CONTEXT: 

Decadence Cheesecakes has been operating in Richmond since 2013. The owner, Lee Mathis, decided to take his culinary skills and create the "most decadent cheesecakes on earth". Decadence offers two types of cheesecakes, savory and sweet. 

Decadence Cheesecakes are bought and sold in local shops in the Richmond area as well as the local farmer's markets. The products retail between $4.99-7.99.

All of the packaging is done in house, and the products are made and stored at a local test kitchen.

PROBLEM:

Decadence lacks credibility in the Richmond community. Not only do the two product lines not work together, but the product is being misrepresented in-store and its design makes it difficult to use.

CHALLENGE:

Introduce Decadence to the Richmond community.

APPROACH:

Brand Immersion: conducted a thorough brand audit, tested product, ran product defrost trials, visited shops where product was sold.

Industry Analysis: conducted informational interviews about product, investigated competitors’ positioning and branding, conducted price comparisons, researched pop-up restaurant market and researched pop-up restaurant locations.

Customer Analysis: created and analyzed customer surveys of 120+ dip/spread lovers, conducted focus groups, and reviewed blogs/facebook comments and pictures.

TARGET: 

25-35 "Richmonders", middle-upper class, in the midst of transition

OBSERVATIONS    |    OPPORTUNITY:

Throughout our qualitative and quantitative research we realized that:

1. The product is seen as grandma-ish    |    Take it to being seen as Carrie Bradshaw

2. It's currently a shelf sitter    |    Make it an impulse buy

STRATEGY:

Decadence gives the men a sense of accomplishment when accomplishment is rare, and it gives woman that go-to companion when she doesn’t want to publicly gloat about a friend’s satisfying misfortune. 

CREATIVE CONCEPT:

The Solitary Celebration.

For Men: it's redemption       |       For Women: it's celebration

CREATIVE WORK:

BRAND STORY: CHEESECAKE

When you eat a Decadence cheesecake, it is a moment of solitary celebration. It is about rejoicing in the small, less-than-shareable moments in life. Like when you run into your ex-boyfriend on the street and you’re secretly thrilled that he has put on 30lbs. Or when you find out that the girl from your office that always gives you backhanded compliments had her baby...and it’s really ugly. While you indulge in these semi-inappropriate, but completely satisfying moments, you also enjoy your single serving of Decadence cheesecake. 

BRAND STORY: COOKING CUBES

Decadence cooking cubes are for those moments of less-than-shareable, solitary celebration. Like when you finally bought those high thread count sheets and that duvet cover you’ve been wanting. Or when you decided to get a $50.00 hair cut at your girlfriend’s salon instead of just letting your roommate buzz your head in the backyard. You can’t really call up your buddies to go drinking over your developing maturity and newfound love of high quality sheets, but you can treat yourself to a high class homemade meal using Decadence savory cooking cubes to spice things up. 

PRODUCT TESTING:

We did product trials, to compare the defrost and cooking times between glass and tin. What we found was that tin had a much faster defrost rate, which would still allow the product to be sold frozen & consumed with minimal wait time.

Current Material: Glass (Insulator)

Suggested Material: Tin