The Covid-19 era
Through the Covid-19 pandemic period, multiple businesses in the food wholesale and retail found themselves in a position unable to operate due to the governmental measures taken due to the pandemic. However, the specific situation has shown the importance of adapting a business and diversifying their business plans in order to be able to continue their operations and to build resilience. One of the cases is Pan 360 Express.
The project
Pan 360 Express is a subsidiary company of Seafood Express, the largest wholesale distributor of frozen seafood, meat, poultry and frozen vegetables in Cyprus. Seafood Express has been supplying the best restaurants in Cyprus for over 30 years, establishing a wide network of clients. As measures against Covid-9 were announced by the government, the whole Horeca sector was fully closed, resulting in a major decrease in the sales cycle of the company.
The need transformed into objective
This new situation indicated the importance of transforming the company’s business plan to be able to sustain its operations. Therefore, a new brand was formed, based on current circumstances to address the shift in opportunities and the change in consumer behaviour.
The objective of the specific business transformation strategy was to build an online brand shifting the company’s business transactions from B2B to B2C.
Consultics identified and segmented markets based on geographic, psychographic, and demographic characteristics. The brand positioning as quality products and easy delivery direct to your door, has also targeted people who enjoy cooking at home, while aiming for the best quality, through online delivery.
The channels
To reach the target audience identified, Consultics developed a website encompassing all company information, information about the products, as well as the online shop, where consumers can place their orders directly. In addition to the website, partnerships were developed with online delivery platforms (e.g. Foody) to expand the market potential pool of customers and be able to reach a larger consumer database.
For Marketing purposes and the development and establishment of the brand, social media channels were utilized (i.e. Facebook. Instagram). The Marketing strategy was mainly focused on online media, that would provide easy, quick and direct access to the market audience.
Several concepts were developed that were utilized to build the brand awareness and credibility. The concepts included the direct involvement of well-known chefs sharing their opinion of Pan 360 Express Products, building the credibility of the products quality and influencing consumers. Additionally, recipes using the products, competitions and individual loyalty plans were developed in order to build the engagement of the audience and achieve brand awareness and loyalty. While the concepts were developed, the same consistent brand application was followed, including the website interface, social media templates, animation elements, video elements and collateral designs.
Probably the most important element of the success of this specific project was the quick reaction to the situation and the shift of the market dynamics. Brand identity communication channels, online shop and platforms were developed in a 2-week timeframe, enabling the swift adaptation of the situation.