The Challenge
To introduce salt beef to new customers and expand Hensons’ market outside London, the fabl developed the Love Salt Beef strategy to tell the story of this niche deli product, how to buy, cook, serve and enjoy it.
Love Salt Beef reflects the quality and character of the product, gives it a clear identity in the marketplace and appeals to both business audiences and consumers.
The concept has been rolled out via numerous platforms – a website that showcases recipes, outlets serving salt beef and celebrity ambassadors for the brand, a social media and pr campaign, and point of sale materials.
The Solution
We began by identifying the things that make Hensons salt beef special: perfectly selected cuts of brisket, a specially developed low salt cure that results in a succulent, delicious meat, eaten as it is or used in cooked recipes.
The artisan quality and history of the product helped us develop the core messages, targeting both B2B customers and foodie supporters of salt beef. Those who eat and serve salt beef are evangelical about the product and this provided the insight for creation of the Love Salt Beef strategy.
The new branding reflects the cult status of the product, and taps into the craft food trend, with a vintage feel and heart logo – with its roots in New York – another traditional home of salt beef with its famous delis.
To appeal to both target groups – consumers and retailers – the fabl recommended a one page Love Salt Beef website. The online format is easily updateable and is designed to carry content that appeals to several target audiences. The web design expanded on the vintage, artisan branding already developed for Love Salt Beef.
The site includes details on the history of salt beef, how to cook, buy and eat it, with new recipes and a listing of delis and restaurants around the country that serve salt beef and suppliers – including Hensons. The Love Salt Beef campaign recruited salt beef champions – and these ambassadors are also listed on the site. The fabl manages the content for the site, which is regularly updated with new recipes, ideas and supporters.
Social media was a good fit for the product and we created the @LoveSaltBeef Twitter feed to build an online community. We regularly have conversations with users about their favourite salt beef recipes. We also post links to recipes and images about how to use the product. The Twitter account is a key source for new ideas, recipes and trends for the website.
As well as online content, we designed paper carrier bags for take out salt beef dishes. They reflected the vintage inspiration that runs through the rest of the campaign.
4,500
visits per month
Since the site went live, it has seen traffic steadily increase to almost 4,500 visits a month. It now has 23 donated recipes, 12 salt beef wholesalers, over 40 outlets serving salt beef and 8 ambassadors.
1000+
followers since launch
Since the launch of @LoveSaltBeef, we’ve attracted over 1, 000 followers, and had thousands of interactions with other Twitter followers about salt beef. The feed has attracted new clients to Hensons.