MEDIA & MARKETING:With only seconds to grab the potential buyer, presentation is king for ready meals

THERE WAS good news this week in Ibec’s business sentiment survey, which found that Irish food companies are more positive about the business environment and future prospects than the wider business community. But in the challenging Irish market, only 30 per cent of food industry respondents said they expect an increase in domestic sales over the next three months.

One small Irish food company that has shown investing in branding and packaging can increase sales is Taste A Memory. Chef Ann Bradfield started her business in Crosshaven, Co Cork, in 2007 making ready meals in her kitchen, packing them in bowls covered with cling-film and selling them at country markets.

But while the food was tasty, the packaging wasn’t and Bradfield and her son Alan were finding it hard to sell into shops. The negative effect of poor branding and design was brought home to Alan Bradfield when his products were examined at a focus group organised by Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia.

Bradfield recalls: “The focus group told us while they liked our food, they hated the packaging and look of the brand. Ciaran Flanagan of the design firm Idea also gave a presentation at that event and he got us thinking about not just changing the packaging but rebranding the company completely.”

Ready meals are a growing food category but the sector is extremely competitive. However, with good design, a product made by a small Irish firm can be just as attractive to consumers as one made by a multinational.

With input from retail consultant James Burke and Bord Bia, Taste A Memory spent €15,000 with Idea on new design for the product packaging. Flanagan says it was important to give the brand more personality and to give the packaging more impact.

He says: “Shops now are darker because of lighting restrictions so the packaging has to jump off the shelf. People buy with their eyes and you have seconds to get the customer’s attention.

“Competitors Cully & Sully have black packaging so we went for a white background with green text and a black-and-white nostalgic image of two children. That picture is the only element of the original packaging we kept. The packaging also had to hammer home the message that Taste A Memory is an award-winning company so we found room to include mention of the firm’s Bridgestone award.”

According to Bradfield, investing in decent packaging design has doubled sales. “Since we added ‘low in fat’ detail to the front of the packaging on our turkey and ham dinner, sales have increased again,” he adds.

“If I were to start again, the first thing I would do before perfecting my product would be to perfect the packaging. Cully & Sully started in business around the same time as we did. They got their brand and packaging right from the start and we have learnt from that.

“Supermarket buyers buy with their eyes. If they like the look of the product, they’ll think about it. Having a professional look has made it easier to pitch for shelf listings.”

With four full-time staff, Taste A Memory has progressed to outsourcing its production to Dunhill Cuisine in Waterford. The company’s ready-made pies, pasties and dinners are listed in 60 outlets, including Superquinn stores countrywide. Bradfield says the company is also in talks with Musgraves and Tesco.

Once the product is on the shelf, Bradfield says he favours in-store tastings for marketing purposes. “We pay an outside company contracted by Superquinn to run in-store tastings. While the outlay is expensive, we could sell a month’s product in one day.”

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Sky Television has been putting an advertising blitz behind the launch of Sky Atlantic, a new channel launching in February that showcases HBO dramas. Unusually, however, Sky Atlantic will only be available to Sky customers and won’t feature in the menu of UPC digital boxes.

Or maybe it will. According to UPC spokesperson Anna Maria Barry: “Given that you are dealing with large international players it can very often go down to the wire. We’re confident that it is in Sky’s interest to make this channel available to as many potential viewers as possible.”

The launch of Sky Atlantic follows Sky's deal to buy exclusive UK rights to HBO's entire slate of shows, including reruns of The Sopranosand The Wire, and series deals with Lionsgate Television and CBS Studios International.

Sky Atlantic has also acquired Dustin Hoffman's first TV series Luck, showtime drama The Borgias, starring Jeremy Irons, and police drama Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg, which will get their television premiere on the new channel later in 2011. The new channel will also be home to other US imports including Mad Men.

Sky Atlantic will launch with the new Martin Scorsese drama Boardwalk Empire.

siobhan@businessplus.ie