Strategic Precision

Café Rouge

Clear brand positioning in a crowded market

The Brief

Café Rouge was a well-established brand in a sector under pressure - mid-market branded restaurant chains. The marketing team had a wealth of brand information but acknowledged that they needed wise counsel to make sense of it and help them define and develop a stronger, clearer and more differentiated positioning. No new consumer research was commissioned in the brief.

The Method

Sometimes, new research isn’t needed. Brand teams already sit on a treasure trove of brand intel. It’s information that many agencies overlook but that can be hugely valuable when an established brand needs a refreshed sense of purpose. We found a way to corral and consider all this knowledge, while bringing in new stimuli to enable the team to evaluate as wide a range of avenues as possible before selecting the optimum positioning route.

We carried out a workshop with the brand team to understand where the brand currently was in terms of positioning and where it might go. During the workshop, we gave space to each member of the team to share their understanding and knowledge of the brand.
We introduced them all to a wide range of French and Parisienne themed stimuli, including videos and articles that we had researched and curated. This opened up the discussion into a Parisienne café approach, rooted in inspiration from Les Halles, the famous food market that was, for 800 years, the heart - and belly - of Paris and embodied the egalitarian, lively, food-obsessed essence of Paris.
We mapped the outputs of the workshop against the brand’s current positioning, overlaid competitor information using research that was in the public domain, and pulled together a market map and a series of three potential positioning routes that captured the emotional heart of their offering.
Ultimately the client chose a route called ‘Joie de Vivre’, a positioning with that authentic Parisienne experience and a sense of discovery at its heart, reimagined for the 21st century.
We helped the team pull together a board proposal, explaining the positioning and demonstrating its execution in everything from food offers to menu design and potential marcomms. The board green-lighted the proposal and the brand transformation is underway.

The Value

We applied marketing expertise and analytical rigour to a brand that was languishing in a market sector that was struggling. Using data and information that existed, both within the team and in the public domain, along with stimuli drawn from our own secondary research, we acted as wise counsel for the team and help them to develop a relevant and compelling proposition.

In particular, the Parisienne stimuli disrupted the accepted thinking and prompted a transformation in approach. This allowed us to develop a brand positioning and proposition that feels immersive to the consumer, with the food offering as the hero but with the customer experience as a whole central to the proposition.

The Bits We Loved

It was collaborative. The workshop pooled the knowledge and experience of the team and we worked together to take it forward.
We loved the way that our Parisienne carousel really triggered new directions and disrupted the patterns of thinking that were embedded.
This was a consultancy role, empowering the brand team to transform their thinking and have the confidence that they were on to something.
It felt like the embodiment of our philosophy of Eudaemonic Transformation - a change in direction or thinking that has positive outcomes. It worked both within the team and ultimately, as part of the brand experience for the consumer.