Crafting a Winning Brand Strategy for a Leader in Food Safety Innovation
A leading provider of food safety technology and cold chain solutions approached us with a unique challenge. The company operates the nation's largest network of facilities that provide High-Pressure Processing (HPP), a technology that uses extreme pressure instead of heat or chemicals to eliminate harmful pathogens in food and beverages while maintaining taste, texture, and nutritional value. This approach leads to a “clean label” for food and beverage products, giving today’s consumers options free of preservatives.
But while HPP technology has been commercially available for over two decades and is FDA-approved, industry adoption has been slower than expected despite its clear advantages in food safety and quality.
Challenge
Our client needed help articulating the benefits of HPP technology and their unique value proposition while addressing significant market barriers. They needed to overcome these barriers while establishing their position as the industry leader in HPP services. They needed to communicate effectively with two distinct audiences - food manufacturers and retailers - each with different priorities and concerns. Food manufacturers, particularly in the private label space, were hesitant about HPP's cost implications. Meanwhile, retailers needed to understand how HPP could benefit their bottom line through extended shelf life and reduced waste. The company needed a cohesive brand platform that would resonate with both audiences while highlighting its unique position as the industry leader.
The food and beverage industry faces several barriers to HPP adoption:
Cost Perception: The technology requires significant capital investment for in-house operations, and outsourced HPP services are often perceived as expensive, particularly by private label manufacturers operating on thin margins.
Limited Understanding: Many food manufacturers and retailers lack awareness of HPP's benefits beyond food safety, such as extended shelf life and reduced waste.
Technical Misconceptions: Questions about product compatibility, packaging requirements, and impact on nutritional value create hesitation among potential adopters.
Risk Aversion: The industry's traditional reliance on thermal processing and chemical preservatives makes some manufacturers hesitant to switch to newer technologies.
Solution
We kicked off the project with a focused workshop with the client's commercial and marketing teams. Through structured exercises and candid discussions, we mapped their current market position, explored where they wanted to be, and uncovered what truly set them apart in the industry by distilling the value they bring vs. the value HPP brings.
Building on workshop insights, research and conversations with the executive team, sales team and other stakeholders, we:
Developed a comprehensive brand platform focused on advancing food safety, quality and nutrition.
Targeted value propositions and key messages for each differentiated area, ensuring alignment with both company capabilities and market needs.
Created buyer personas for distinct customer segments, mapping their specific needs, decision drivers, and pain points. This included analysis of won and lost opportunities to understand key success factors.
Designed a strategic tradeshow activation plan for an industry tradeshow, providing an immediate opportunity to validate and refine messaging with target audiences.
Built a comprehensive content strategy for 2025, detailing how to activate value propositions across owned, earned, and paid channels.
Developed sales enablement materials explaining HPP technology and its benefits, product compatibility and technical specifications.
Incorporated and activated new messaging and value propositions into ongoing sales pitches.
Results
The new brand strategy delivered significant improvements, enabling our client to:
Be more effective in customer conversations with clear, audience-specific messaging
Improve their ability to address cost concerns through demonstration of long-term value
Enhance their market positioning as a strategic partner rather than just a service provider
Increase customer understanding of HPP benefits beyond food safety
The project culminated in a go-forward strategy and set of marketing materials that equipped our client's team to better educate the market and address adoption barriers. Their brand platform serves as the foundation for all marketing communications, helping them lead the conversation about food safety innovation and drive industry adoption of HPP technology.
This case study demonstrates how an effective brand strategy supported by clear value propositions can help bridge the gap between innovative technology and market acceptance, particularly in industries where change happens gradually, and decision-makers need clear value demonstration before adopting new solutions.
Thinking of revising your brand strategy? Contact us today.