Curb-Crowser Fashions a Market Bay Brand for Retail Launch at Food Show

The Curb-Crowser design firm took on the launch of the gourmet Market Bay seafood brand on the condition that they would handle the complete package design and brand strategy, from stem to stern.

International frozen fillet and seafood company Samband of Iceland had, for some years, been unable to translate their stout reputation and success in the foodservice category into a viable retail line. Less than a year into his new position, Steve Bruni, Samband's director of retail and club stores, knew that the partnership of an ad agency with retail experience would add value and insight to this effort.

Dean Forbes was account executive at Curb-Crowser, a Minneapolis-based creative group, and had a working relationship with Jim Papadakis, Samband's director, marketing services, when he joined the Minneapolis-based creative agency in 2001. Over the next three years, Curb-Crowser was able to help Papadakis with several small projects.

All or nothing

Papadakis offered the agency an opportunity to take on a few pieces of the Samband project after participating in a productive telephone brainstorming session led by Tracie Curb-Crowser, the agency's creative director. But Curb-Crowser's belief in the importance of a strong brand gave her the fortitude she needed to decline Papadakis' business, explaining that if the agency could not develop all parts of the new line's launch, they would prefer not to work on the project at all.

"For this new product line to make the kind of impact it needed to succeed, the entire line needed to be built around a strong brand," explains Tracie Curb-Crowser. "And in order for the brand to be strong, it needed to be well thought out and applied consistently to all retail touch points."

With less than four months before the line would debut at an international seafood show last year, there simply was not time for extensive market research or focus groups. The team flew to Samband's Virginia headquarters to meet with Papadakis and Bruni and earn their trust. "While they were educating us about the new line, we were helping them understand that we knew the food—and seafood—category," says Curb-Crowser. "Every single person who works here has valuable insights and ideas."

Initial design sessions produced several interesting attributes for a product that would be unique to the seafood category—restaurant quality, exceedingly fresh, and packaging with a gourmet look and feel. Brainstorming on these qualities led the team to settle on the Market Bay brand name. "Those two words speak volumes," explains Curb-Crowser. "Market says fresh and fresh tasting, as in a fresh fish market. Bay says fishing—perhaps off the shores of Iceland. Yet the Market Bay name has the flexibility to be either a national or international brand, which will be important in the future for anticipated brand extensions."

The brand's tagline of "Gourmet Everyday," underscores the line's upscale feel while telling consumers that the products are easy enough to prepare that they can enjoy them regularly. The team moved quickly to develop a visual identity for the Market Bay brand. "We knew that dark blue would be an important color for the brand to reinforce the idea of ocean-fresh seafood," says Curb-Crowser. "We also felt that using metallic gold would give it an elegant, gourmet feel." To complement the brand identity, Curb-Crowser created a stylish, ornate fish logo that could be used alone or along with the brand name and tagline.

Countdown to launch

In addition to all the Market Bay packages and retail POP displays, Curb-Crowser was also pressed to prepare a complete seafood show presentation and trade media print ads. The group knew that photography would be a crucial part of the product line's success. "A strong selling point of these fresh entrees is how great they look after preparation," explains Forbes. "We needed to be sure that the photography captured that appeal."

The photography turned out so well that the team used it whenever and wherever possible. Samband also asked Curb-Crowser to develop point-of-sale materials around the Market Bay "bunker," the refrigerated container that would be used house and display the product at the show. "We wanted to replicate what a consumer might see in a grocery store," explains Curb-Crowser. In addition to 50 mockup packages, they created a bunker skirt, header cards, and case divider headers, all with the gold Market Bay fish logo on a deep blue background.

"The reaction to the Market Bay line was absolutely incredible," recalls Bruni, who was manning the nearby Samband foodservice booth. "Folks were literally swarming the bunker to see what all the excitement was about."