-performance oils that are better for people and better for the planet.
Starting with microalgae, the world’s original oil producer, Solazyme creates new, sustainable, high-performance products. These include renewable oils and powerhouse ingredients that serve as the foundation for industrial lubricants and products as well as sustainable fuels. Their best-in-class oils and ingredients don’t just deliver long-term, sustainable alternatives to traditional sources – they can also improve the quality and performance of virtually any product formulated with them.
In 2009, Solazyme started developing products from algae to market and sell into other industries and markets outside of biofuel. They had tremendous scientific talent behind the development of their innovations and solid backing by their investment community and press surrounding all the buzz. As product development went on, they ended up creating two ingredients from algae perfect for the nutraceuticals and functional food markets. This was, however, completely new territory to the Solazyme team, including their marketing department. Although the team was very successful, they sought outside strategy development and creative to lead their new venture.
Solazyme sought my expertise as a lead marketing executive. I assessed opportunities and challenges, then developed tactical marketing solutions to help launch the market ingredients into the B2B space by implementing methods that were needed at the ground floor to help the marketing and sales team effectively create and build their new brands, develop and implement their go-to-market strategy, build awareness, promote, educate and develop leads for the ingredients.
I Initially pitched naming and logo services to help position and mirror the brand to align with the company’s quality of product, infrastructure and intelligence behind the team. Because time was limited, I and my team decided to move forward with just the logos for their initial launch.
To brand the product Golden Chlorella, I focused on one defining element of the product — its golden hue. Even though the product was derived from algae, it had this great golden color; including this element throughout the branding was huge. Keeping things simple, the logo includes its Golden Chlorella, a simple yellow illustration, then goes right into the product benefit – Protein or Omega.
After logo approval, I moved on to tackle promotional tactics, crafting and distribution of their press release. More importantly, SupplySide West, a key industry trade show, was swiftly nearing, making this a great opportunity to debut the company in their new marketplace. I rapidly conceptualized, proposed and promoted all SSW event programs.
Solazyme was a big company with lots of credibility. Using that to my advantage, I proposed that the company host a hospitality event at SSW’s Las Vegas event. I invited all potential clients and media, as this was Solazyme’s initial launch announcing the new entry into the dietary supplement industry and functional food market.
Trade shows offer a huge opportunity to capitalize on your product and company skillset. Having lots of success with previous clients and show events, I knew exactly how to market this product line: prototypes! At the booth, Solazyme’s food scientists featured the ingredients in final product formation by creating a brownie and a drink powder that showcased the omega and protein ingredients.
I developed packaging for the prototypes that would be handed out during the trade show helping to further demonstrate the product’s functionality in an engaging manner even after the attendee took the product back to the office. In addition, I created a branded two-page sales sheet to further support and promote the prototypes, ingredients, and Solazyme.
Ultimately, I took the success of a big company and capitalized on their current investments and credibility to effectively launch them into a new marketplace, increasing their total ROI in a cost-effective way. Solazyme had a name brand that resonated with audiences and clearly represented their products in a new industry. Although the team didn’t initially use my naming tactics, they later used my model to launch their new brands and product lines within the functional-food category.
The hospitality event I designed and coordinated was a huge success. With Solazyme already having a big backing, there was a great deal of interest in the new product and news buzz about this large company entering a completely new territory.
Finally, the prototype and two-page sales sheet demonstrated Solazyme to a T, building awareness, branding Solazyme and their new ingredients as well as positioning and supporting the prototypes and the functional use of each product.
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