Background

PromoWrap’s parent company (Portable Packaging) has been a long-term Client of ours. They are a repacker of consumer goods, whose role is to repack various types of products into point of purchase displays for use in Canadian retails and mass merchandisers such as Costco and Walmart.

These displays were used by the manufacturers to help sell their products from retailer shelves, end and mid-aisle locations.

PromoWrap was created to fill a short-term need in the wrapping of printed shrink-film (a new packaging medium) required by the Consumer Packaged Goods industry. The short-term need was initially believed to be a 5 year window.

This printed shrink-film film was developed because the packaging industry operates under a unique set of circumstances. The need to meet the cost reduction pressures being put upon CPG’s to reduce product costs (which included packaging costs) and yet continue to meet the high quality, creatively impactful looks of their packaging and displays that help entice shoppers to buy.

PromoWrap was responsible for a packaging service that could not be done by the manufacturers on-line. Manufacturers did not have the printed shrink-film wrapping machinery or human resources to take the products and mix, match or bundle the boxes, cans or bottles to make a unique promotional SKU that was being demanded by mass merchandisers.

The Challenge

We were retained to create a name for this new company and to build the brand into a recognized service provider among the major food and beverage, beer and consumer products goods manufacturers.

The audience for this activity was Marketing, Logistics and Supply Chain people in over 100 consumer product goods companies in Canada and the US.

The 5 year marketing plan required W&H to assume an internal role at PromoWrap (for a few days each week) performing all new business development functions, as well as doing all the communication work required to support the selling efforts, including:

• company name development
• branding
• market research
• sales plan development
• direct sales calls
• development meetings
• media advertising
• public relations
• tradeshow development and participation

W&H also filled in and took responsibility for customer service and purchasing management activities for PromoWrap, as well as taking on an interim stint of helping to oversee the operation of the facility that housed the machinery and the people responsible for operating them until a new facility manager could be retained.

The Solution

Whiting & Holmes built the brand, developed the required awareness and brought in new business (Molson, Labatts, Unilever, Kraft, Talking Rain and Campbell’s among others) to profitably operate the facility for approximately 3 years before the anticipated hula-hoop demand curve began to affect the bottom line of the firm.

The parent company sold 2 of the 3 pieces of equipment to existing customers and rolled the 3rd machine (and PromoWrap) into the parent company as a valued added service for new and existing Portable Packaging clients. We continue to work with this Client today.