Unleashing the Power of Myth: How Bigfoot Helped Grow Sales for GreenPlanet Nutrients

Client: Mark Walman| COO
Role: Marketing Director / Designer
Target Audience: 21+ Canadian Indoor Gardeners
Sector: Business to Consumers (B2C)
Task: Campaign Creation / Asset Creation

Problem Statement

Problem Statement
My Experience

The failure of GreenPlanet Nutrients’ outdoor fertilizer product to gain traction with sales or acknowledgment prompted the need for an innovative branding and merchandising campaign to increase the product’s visibility and recognition in the market. The traditional liquid nutrients used for feeding programs were costly, and the BackCountry’s Outdoor 2-Part Feed program was developed to save growers time, money, and labor. Despite the slow progression of this product, a creative solution was needed to relaunch it successfully. This campaign was slow to take off, but eventually gained momentum and achieved a 20% increase in sales by the end of the summer. The lesson learned was that campaigns can succeed due to the efforts of individuals on the front line, and that there is a difference between a brand and a product campaign.

Working on the Bigfoot campaign for GreenPlanet Nutrients taught me valuable lessons about marketing and product campaigns. I learned that it’s important to let everyone have a voice at the table, regardless of their position in the company. By doing so, we were able to generate new and creative ideas that ultimately led to the success of the campaign.

I also learned the importance of setting clear goals and measuring success, even if the initial results are slow. By reporting failures and wins openly to the team and management, we were able to adjust our approach and ultimately achieve a 20% increase in sales.

The campaign also showed me the power of emotional triggers in marketing, as associating our product line with Bigfoot and April 1st created a lasting impression on growers and helped to increase brand recognition.

Furthermore, the experience highlighted the difference between brand and product campaigns, and the importance of educating stakeholders on these differences. This knowledge eventually led me to develop a successful brand campaign for GreenPlanet Nutrients, which further increased brand recognition and loyalty.

Overall, working on the Bigfoot campaign was a valuable learning experience that taught me the importance of collaboration, goal-setting, measurement, creativity, and education in marketing and product campaigns.

Contracted the production of a promotional video to be featured on YouTube.

Summary

As a marketing professional, I have gained invaluable experience from my work with GreenPlanet Nutrients on their Big Foot campaign. Despite the initial slow uptake of the campaign, I persevered and worked tirelessly to develop and execute a marketing plan that showcased the unique benefits of their outdoor fertilizers in a compelling and entertaining way.

Through this process, I learned important lessons about the importance of open communication and collaboration with stakeholders at all levels, the need to set measurable goals and report on successes and failures, and the power of emotional triggers and storytelling in creating effective marketing campaigns. I also honed my skills in convergent and divergent thinking, problem-solving, and project management, all of which were critical to the success of this campaign.

The result was a 20% increase in sales for GreenPlanet Nutrients’ outdoor fertilizer line, a growing following for their Big Foot-branded products, and recognition from other industry players for the innovative and effective nature of our campaign. This experience has left me well-positioned to bring similar success to other companies seeking to enhance their branding, merchandising, and sales efforts through creative and impactful marketing campaigns.

If you’re looking for a marketing professional who can bring fresh perspectives, strategic insights, and a proven track record of success to your team, I would be delighted to discuss how my skills and experience can help you achieve your goals.

A Time When I Failed
This campaign is a reminder of when I succeeded. It’s on my achievements page. However, I pasted a copy here just in case I have a new one to replace it.

A time when I succeded that is related to this campaing can be found on this portfolio page

Every experience allows me the opportunity to adapt and grow.

One particular failure that resonates with me the most is a campaign I created for GreenPlanet Nutrients(GPN). GPN had launched an outdoor fertilizer to help outdoor gardeners before my arrival with the company. They had hoped that putting this product into the hands of growers would be enough to see word-of-mouth marketing growth. However, this didn’t happen as planned. The product didn’t get any traction with sales or acknowledgment.

