In today’s food market more and more people “believe that ecologically sound, community-based food choices are essential to solving environmental degradation, climate instability, economic inequality and the myriad adverse health effects of industrialized food production.” (Eatwellguide) This means that people are looking for local sources for food. The Iowa Food Coop is based in central Iowa. Their mission is “To facilitate farmer-consumer relationships, and build our farms and communities through web-based marketing of Iowa products” (Iowa Food Coop, 2011). They give consumers year round access to local and seasonal products. The theme for this redesign project is: “The Iowa Food Coop is focused on improving the lives of their member community through regular access to locally grown and produced items, and strives to createan inclusive and family like atmosphere for members and producers.” Iowa Food Coop Redesign Project Book | Page 3
Research and Development - 6
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Who is the Iowa Food Coop? - 8
Who is the competition? - 10
What are the challenges? - 12
How are they being faced? - 14
Brand Styling - 18
Brand Voice - 20
Using the Logo - 22
Brand Colors - 24
Brand Textures and Images - 26
Brand Awarenesss - 30
The Media Mix - 32
Social Media - 34
Print and Local Media - 36
Electronic Media - 38
Other Media - 40
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The Iowa Food Coop is a small, non-profit food coop based in central Iowa. They offer members the opportunity to purchase products directly from farmers and producers in the immediate area using a bi weekly web based order system and several local pick up locations. Currently the Iowa Food Coop is losing visibility and members due to a proliferation of organic and specialty food retail stores in the Des Moines metro area. Direct competition from these retailers lead to an increased need for revamping the Iowa Food Coop’s brand, including their visibility in local events and print media and a revitalization of their ordering website and pick up program. Iowa Food Coop is invested in supporting the local environment by supporting sustainable farming. They are also conscious of their economical impact on the community, with 85% of what members pay for items going directly back to the farmers and producers (Iowa Food Coop, 2011). Iowa Food Coop currently operates on a bi weekly web based ordering system. In the winter months they often move to a monthly schedule, as there are less perishable items available for purchase. Members are responsible forpicking up their own orders from sites scattered across the Des Moines, Iowa metro area. Their website also offers information on the producers that are a part of the coop, and member submitted recipes. The past few years have seen an increased presence of storefronts offering products similar to what the Iowa Food Coop offers.
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The target audience for the Iowa Food Coop is aged 30-50 with an income of $35,000 annually or higher. Demographics for organic and seasonal food skews slightly in favor of women, but not enough to differentiate them as more targeted than men (Curl, Beresford, Hajat, Kaufman, Nettleton, & Diez-Roux, 2013).
The Iowa Food Coop customer is invested in their local community, and interested in improving their health and the health of those they care about. They want to make choices that are good for the environment as well as their pocket book. Iowa Food Coop Redesign Project Book | Page 9
Whole foods is a national grocery chain that focuses on bringing affordable fresh, organic, and local items to the communities it is located in. They are the number one competitor in Iowa Food Coop’s area. Whole Foods works with Iowa producers to stock local ingredients in their stores, further heightening the competitive factor. They are a a national company that is positioned to easily change for market trends due to their vast financial resources. Whole Foods is also a well known name in Organic and Sustainable foods and has a large following that will seek them out over other grocers.
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Gateway Market is a small local grocer that brings high quality, seasonal, and hard to find ingredients to local consumers. Gateway Market is very aware of how their brand is viewed in the community. They are very discerning as to which events they sponsor, and what local brands they carry. Their restaurant takes care to perpetuate this image by being selective about the ingredients is uses.
The Wallace Centers of Iowa heightens awareness of sustainable gardening through lessons and demonstrations. They also have a store where they sell local grown produce. The Wallace Centers builds value by having a unique product. Not only do they have local food for sale, the have lessons about gardening, canning, and other sustainable and local food projects.
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As non profit the Iowa Food Coop has a smaller resource pool than it’s number one competitior, Whole Foods. To set the Iowa Food Coop apart it will be important to play up their differentiating factors of being local and fresh. The Iowa Food Coop mentions using the web to bring consumers closer to local products in their mission statement. However, their mission does not denote how they plan to sustain the relationships between their members, or between the members and consumers. In order to maximize their web based market enhancements will need to be made to their existing webstore and social media sites. This will help generate word of mouth advertising that will not take away from their small budget. The Iowa Food Coop also has an image that does not set them apart from the competition, so the rebranding process is important when it comes to updating the face of the organization and making them visible to potential new members.
