Boost Drinks – Moving through the crossroads
Executive summary
Boost had enjoyed strong growth since its inception in 2001, but the internal ambition and drive of owner and MD, Simon Gray, to move Boost to the next level of performance and achievement meant that Boost wouldn’t rest on its laurels. As one of the only sectors of the soft drinks category to deliver volume and value growth, energy drinks was an attractive target for many manufacturers – new and old, large and small. Boost couldn’t be complacent about retaining, let alone growing, the market share it had achieved.
A successful business operating in the highly competitive and congested energy drinks sector, Boost was born out of an opportunity that Gray saw from his experiences as a loyal energy drink consumer. Established to provide the independent, impulse retailer with a credible value alternative to the premium brand leaders, Boost had grown to become the UK’s 4th largest energy drink in the impulse category (source: Nielsen)
The team at Propaganda were immediately engaged by the passion and belief of Simon Gray and his team, but knew that the key to success was to understand the brand as the trade understood and perceived it. By defining a credible, compelling and relevant point of difference, we would be able to ‘bottle’ the passion.
While Boost had achieved great success in a few short years, there remained an internal belief that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and that the business was on the verge of achieving significant incremental growth in terms of both volume and value.
Our collective challenge was to arrive at a positioning for Boost that resonated and engaged trade customers and savvy consumers alike, and had cut-through in a marketplace dominated by big-budget brands with the power to out-shout each other with aggressive advertising strategies.
The working relationship we have established with Boost is is one of a true strategic partnership:
• Launching a brand proposition that captures and translates the true essence and attitude of the business for trade, retail and consumer audiences simultaneously
• Developing a key account strategy that leveraged incremental business from existing trade customers through focussed support and communications
• A targeting strategy that gave the business the right tools to attract and convert new business opportunities
• Helping the business prioritise and address the multiple opportunities that have been presented in a way that could be effectively managed and supported through a tight business infrastructure
Fundamentally, the work we have done with Boost has supported them in achieving 26% YOY growth during 2009, with a strong continued growth trajectory throughout the first four months of 2010.
“When I first came to Propaganda, I wasn’t sure which opportunities to attack first. Over the past 18 months, we have collectively gained a new and deeper understanding of our sector and business that gives me real confidence that 2010 and beyond will far outstrip the performance of previous years. We are clearer than ever about our brand difference and future direction”
Simon Gray, Managing Director