Amalgamated Dairies Limited (ADL) officially launched its new brand strategy today, a marketing effort that will help the company build brand equity and increase sales. The new strategy focuses on using the quality association of Prince Edward Island to promote its branded cheese to off Island markets.
ADL, a farmer owned cooperative formed in 1953, is the largest producer of dairy products in the province, processing about 90 percent of the dairy supply in Prince Edward Island. The company believes future growth must come from generating more value and margin from its products, and has identified great potential in branding its cheese products.
"Cheese is the cornerstone of our business," said Harry Leard, President of ADL. "ADL has enjoyed great success over the years in Prince Edward Island. Now it's time for us to concentrate on marketing our products off Island, promoting the benefits of our cheese and Prince Edward Island's good name to new markets."
Market research determined that an effective approach to marketing ADL products is associating them with the positive attributes of Prince Edward Island. Prince Edward Island enjoys fresh air, clean water, marvellous rural and ocean landscapes and a way of life that attracts more than a million visitors annually. These attributes, in conjunction with ADL's high quality dairy products that are produced using time-honoured traditional methods, make for an effective marketing campaign.
With this new marketing strategy, ADL is looking to substantially increase sales of ADL branded cheese and, as a result, potentially creating upwards of 20-25 jobs over the life of its current five-year marketing plan.
Premier Pat Binns and Minister of Development, Don MacKinnon took part in the announcement of this new initiative by ADL.
"The Province supports the investments and efforts of ADL in this new venture, and sees the company as a visionary and leader in the food and value added industry," said Premier Binns. "By producing quality products in Prince Edward Island and exporting them outside the province, we are keeping jobs on the Island and generating outside revenue, which is truly at the heart of our government's economic development goals."
ADL is concentrating its new marketing efforts on its cheddar and specialty cheese products, looking to increase sales across Canada and to outside foreign markets. With this marketing strategy, branded product sales revenue is anticipated to increase significantly for ADL.
"This is a huge step forward for value added food products in our province," said Minister MacKinnon. "The dairy industry is one of our biggest export sectors and through innovative marketing approaches such as this, we hope Prince Edward Island and its products will be recognized by a growing number of buyers around the world."
ADL's marketing campaign has been running since the beginning of November and has already received favourable attention from off Island buyers. ADL has changed all of its packaging for branded cheese to coincide with the new ADL advertising. Audiences can view ADL commercials airing on ATV, ASN, CBC and Global television from now through to May, with print ads appearing in Canadian Living and Homemaker's over the next few months.
ADL received support for their marketing efforts from the provincial government through Prince Edward Island Business Development (PEIBDI), formerly known as Enterprise PEI, the lead business development corporation for the province. Through its new Food and Value Added Division, PEIBDI assists food processors in developing and advancing sound business development initiatives.