Donnelly Fresh

Changing an internal mindset

Capabilities
Brand Strategy
Packaging Design
Web Development

Sectors
Food & Beverage

Neworld Packaging and Digital Donnelly Fresh

The mission

donnelly fresh has been bringing exciting new produce to the Irish market since its foundation in 1979. From its origins in Dublin’s Victorian Markets, the company has developed into a formidable international player with specialist expertise across sourcing, farming and value adding innovation.

Fresh produce, fruit & veg in particular, has become highly commoditised in today’s market. As a result, the generations of knowledge and expertise owned by donnelly fresh had become somewhat eroded. In order to leverage the equity the company had built up over three generations and secure the future of the business, the donnelly fresh team knew a significant change was needed. With their future goals and ambitions mapped out, and a number of indispensable new roles created internally, the team engaged us to partner with them on this mission.

The question

How do you make your brand stand proud in a commoditised market?

Over the course of four decades, the business had become fragmented. As the company expanded its expertise, new business units had come on stream. This fragmentation was compounded by the physical separation of the various business units, each located at its own individual site. The key objective of this project was to create a more cohesive brand hierarchy that would unite the different business units together, under one strong masterbrand.

An internal culture change needed to happen too. The team had to understand the value of the business as a brand, not just a supplier. Instilling this renewed confidence internally would then filter out to all external stakeholders, from international growers and buyers to the next generation of employees. It was about raising the profile of donnelly fresh as a category leader and partner of choice for the Irish market, and a preferred employer that offered a dynamic working environment with lots of opportunities for personal growth.

The process

We knew we needed to engage people at every level of the company across each business unit to get complete buy-in from everyone. We immersed ourselves fully in the company’s operations, visiting its farms in North County Dublin and its various production facilities. We carried out deep dive qualitative research with a large number of internal and external stakeholders, really digging into the distinct USPs each area of the business held, and uncovering a myriad of opportunities that had been overlooked. This research was pivotal in laying the foundation for the brand strategy and hierarchy moving forward.

The next step was a full day brand workshop. This was where the tide really began to shift. The workshop gave people across the business the opportunity to meet each other and spend the day learning about their respective areas of expertise. An open forum where people were free to question and challenge one another, it quickly became clear that each business unit had much more in common than they realised. The collective team was firmly united, building the brand together from the ground up. The outputs of the brand workshop were distilled in a unique set of brand values, brand truths and a bold new brand positioning, which were then brought to life visually with a fresh new identity and website.

The outcome

All business units are now united under the donnelly fresh masterband, with sub brands denoting the produce, foods, and farms parts of the business. The addition of ‘fresh.’ to the masterbrand name refers to so much more than just the produce they sell. It’s a confident declaration of the approach and attitude embodied by each person across every level of the business, full stop.

This unique approach is further crystallised in their brand values: Progressive, Adventurous, Inspiring, Grounded.

The new donnelly fresh visual identity captured the adventurous spirit of the business, shying away from the category norm of leaf motifs and shades of green. The brandmark, named the ‘donnelly fresh fusion’, symbolised the different business units coming together and the energy, imagination and drive for innovation shared between them. Bringing this dynamic new visual identity to life online was the final step. We developed a singular website that finally captured all of the amazing USPs owned by donnelly fresh, cementing their rightful position as experts and category leaders.

There are so many different ways to measure the success of a project like this. For us, the real KPI has been seeing how reinvigorated the donnelly fresh team has become. The impact has been hugely positive internally, and the culture change is truly inspiring. It’s been incredible watching donnelly fresh reintroduce itself to the world, with the same energy and belief that started the business all those years ago.

“The job is so much more than just a rebranding and that really came to life yesterday when we ran internal workshops with 45 more colleagues from across the business. I went home truly inspired by the stories that the teams shared about how our new brand values are being lived, and full of optimism for the future of the business.”

James O’Connor, donnelly fresh CEO