For three consecutive years, Henri's Food Products' reduced calorie salad dressings suffered from declining sales. Indications were that a poor packaging label was partially to blame. With the guidance of market research, the company has revamped the look and as a result, sales have improved significantly. The label, the company admits, was plagued with problems: "Obscure logo, hard-to-read label copy, unappealing photo, too cutesy, no punch, vague and cluttered." Research was conducted "out of the recognition that the label was not as good as that of the competition (Kraft)," says Eric Hansen, marketing manager at Henri's.

Focus groups

During the summer and fall of 1986, focus groups were conducted in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Indianapolis by the Food Evaluation Center, a firm in Milwaukee that conducts research for food companies. Respondents for the study were women 25-54 years old, the largest consumers of pourable salad dressing. Mall intercepts were also conducted to probe consumers more in-depth.

Three out of eight new "concept" packaging labels along with the old one were shown to focus group participants. From the discussions, Henri's learned that consumers liked a less cluttered look that projected freshness and appetite appeal.

The respondents also preferred the word "light" instead of "diet" on the dressings because they believed the "diet" was already in the salad, says Hansen. "Light was all that was needed to assure consumers the dressing was low in fat and calories."

Cleaner label

The new label is much cleaner and easier to read with the name of the flavor printed boldly in the center. Above it, "90% Fat Free" is dominantly displayed; highlighted below is "Reduced Calorie Dressing." The words are surrounded by a variety of fresh vegetables. The neck of the bottle sports a simplified yet more prominent “Henri’s" and right below that is a bold "Light" signature that instantly communicates to consumers, "reduced calorie."While packaging research was taking place, product research was also being conducted to assure consumers preferred Henri's taste over competitive dressings, says Hansen. The Light dressings were introduced in late 1986 and by late 1987, Henri's had converted its regular calorie salad dressing line to a modified version of the Light label design.

Henri’s labels

All of the excitement surrounding the company's new packaging changes was just the beginning. To recapture the lost shelf space and gain recognition and believability, Henri's came out with a sales brochure for grocery buyers admitting its previous labeling mistakes and comparing the old label to the Edsel.

On the cover of the brochure is a close-up shot of the Edsel grill with a line below it saying "(Ours was a line of salad dressings)." Inside the brochure, a picture of the salad dressing with the old label is shown under the caption, "Why We Flopped." Beside it is the salad dressing with the new label under which are the words, "Why We'll Fly." Next to it is copy pointing out all of its positive changes.

The embarrassingly straightforward copy on the back reads: "In 1984, Henri's launched its newly repackaged line of reduced calorie salad dressings with all the glitter and ballyhoo of the 1957 Edsel unveiling. And about the same pathetic results.

"What went wrong? Well, admitting your mistakes is never an easy task. So we will limit the litany of our packaging errors to just these poor, hollow, self pitying few: Obscure logo; hard?to?read label copy; unappealing photo; too cutesy; no punch; vague; cluttered."

Formula for success

"O.K. that's behind us," the brochure further states. "Can we finally get on with our lives? Start anew? Can we at long last reveal our plan to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

"That's right. Out of the wretched recipe for failure that we've outlined above has come something new and meaningful and productive. A formula for success."

The brochure goes on to explain what Henri's has done to its salad dressings - "re-packaged, re-positioned and renamed" - while holding "on to our great taste and quality ways." Finally, it promises, "We messed up once. We won't again. Count on it." Richard Brayer, a management supervisor for Zechman & Associates, the Chicago advertising agency that came up with the unique marketing campaign, said in a Minneapolis Star Tribune article, "Everybody (else) is trying to hide their mistakes. We know this got us in the door" to do a selling job on grocery purchasing agents.

Brayer says Henri's was cool on the idea at first. "They did not want to do it. But we said, this is really the way to win attention and credibility." Pretty soon, Henri's came to like the approach and finally gave the marketing campaign its "O.K." Hansen says 4,000 brochures were distributed to the company's distributors, retail agents and supermarket customers.

Television commercial

The company also introduced a new television commercial that is being test marketed on Minneapolis-St. Paul stations for 16-20 weeks. The company has hopes the $600,000 campaign will increase brand awareness and market share. If that happens, the campaign may then run in selected Midwestern states where Henri's is sold.

So far, the combined efforts of new packaging and an aggressive and bold marketing campaign are turning things around at the salad dressing maker. The company is proving that it's committed to avoiding another Easel. Promise.