Challenge

What happens to a brand when after years of serving your loyal customers, the product names become more relevant than the brand? Celebrate it! Lance, which started here in Charlotte in 1913, had grown up to be the snack of choice through vending machine innovation and convenient store sales. Their portfolio of named snacks like ToastChee, NipChee, and Nekot had become synonymous with tasty on-the-go snacks. But their packaging and brand hierarchy was out of date, and as they built their grocery presence, was also confusing. Consumers were shopping the snack name, not the brand name.

Solution

Consumer research confirmed suspicions, and allowed for brand strategy, repositioning, and consumer persona work to point toward the right solution—move a tweaked Lance brand into a maker’s mark position, and celebrate and market the snack names through a full and complete packaging and point-of-sale redesign of every product.

In the process, BOLTGROUP was asked to create a new line of salty snacks that could bring uniqueness to the category and add incremental sales. From brand identity creation and naming through final design of the multi-flavored line, BOLTGROUP worked with Lance to create a dynamic, expressive brand that celebrates an “explosion” of imaginative and unique flavor combinations. Initial reaction from retailers was fantastic, and the product line captured immediate additional shelf space. The Thunder Chip was born.

Additionally, Gold-n-Chees Crackers were being reformulated and created a “golden” opportunity to refresh and reposition the brand as a national competitor.

Results

The relaunch at NACS in New Orleans met with resounding success and moved the Lance name into the maker’s mark position it deserved. As a maker’s mark brand, M&A opportunities began to flourish, with other product brands being placed into the portfolio. For Thunder, initial reaction from retailers was fantastic, and the product introduction was very successful.

With an eye to servicing both the C&P and grocery channels, Gold-n-Chees Crackers was repositioned as a national alternate to other baked cheese crackers through a dynamic contemporization of the brand identity, the packaging, and point-of-sale. The product was strategically relaunched at a competitor’s sponsored NASCAR event by handing out bags of crackers and creating a one-time only Gold-n-Chees Lance car to compete in the race.

The Lance success story continued with additional acquisitions and is now a proud member of the Campbell’s family of brands.