TEXAS PETE
Wakes Up Food
Consumer packaged goods is a competitive business. You have retailers with limited shelf space and some of the largest and best known multi-national companies competing for their sliver of the pie. The hot sauce category is filled with smaller brands trying to get space while the more established brands are eager to grow their share. TW Garner Food Company, owners of Texas Pete Hot Sauce, asked VWA to help them grow their regional hot sauce brand into a national player. VWA went to work. We used qualitative and quantitative research along with some old fashioned store intercepts to determine the history of the hot sauce consumer and how they selected their favorite brands. We were able to isolate the growing segment of the category and develop a position that differentiated us from the competition. How do you stand out in the crowded hot sauce category? Rather than focusing on “heat” as the differentiator, we took a different approach highlighting the “flavor” enhancing nature of Texas Pete Hot Sauce. This resonated with the consumer who did not want to change the flavor of their food, but did want to enhance the flavor experience.
With a limited budget compared to national brands, we developed a plan to embrace the passionate hot sauce consumer. The passionate consumer is considered to be an expert in the category. Once convinced Texas Pete was the brand for to embrace, they would yell it from the mountain tops. We employed a strategy of television, promotion, events , sponsorship and became the number one hot sauce in markets that indexed highest for hot sauce consumption.
