County Fresh Greenhouses Ltd. engaged Tugboat Group for the development of a new brand and name to support ownership's vision of a year-round greenhouse farming operation in Canada.
For County Fresh Farms, growing premium local produce is a big deal. They needed a name and position that communicated both hard and soft consumer benefits, including year-round availability of locally-grown fresh produce, joyful vitality, continual improvement, and the pursuit of excellence.
Now they are Big Marble Farms, the community-minded and sustainable Alberta greenhouse grower, producing and marketing local, premium produce year-round.
Working on location with senior stakeholders, the underpinnings of the brand and position were unearthed via visioning and affinity sessions facilitated by Tugboat strategists.
If County Fresh Greenhouses were a person, what would they be like? How would they act? What would they wear? How would they speak? If they were a watch? A vehicle? Then, of their direct or indirect competitors, who’s doing it right? Wrong? Why?
Always Growing™ is anchored in the farm’s heritage as the first year-round greenhouse grower in Alberta. It references simultaneous growth across the four pillars of the brand — Promise, Joyful Vitality, Purpose and the capacity to be Outstanding. The line is also a nod to the company’s ongoing commitment to family, community and environmental sustainability.
The company’s clear mission to build community — both directly and indirectly linked to their product — will create a dynamic, positive and growing network of people who identify with their brand promise.
Big Marble harkens back to old fashioned values while embracing technology and a fresh, global perspective. It is fun, iconic, and memorable, and clearly unique among its competitive set. Big Marble Farms' purpose is to bring outstanding local greenhouse produce to the people of Alberta every day. In other words, they're Always Growing™.
Large, round and full, the Big Marble Farms logo draws its strength from a chorus of simple attributes that cooperate predictively, but sum up uniquely, as a bold presence that represents the brand perfectly. The single colour blue spot dominates the positive space, while the rounded typeface provides a subtle retro inflection that provides the logo's depth. The graphic is punctuated with a small leaf, lending an organic appeal.
To pair with the brand identity, we designed a graphic interpretation of the Always Growing™ tagline, as well as the Farming for the Future™ slogan. Graphics and icons were also developed and trademarked, to communicate key messages on product packaging, such as country of origin, and the method of farming, in Big Marble Farms' case, greenhouses.
As the brand garnered momentum, we introduced a sustainability program complete with its own identity and supporting elements to illustrate and extoll the many sustainable benefits of greenhouse farming. The Big Marble First™ program continues to be a driving force behind the brand today.
Big Marble First is more than a sustainability program; it’s the company's mindset, their purpose, and their “why”. It places the wellbeing of the planet’s future at the forefront of all business decisions.
It’s why Big Marble Farms grows in high tech greenhouses and produces more on less arable land. It’s why they use less water, less pesticides and less energy. It’s why they feed their clean CO2 emissions to their crops and capture waste heat for reuse. It’s why they are constantly exploring innovative ideas in sustainable packaging and growing technologies.
Big Marble First is their promise to future generations to put what matters most before convenience and profit.
The Big Marble Farms brand 'in situation' was presented across a suite of stationery and business papers. Originally specked to print on kraft stock, the program was later revised as one colour on white. Simple, clean and fresh.
The package is not the product. It is the sometimes frowned upon necessary evil in the fresh business. But highly functional, sustainable packaging protects and increases the shelf life of perishable produce, and reduces food waste. Those benefits, combined with responsibly sourced, compostable and recyclable packaging materials, drive the Big Marble First packaging program. Constant creative feedback and refinement shapes multi-retailer packaging programs that are designed to turn heads and find shopping baskets.
Healthy and delicious recipe creations sell fruit. Even better are new ideas that highlight the benefits and textures of Big Marble Farms premium produce and spur trial. Making it easy for mom and dad to increase fresh consumption at home makes it easy to make new friends in the produce department.
High quality macro photography of styled brand-owned recipes take the lead in the development of poster and full page sized advertising to support retail publication and POP requirements. Full recipes are referenced in large format situations, along with call-outs to relevant products found in-store. These ads prompt purchases and online visits for additional recipes.
The Canadian Produce Marketing Association convention and trade show was scheduled to be in Vancouver in April, 2020. We were well into planning mode for the Big Marble Farms trade show debut, with a 20x30' booth locked down in prime position. And then Covid. The show was cancelled, and 2021 went virtual. The Loblaw's Vendor Show did take place in early 2020, however, and Big Marble Farms was well represented on the east coast with high impact brand graphics and product packaging unique to Loblaw's retail brands. There are big ideas on ice for 2022. Stay tuned.
Like most things that involve wizards, it's what goes on behind the curtains that interests consumers the most. Working with Big Marble Farms creative and marketing resources, Tugboat Group established a content planning and development framework and workflow for the creation of a variety of branded and candid social media content themes.
Our collaborative and flexible approach empowered on-site content developers to work in tandem with Tugboat strategists, writers and designers in the fulfillment of planned and spur of the moment social outreach. The programs we initiated have garnered organic follow-ship in the thousands, and established reliable brand communication channels for agency and client.
The Big Marble Farms website is built on the Drupal CMS, featuring managed content controls for anonymous browsers, as well private vendor pages. Dynamic photography and 4K video lead web visitors on an impactful, rich media journey as they navigate the site. Recipes are posted for download and sharing, product packs and beauty images prompt purchase intentions, and subscription tools connect brand advocates with ongoing social media and emarketing efforts. The Big Marble Website delivers a fresh experience with every visit.
More Big Marble Farms
Coming soon at Tugboat.Online, our web product and software development engine room.
We can develop just about any site or application, any size, for any purpose. In fact, Tugboat.Online is so capable and specialized it needs its own berth.
Curious to know how we'd approach your unique requirements? Let's talk.
