Salada goes digital on advertising
Published:Sunday | August 11, 2024 | 12:06 AMNeville Graham - Business Reporter
Salada Foods Jamaica Limited has gone digital while heading downmarket for fresh revenue.
For the third quarter ended June, sales at the coffee processing company rose to $405 million, a 46 per cent increase from $277 million for the similar period in 2023. And profit nearly tripled from $24.7 million to $63 million. The company credits the launch of its Golden Turmeric Latte product and aggressive marketing for the improvement.
The new product, sold under the company’s flagship Jamaica Mountain Peak brand, was developed in collaboration with loyal customers and is doing well in both local and overseas markets, Salada’s General Manager, Tamii Brown, said.
“This product, launched in April 2024, has seen positive market responses and substantial sales impact. During our focus group testing, the Golden Turmeric Latte rated highest in terms of sensory evaluation,” Brown said.
Salada’s bottom line also benefited from a squeeze on spending, with expenses related to sales and promotions being nearly $11 million less.
At the same time, the company’s advertising spend shifted to digital marketing initiatives, supporting the launch of Golden Turmeric Latte and awareness campaigns in Caricom territories. That’s led to good sales showings in Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, and St Lucia, Brown said.
“Our foray into digital advertising gets even more critical based on our push for regional expansion. Not a lot of people know this, but it is quite expensive for local manufacturers to do advertising. Therefore, in our export market, advertising digitally facilities more value for our money,” Brown explained.
As such, while Salada continues to advertise through traditional channel, the company has strengthened its foray into digital advertising, “meeting consumers right on their phone screens,” the coffee executive remarked.
“We are doing a lot more innovative social media activations allowing us to interact with our consumers directly and consistently in our different markets,” she said.
Meanwhile the company continues its aggressive push for local shelf space. Brown said Salada has been working closely with distribution partner, Lasco Distributors Limited, “to plug all of our distribution holes”.
“To start, we have been focused in our down-the-trade channels. You will find our products in all the corner shops and all of the small mom-and-pop shops. We are reaching Jamaicans where they are,” Brown said.
The coming is adding individual bar codes on all sachets “to ensure that every consumer can easily buy Jamaica Mountain Peak products, regardless of the discretionary spend that is afforded to them,” she said.