Becoming a breakout cult brand is a Herculean effort. As a family-owned nascent food brand it’s the best option for generational growth. We’ve been building cult brands within CPG and foodservice channels for decades, so we’re a great source for insights. Let me share five cornerstones that can help someone live their dream by launching a cult brand…

Have A Compelling Story & Tell It Well

Consumers are bombarded and exhausted with sales pitches. Yet stories about a family’s struggle through adversity or how they overcame a calamity to survive as a brand relates to most American consumers. Private equity or major brands collect regional brands like trinkets on a charm bracelet. A great story told to the right audience is a family start-up’s secret weapon that trumps billion-dollar behemoths. 

Here are just a few quick client examples. World War II breaks out and the government encourages canned food companies to feed the troops and beat Axis powers, you answered the call to duty. A restaurant at a 1920s airport bombs because of the Depression. The family starts making their popular BBQ sauce on the kitchen stove and delivering it to patrons and local groceries. A young immigrant family from Mexico starts making tortillas on a kitchen stove and selling them at farmers markets to feed their kids. What is your story?

Telling The Story Efficiently & Impactfully

So you have a great story. Build a complete brand strategy around the story and your points of difference that would be relevant to your target consumer. The strategy will position your brand, the voice of the brand and more. Your packaging should be reflective of your brand and made to stand out on the shelf. Be impactful in your message, knowing shoppers will give you just a few seconds in considering a purchase. 

Nothing beats video in telling a story. That’s the beauty of social media. Cheap and targeted (TikTok for Gen Zs. Instagram for Millennials. LinkedIn for category buyers of retailers and foodservice chains). Encourage friends and influencers to shoot videos of them tasting, using your product in a recipe, or simply showing where to find your product on the shelf…

Fill The Void Of Authentic Flavor

The client’s flavor trends guide helps make them an authority of southern flavor, but is a lead generation tool for sales follow up. 

A whole industry exists of flavor consultants out to mimic a regional flavor, but they never create an exact match and a story to go with it. Claim your place as the authority of authentic flavor. My favorite is a client whose grain mill dates back to 1812 in North Carolina and the claim we share of authentic southern fried flavor. Their ad campaign targeting regional and emerging restaurant chains is supported by a Southern Flavor Trends Guide. Not only does the guide establish them as an authority in southern flavor, it is a lead capture tool when someone downloads the guide from the client’s website.

Find Your Start Up Hot Spot

While global flavors are at the forefront of discussions in the media, regional flavors of the U.S. are still highly craveable and desired as comfort food. Understanding the right markets to launch your brand is key, Here’s an easy example. Let’s say you are launching a new brand of pimento cheese. By leveraging data sources, such as Circana, or Datassential which monitors restaurant menus, you find your launch markets.

This heat map indexes restaurants with pimiento cheese on their menus, offering insight into. Into where to launch a new brand. 

For pimento cheese, the southeast is an easy choice. While the competition may be stiffer, consumers are more likely to try your brand which offers authentic flavor. Go with regional retailers to gain traction and sales success. Start in your heartland then grow into other markets and mass retailers, club stores, and even the value channel. 

Best Affordable Marketing Options

Your website doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it should be beautiful and built so that Google naturally ranks you high without paying for clicks. It also is the home base for your brand story and your social media. Paid social within the zip codes of retailers who offer your product is the next affordable step. In your paid social, be sure to target the demographic most likely to try your brand.

In-store sampling is the next step, followed by trial offers. When it comes to building your brand outside the store, look at connected TV (CTV) and streaming audio. With the right partner you can specifically identify shoppers who are buying a competitor’s product, such as pimento cheese. You can likewise know where the shopper lives and direct CTV spots to air on streaming TV channels, no matter the network or time of day. 

There are plenty more options for growing your cult brand. For the sake of brevity let’s say that your brand strategy coupled with a veteran food-focused ad agency are two crucial elements for growth and success.

If you need some help, we’re here to listen and make your cult brand dream come true.