We undertook comprehensive research using a combination of digital and analogue tools to identify insights that would inform our brand strategy. Firstly, using various methods of consumer analysis, we identified the primary target demographic for Manuka honey as females between the ages of 30-60, namely as mothers purchasing honey for the well-being of their families. However, low knowledge of Manuka honey overall led to market dilution, and we found that consumers found difficulty in choosing the right honey from the UMF or MGO grading while navigating a plethora of counterfeit products. Understanding our consumer profiles, motivations, and challenges allowed us to create a value proposition and design direction that aligned with the interests, tastes, and goals of this customer segment. Our research also showed that up to 60% of searches for Manuka honey happen on mobile devices and tablets. From this insight, we enhanced Harmelie Honey’s marketing channels towards mobile optimization, ensuring the most efficient consumer purchase journey.
With a limited budget, the owners did not want to compete head to head with the largest players in the honey market, but to create a unique positioning within honey branding based on premium positioning, purity, trust, and the authentic benefits of Manuka honey. We noted that Harmelie Honey employed highly sustainable practices that didn’t contribute to the global decline of the bee population, sourced their honey from the most pristine areas of New Zealand where the natural properties of honey remained the strongest, disregarded the use of antibiotics, and ensured high bioavailability for honey to preserve its inherent enzymes and nutrients. Operationally, they had vertically integrated their entire supply chain to ensure quality control is covered every step of the way and independently verified for purity strengths ranging from 83 MGO (Methylglyoxal) to 829 MGO levels. Last but not least, Harmelie Honey’s owners wanted to make this honey available to a wider audience at a low cost so everyone may have a taste of this refined product.
After assessing Harmelie Honey’s objectives and challenges and looking at some of the trends within honey branding and organic food branding, we created a comprehensive brand activation strategy - an actionable solution that meets both Harmelie Honey and the current target market’s goals and needs.
We understood that the Manuka honey market predominantly consists of big players investing large sums in marketing, which Harmelie Honey could not compete with. And so, we honed in on the consumer segment that are active purchasers of high quality honey as a regular alternative for medicinal products, those who already had a foundational knowledge of honey. We highlighted Harmelie Honey’s position as a superfood with a whole range of benefits, emphasizing the MGO grading for product strength as a key market differentiator. With a range of 83 - 829 MGO levels (or UMF 5+ to 20+ grading), consumers may make much more informed decisions tailored to their wellness objectives.
Producing quality Manuka honey is an expensive trade and extremely cost-prohibitive to distribute to multiple retail channels. So in order to keep the product available to the wider audience, we strategized the brand to be e-commerce specific, reducing overhead costs and passing the savings onto consumers.
By understanding consumers and their preferences, values, and desires, we aligned packaging designs and communications closer to their needs within an online environment.
We created a standout brand story using visuals that balanced sustainability with a premium positioning by utilizing the images of several endangered birds that lived in the Manuka trees. Multiple design directions were created with some appearing more medical and others more lifestyle. These designs were carefully fine-tuned then tested with A-B testing until a key design direction was validated to be most effective with consumers. With this design, we further introduced a bulk box set that reduced packaging, price, and shipping costs, maximizing profitability for the brand. As a result, Harmelie Honey retains a unique, recognizable, and consumer-verified look and feel with the launch of the brand into the market.
From the project’s conception to finish, we thoroughly researched the trends within FMCG branding, honey marketing, and organic or sustainability branding, creating an E-commerce brand that is able to sell beautifully designed, quality products at a value cost.
In creating a successful e-commerce brand, our strategy focused on a combination of sales channels and marketing channels. With a limited budget, we set up social media marketing though Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, providing a foundational overview of the brand for consumers at each touch point. We then created a beautifully designed, comprehensive e-commerce site that highlighted on the power of social proof and lowered purchase anxiety to reach an initial conversion rate of 4% at the launch of the brand.
We built social proof by seamlessly integrating customer reviews into Harmelie Honey’s website, allowing consumers to speak for themselves, an effective method for modern consumers that are increasingly putting just as much trust in online reviews as in personal recommendations. We also lowered purchase anxiety when browsing by communicating our consumers’ key questions and answers on functionality and cost in clear text, keeping customers informed and interested with just the right about of technicalities explained.
As we learned that over 60% of searches for Manuka honey are conducted on mobile devices and tablets, we went on to create an AMP mobile site, a technology from Google that dramatically improves the speed of mobile sites and allows for the caching of images and offline browsing. Detailed User Acceptance Testing was then undertaken on the site to ensure full optimization, creating a streamlined sales funnel that minimizes consumer drop off.