Usually, fertilizers are liquid. And with the trend of saving commercial growers on costs, powdered nutrients have become a new trend. Powdered nutrients are considerably cheaper to run within the growing cycle of plants.

Farmers/growers usually have a feed program of nutrients which consists of various products developed for vegetative and blooming stages. Traditionally liquid nutrients used for these feed programs weighed considerably and were very costly. Even transporting them within the grow facility or area can take a lot of energy, time, and money.

Therefore BackCountry’s Outdoor 2-Part Feed program was developed to save growers time, money, and labor. Because traditional Cannabis growers within Humbolt, California, would grow Cannabis within the mountain region. Therefore this product was designed so that less was needed within a plant growth cycle. Meaning less to carry and less was needed throughout the feeding. “Set it and forget” became the product mantra.

After the slow progression of this product, I took it upon myself to relaunch it as a product campaign telling the story behind its creation and its benefits, saving labor, money, and time.

I used my idea creation method of convergent & divergent thinking to find a solution. After many ideas, one junior member had a fun and interesting idea. That idea was to tell the story of the product’s benefits as Bigfoot(Sasquatch). Being a company based in British Columbia, Canada. The Sasquatch is a myth and legend within the part of the area. We borrowed the legend and tweaked it into our product narrative. Using them as our protagonists in our product campaign that succeed in their mission due to our product.

Through the next phase of divergent thinking, we came up with all the necessary components to make this campaign successful; testimonials, product information, sales tools, blogs, and sales resources.

I created a presentation to get stakeholders’ and department buy-ins—our first hurdle. The idea wasn’t unanimous in the go-ahead. It revealed some concerns with the perception of campaigns. The stakeholders saw this as a brand campaign, not a product campaign. After much explanation of the differences between brand and product, I created a new opportunity further down the line. After convincing my stakeholders to allow me to proceed, I would also create a brand campaign to tell the story of the brand’s purpose.

After creating blog content, marketing collateral, and sales tools, I walked through the campaign with the sales reps to flush out any more tools or resources to help the campaign succeed.

The aim was to launch the campaign on April 1st for Arpil’s fools day. We soft-launched content prior to building interest and awareness with the hard launch of our Youtube video of a big foot sighting. We sent care packages to our stores. Sales rep prepped with the tools. We were a full launch.

Promoting this story about the outdoor nutrients, guaranteed to save you money, labor, and costs – all approved by big foot. The Sasquatch Nutrients.

In the first month, we saw no increase in sales. I submitted my report to stakeholders as slow traction. However, I kept strong and continued the marketing efforts for another month. Luckily for us, one of the US Sales reps championed the idea.

With the support, after the first month, we started to see an increase in sales, specifically the outdoor nutrients. By the end of the Summer, we had a 20% increase in sales, throughout the Summer.’

The year after, and ready for the outdoor season, people reached out to our sales reps for the bigfoot nutrients. We even had other nutrient companies congratulate us on the campaign, as they had similar ideas. They failed to execute in time, which gave us an opportunity to position our product as the bigfoot-approved nutrients.

Even though I didn’t have initial buy-in, the campaign was slow to take off. The Backcountry blend outdoor fertilizer has gained more and more followers every year. With the product line and its benefits closely associated with big-foot meant that every year on April 1st, people would be triggered to remember our line of nutrients. Ready for the outdoor season.

What I learned
- Regardless of management level, let everyone have a voice at the table
- To create goals and measure for success.
  - Report failures and wins openly to the team and management
- Sometimes a campaign’s success can come down to the individuals on the front line pushing the campaign.
- To be willing to fail and learn
- Created an emotional trigger with Bigfoot and April 1st, so growers were reminded yearly of our outdoor product range.
- That there is a difference between a brand and a product campaign
  - Not everyone knows the difference, and education helps.
  - This eventually led me to my success; the brand campaign