Situation

Diet Watcher Workshops, a chain of weight reduction centers, had an inside track on a new low calorie line of salad dressings. 
   They had tried the new ranch dressing in Hidden Valley, substituting in buttermilk for the mayonnaise that was called for. Their membership instantly embraced the reformulation as a lifestyle change they could live with, and the Center adopted it into its diet plan. When Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing started getting orders from consumers by the case, it tracked down Diet Watcher’s Workshop to find out why. When they learned what the Center was doing, they put the substitution suggestion on pack.
   But, then Diet Watcher Workshops decided it wanted to launch its own salad dressing line. They saw that a line with their brand on it could work synergistically to cross promote its workshops.

Problem

Diet foods as a category had a major image problem in the market. If they worked, they couldn't deliver taste. If they tasted good, they wouldn't work. The term “diet” was counter productive in marketing food. It was more suitable for products in the pharmaceutical category. But, the client was looking for synergy.
   To go up against other established salad dressing brands with a one item line just didn't make any sense at all. But, if the line were expanded to four items, Diet Watcher Workshops would have four chances that an entrée might stick. A one item line might get you an end cap or an island display if you're lucky, but four items can get you a permanent home on the shelves, cubes permitting.
   The client decided to expand the line to four and sell in for a permanent home on the condiment shelf. Over a year in development later, a line of two low calorie salad dressings and two low calorie gravy mixes emerged.  The agency was called in to design the packaging.

They'll Just Change Your Style Campaign:  When the agency got the assignment, there was no research and no strategic plan. Before it designed the packaging, it had to research and write the client's entire marketing and business plan. 
   Five focus groups convinced the Company the market's perception about diet foods in general  -- taste vs functionality -- was its greatest obstacle. Its brand was going to be an up hill battle. The other major obstacle was to stimulate trial among the mainstream health conscious homemakers who weren't on a diet but who go for taste.
   The agency developed line packaging, shippers, an integrated sell through campaign using radio and newspaper, a sell through trade promotion package that included newspaper slicks, and a :30/:30 radio co-op radio package that made it possible for stores to buy :30 radio with their co-op allowances at about 25% the normal rate. 
   The campaign featured a fashionable, slim figured woman's silhouette on the packaging and in its newspaper ads. The radio featured non dieters loosing weight because they liked the product and complaining about it. “Diet Watcher's low calorie salad dressings and gravy mixes work sure, but you wouldn't know it to taste it.” A voice at the end of every spot assures them,  “They won't put you out of business. They'll just change your style."

Results

The line sold through in test with representative distribution in 85% of Southern California supermarkets. In three years, the line had representative distribution in the top 20 national markets. Five years into it, the line was reformulated because of concerns questioning the safety of MSG.  The founders eventually sold the company and retired ten years after it had began. And, the agency that had launched the business brokered the sale.