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The existing Iowa Food Coop logo did little to differentiate the brand from the competition. The font was not unique and there was nothing to indicate what the Iowa Food Coop did as an organization. Color use was on target for what the Iowa Food Coop represents, but it was not used in a way that made the logo stand out from others. It was not clear to viewers what the orange O in the logo represented. It could be produce, a sun, or just a way to make the logo stand out color wise.
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Mood boards were created to help narrow down the look and feel of the Iowa Food Coop Brand. Three boards were created to represent three ways the Iowa Food Coop could be perceived. In the end the board focusing on community and family was chosen due to it’s representation of the producer and member relationships, as well as for how it tied into the target demo graphic’s desire to do something better for their own family and community.
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Once a mood board was chosen work began on redesigning the logo. It needed to set the Iowa Food Coop Apart from its competitors, as well as comunicate what makes the Iowa Food Coop different. Several designs were sketched and tested before the new logo was chosen.
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The new logo is a hybrid of a wordmark, and a pictorial mark,. The pictorial image uses the fork to show the consumer aspect of the Coop, while the barn and silo show the producer aspect.
Furthermore, the fork creates farm rows in the field, showing that the consumer and producer aspects of the Coop are equally important. Even with this imagery present the logo maintains a simplicity that is in line with the Iowa Food Coop’s brand.
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The voice of the campaign is conversational, simple, and familiar. The fonts chosen represent this voice with clean lines. They are not fussy or hard to read. Hand of Sean will be used for the logo, headlines, and taglines. Comfotaa is to be used for all body copy.
Font Samples Hand of Sean: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*() Comfortaa: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()
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Sample Copy We’ve heard great things about you. You care about your community and family and you want what is best for them. Guess what? We do too! The Iowa Food Coop wants to help you by providing fresh and local products for you and those you care about to enjoy. Our Bi-Weekly deliveries take the hassle out of finding the right food for your family, and give you more time to enjoy the impoartant things in life.
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The logo should be placed where is it not obtrusive to the message of any advertising, preferably in the lower right corner of the ad space. The full color logo is the preferred usage on stationary, business cards, and digital and print marketing. For marketing the transparent logo should be used when backgrounds are dark. If the images are highly colored or saturated the one color logo should be used. The one color logo should only be used in black, not other brand colors. The logo’s aspect should not be distorted when resizing. All elements of the logo should remain together and should not be recreated individually.
Correct Logo Usage:
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9
Incorrect Logo Usage:
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The colors for this campaign reflect the natural tones in the brand image. They reflect the farm and home. The greens represent nature and the environment (color matters) while the reds represent passion and love (Vasile, 2011). This reflects the environmentally consciousness of the Coop and the community that it creates.
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Color Palette
c64 m39 y4 k0 r99 g140 b194
c65 m64 y33 k12 r102 g94 b123
c15 m35 y57 k0 r216 g168 b122
c5 m6 y30 k0 r243 g232 b189
c61 m24 y100 k6 r112 g148 b60
c78 m36 y100 k27 r57 g104 b10
c14 m90 y75 k3 r203 g62 b68
c29 m93 y100 k37 r129 g33 b2
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The images chosen should not only play into the colors of the rebranding campaign, they should tell the story of the Iowa Food Coop. They should show that the coop is focused on natural products, as well as building strong bonds. They should show there is nothing pretentious about the brand and that everyone can be a part of the coop. Overall these images need to create a sense of comfort that reflects the community focused brand of the Iowa Food Coop.
Textures used should all be natural, reflecting the farm or the community.
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Textures
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Images
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The Media Mix for the Iowa Food Coop includes the following elements:
Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Print Media – Advertising in local print publications
Electronic Media - Rebranding the website and creating an app
Other Media - This will entail pieces that will be used to promote the Iowa Food Coop such as t-shirts, cups, and bags The mix was chosen because it is appropriate for the lifestyles of the target audience for the project. The Iowa Food Coop has a target audience that is concerned with local items, and community. This means that social media is going to be a key component to the success of this campaign.
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Overall none of these parts are whole without each other, as the focus is on building a community of many parts. This is a direct reflection of the demographic of the Iowa Food Coop. By the use of a localized media mix the Iowa Food Coop will still remain differentiated from the competition since a smaller more intimate feeling will be produced in the campaign, which will help foster a community and raise word of mouth awareness of the Iowa Food Coop and what they have to offer.
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The Iowa Food Coop Facebook page will distribute information about what the IFC offers, this would include making use of any video media created by sharing it on Facebook. The Facebook page will also be a way for IFC members to directly interact with the Coop board. Facebook can also be used to share updates to distribution times, call for volunteers, or communicate events.
