Balduccis
We created a division with its own value
Rarely can an agency get an accurate gauge on the worth of its work, but for Balducci’s, we created a division (a proprietary product line and its direct mail business) that was split-off from the parent company and sold for serious money, leaving the name and the original retail store, into which we’d walked some years before, to garner its own value, for another nice piece of change.
Here’s the story: Balducci’s, the single-location Italian gourmet retailer in Greenwich Village, called us to help them stave off what they feared might be competition into their category. Beyond classic advertising and promotion, we saw opportunities that we believed could make them safer against possible incursions into their market.. Balducci’s imported products from Europe, re-bottling or packaging those products for gourmet stores across the country. Our research confirmed that those stores were just as happy to carry a jar of with the Balducci’s label as their own. We designed the packaging and created an advertising and PR campaign to move those products into the world. For our expanded effort in direct mail, we produced a catalog with nearly 150 offerings, complete with recipes, stories, hints and facts. The book had an unprecedented response and won for MEIER a Caples Award, granted not only on creativity but on effectiveness. Our concept of the whole Balducci’s family working together, was painted in the American Primitive style by folk-artist, JoanLandis. From this image we created ads, labels, signage and all outreach imaging, garnering a number of awards – from packaging to promotion.
