Farm Boy officially launched its new brand platform, “A Farm Boy Fresh Twist,” on Monday as part of its overall masterbrand strategy. The Empire-owned grocer’s new hero spot positions the brand as the fresh and fun choice, highlighting local ingredients and an exciting in-store experience.

Alessandra Bisaillon, director of marketing and media relations with Farm Boy Company Inc., tells strategy the team “put in the work to understand what our customers wanted” and held a series of workshops with founder Jean-Louis Bellemare, president and general manager Shawn Linton and members of its senior leadership team, as well as in-store teams.

The key, Bisaillon says, was “recognizing the growth we’ve seen and what the brand experience means today for our many customers.”

The concept is being executed alongside Evolve for creative, UM for paid media, North Strategic for PR and influencers and Notch Video for video production. In-store signage and customer experience communication content was done in-house by Farm Boy’s marketing team.

The platform is being featured through in-store displays, in-store signage, flyers, blogs and social-media channels. Thirty- and 60-second videos, with more focus and amplification across marketing channels, are planned for the weeks and months ahead, Bisaillon says.

The new concept has been woven into every customer touchpoint and the 360-campaign reinforces what makes shopping at Farm Boy different, Bisaillon explains, adding that the platform highlights the innovation and inspiration Farm Boy delivers in-store, from introducing new local products to keeping the shopping experience ahead of trends.

“It’s Farm Boy’s creative way to express and communicate what makes Farm Boy different and distinct at every touchpoint of the customer experience – aiming to transform grocery shopping from a routine errand into an enjoyable, discovery-filled journey,” she says. “It is not just a campaign – it’s our guiding light and North Star, ensuring that customers experience consistency and excellence each time they visit.”

This is just the latest step in the evolution of Farm Boy since it was founded nearly 45 years ago, Bisaillon says. “We felt it was time to look at our overall masterbrand, refine it and ensure it was still the right strategy to support our accelerated growth,” she says. “It represents how we think and act across all of Farm Boy – how we plan and design our stores, how we select, buy and create our products, and how we recruit, hire and train team members. For over 44 years, this focus on our customers’ experience has set Farm Boy apart in the grocery landscape and allowed customers to enter our store as a shopper but leave feeling like our neighbour.”

She cited Farm Boy’s private-label products and face-to-face checkouts (as opposed to self-checkouts) as key differentiators and exemplars of that market-style ethos.

“Our brand character is often described and referred to as both a welcoming neighbour but also having characteristics of a magician, sparking inspiration for our customers,” she says. “From hand-selected fresh produce delivered daily, to our curated private-label products that our brand fans love, to our passionate in-store teams, everything is designed to make shopping exciting, engaging and enjoyable.”