An Acquired Taste

Maple Leaf had recently acquired Schneiders, their top competitor. They needed to retain the strong audience Schneiders had brought with them, but couldn’t neglect their own top brand. Since both brands were vying for the same space, their messages overlapped, making it hard to tell the difference. Partnering with Sklar Wilton, the team set out to differentiate between these historically competitive portfolios.

Sklar Wilton reviewed stakeholder interviews and secondary research to uncover the consumer facts and shed light on the ways the two brands were viewed. Consumers saw both brands as top quality, safe, and value priced but there were subtle differences in the image each brand delivered. Maple Leaf was seen as a modern Canadian brand, while Schneiders was seen as a timeless old world brand. Rather than struggle for a consensus over first and second place between the two, the team decided to position the brands by image. This amplified their differences, appealing to their audiences, enabling them to share the top spot.

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Sklar Wilton & Associates applies strategic advisory services and marketing research and analytics to solve tough business challenges. Research techniques for any one project are selected on their ability to solve the challenge at hand and may include, among others, biometrics, communities, ethnography, focus groups, gamification, interviews, sensory research,  social media research, surveys, and/or text analytics.

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Equipped with the facts and differentiated positioning, both brands were revitalized and launched successful product lines – Maple Leaf with “Natural Selections” and Schneiders with “Country Naturals.”