Richard Moore Associates

Market Situation
Americans love sweets, and to satisfy their consumption habits, dried fruit processing has grown into a major industry, especially in fruit growing states like Oregon, in the northwestern region of the USA. Most of the firms producing dried fruit do so in large batches, using continuous processing equipment that typically compromises the individual requirements of different types of fruit. Most of the production is used as ingredients in other food products such as confectionery and breakfast cereals, or sold in consumer-sized units via food markets. Meduri Farms, a family managed business, was the largest manufacture of dried fruit in Oregon, but consumers were unaware of their brand because their market was solely other food brands.

Objectives
We had tried Meduri Farms products through a mutual friend. We thought they were terrific and had great potential for catalog sales. Joe Meduri had been considering this also and asked our help in developing a brand and an initial catalog. We invited a direct marketing specialist, Research & Response, to collaborate with us and develop mail list strategies. They developed financial models that would enable us to know if the brand would be successful after the first mailing.

Action & Result
In conducting our research of the producer, we found that Joe had developed a unique process of producing large quantities in small batches that resulted in a more succulent product, and that he obtained his fruit from all over the world. We recommended a target audience that would fit the product and from modest taste test research, we were also able to test positioning concepts and brand personality traits. This lead to a brand name, “Meduri World Delights”, and a positioning phrase, “Succulently dried fruit from our global harvests”. It also lead to a unique logo and visual point of view for all materials. This was to be the first known catalog entirely devoted to dried fruit. For it we developed a photography style that would present the products uniquely and consistently from cover to cover. The first catalog was mailed in the fall of 2005 and sales briskly climbed far past our expectations. Multiple catalogs are now created for mailing throughout each year.