Maple Leaf Foods brand Schneiders has gone though a refresh, hoping to connect more with a younger demographic, while also acknowledging its 125-year heritage.
Schneiders is still the brand leader in most of the categories in which it has SKUs, says Chantal Butler, VP of marketing and masterbrands at Maple Leaf Foods. Those include product lines such as its Schneiders Country Naturals (launched about three years ago when the brand had its last big marketing push), Blue Ribbon, Deli Best, Lunchmate, Oh Naturel! and Olde Fashioned.
Still, its core target is skewing older (essentially those in the “empty nester” phase of life or with older children), so the brand is now after younger millennial professionals and those who are part of what it calls the “modern-day family.”
“In order to drive growth in our business, we felt this was the right time to re-look at the brand and refresh all elements of it,” Butler says.
Among the changes is a refreshed logo (pictured above, right) and a new tagline “Tradition of Quality.” Beginning in April, the brand will also begin a slow roll-out of new packaging – which Butler says is more clean and modern – for all of its SKUs.
“We spoke with consumers to understand what it is that they loved about the brand and the logo,” Butler says. “We went back into the history and the heritage of the logo and made sure that we kept some components that were true to the roots and the heritage of the brand.”
A new campaign to launch the refreshed branding, led by John St., includes TV spots that aim to solidify Schneiders’ role in long-standing traditions that consumers said the brand was a part of, such as watching baseball and camping trips, with a dramatic but cheeky anthem.
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The brand is also capitalizing on its sponsorship agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays and outfielder Kevin Pillar, who’s featured in a new digital spot, running on YouTube and as pre-roll, where he surprises a real Canadian family with a visit. Schneiders handles its media buying internally.
The overall campaign includes TV and digital and social media content, including on its “Appehtite” recipe website. In-store, the brand will continue with its “Dig In” shopper marketing platform, first launched in early 2015.
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Correction: This article originally incorrectly referred to the new tagline as “A Quality of Tradition.”