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Twitter would be utilized as a way to distribute quick info hits to members of the Coop. For example, if a product is running low it could be tweeted out so that members could be made aware and could add it to their carts. The mobile website and shopping cart will be key to this as members will most likely see these tweets while not at home.
Instagram makes a lot of sense for the Iowa Food Coop since they are in the business of selling products. Pictures of products available, including new products, or ones that may be uncommon, could be posted. Additionally pictures of the farms that products come from, or the people that produce products, could be added to the photostream.
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Local media is going to be a great way to support the Coop. One example of this is having the chefs on local cooking programs use ingredients that come from IFC producers. This is a good way to show the quality of the products offered while attaching them to the Iowa Food Coop. Also, the local news channels would be invited to producer/member events and meetings.
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Print Media will be completely new to the Iowa Food Coop. The goal is to place ads in smaller local print publications such as independent newspapers or local lifestyle magazines. These ad spaces will be cheaper, and will reach the target audience of the Coop.
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Traditional web is already very important to the Iowa Food Coop since this is how products are ordered by Coop members. The current website will get a face lift to match the new brand standards, and will also be revised to include a stream of the social media accounts, a section with any video media that is produced, and more information about producers as well as members. The online cart would be updated as well, and links to producer bios would be added on their pages.
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With the boost in social media awareness a strong mobile website and shopping cart will need to be created. This would be a pared down version of the traditional web site, but would still include links to the same bios and videos.
Videos will include short producer or member bios, behind the scenes videos of farms or the distribution center, and videos of products being used in member’s homes. This will act as a way to advertise products, and bring the community closer by fostering understanding of the coop and the members and producers. These videos can be shared on social media, or on local TV.
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Community is an important part of the Iowa Food Coop brand. One way that a community becomes stronger is through affiliation. By creating Iowa Food Coop merchandise like t-shirts, tumblers, totes, coolers, and hats, members will be able to show their affiliation to the Iowa Food Coop community, and meet other members when they see the merchandise with other members. This merchandise will also create much needed revenue for the Iowa Food Coop that can be used for print media and digital media development. Furthermore, when members use these items they are creating free advertising for the Iowa Food Coop by visual recognition, and by encouraging potential members to approach them and ask questions about the organization.
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Text References Color Matters. (n.d.). The Meanings of Green. Retrieved October 24, 2013, from Color Matters. com: http://www.colormatters.com/green Color Matters. (n.d.). The Meanings of Orange. Retrieved October 24, 2013, from Color Matters.com: http://www.colormatters.com/orange Curl, C. L., Beresford, S. A., Hajat, A., Kaufman, J. D., Nettleton, J. A., & Diez-Roux, A. V. (2013). Associations of Organic Produce Consumption with Socioeconomic Status and the Local Food Environment: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Plos ONE , 1-8. Eatwellguide. (n.d.). About Eat Well Guide. Retrieved 2013, from http://www.eatwellguide. org/i.php?id=Abou Iowa Food Coop. (2011). Retrieved 2013 11-October from How it Works and FAQ: http://iowafood.coop/how-it-works-faq/ Vasile, C. (2011). 1st Web Designer. Retrieved 2013 19-November from Graphic Design Basics Part 1: Elements:http://www.1stwebdesigner. com/ design/graphic-designbasics-
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Image References
Hay http://www.sxc.hu/photo/199616 phelle Hen and Chick http://www.sxc.hu/photo/826945 ultra team Apple http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1111230 reHogs: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1441534 neerusse MissFran Baby in Field http://www.sxc.hu/photo/893647 Mother and Son: http://www.freeimages.com/ simmbarb Boy with Berries http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1198081 photo/1193956 doriana_s Organic Vegetable Garden http://www.freeimdoriana s ages.com/photo/1280033 AlexaSky Cattle http://www.sxc.hu/photo/723015 gnmills Produce: http://www.freeimages.com/phoChamomlie on the edge of Wheat Field http:// to/1231678 BeverlyLR www.sxc.hu/photo/1394535 Krappweis Seedling: http://www.freeimages.com/phoConstruction work in action http://www.sxc.hu/ to/1262982 Rams_on photo/1410643 bschwehn Coop Group: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Tractor: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1441537 MissFran File:Foto_familia_huertos_comunitario.JPG Corn Field http://www.sxc.hu/photo/907604 carlsilver Family = Love http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1433098 Greenbay Family Outdoors: http://www.freeimages.com/ photo/1205194 melbia Flower: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1346289 rbostwick Gardener http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/8814312676/ David Goehring Grass: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1433479 african_fi Hands: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1434811 eastop Iowa Food Coop Redesign Project Book | Page 43