Yeo Valley Organic Yogurt

Some 12 months on, the brand has slipped from 88th position to 97th, with sales dipping by 2% to £72m. But the slide is not the result of inactivity on behalf of Yeo Valley – quite the opposite, in fact.

The brand kicked off the year in style at the beginning of January with the launch into the growing children's market of Yeo's, said to be the market's first organic, hand-held, stick product. Aimed at the lunchbox as well as the home, Yeo's USP – apart from being organic – was its higher fruit content compared with rival tube brands.

In August Yeo Valley's focus was on independent retailers, with the launch of one-litre packs of an extended-shelf-life version of its organic milk, which has a lifespan of 42 days. Londis became the first symbol group to list it.

On top of this, a national sampling tour from June to October took in 68 retailers and put the brand in front of more than half a million shoppers, with money-off coupons driving trial.

But it was the end of the year that saw the most dramatic activity as Yeo Valley geared up for a complete relaunch of the brand at the start of 2008.

New and improved products featured 60% more fruit while the brand's packaging received a complete makeover, with a simpler, cleaner, more modern look. Yeo Valley deemed the relaunch necessary to help sustain the brand's 20% year-on-year growth rate, which has already given it a 7.2% share of the £1.7bn yogurt and fromage frais market and a 60% share of the organic sector.

“We've made new product launches and enhanced the designs of some of our packs in recent years, but this is the biggest event since we developed our 'grass tick' design in 2003,” explains Yeo Valley's marketing director, Ben Cull.

“Since then, subsequent launches, range additions and revisions to some of our packs have meant our identity wasn't always as unified as we'd like. The aim with the new work is to set us apart again from all competition and give us an umbrella design structure that will cover the children's, mainstream and premium sectors of the market. It also works strongly for desserts and the primary dairy categories, like butter and milk.”

He adds: “With the new, fruitier recipes, we are also aiming to make our brand even more appealing to the growing number of consumers who are seeking products that will give a healthier accent to their diets.

“The logo has also been strengthened, to make brand recognition easier and attract the 'mild greens' who are very important in helping to grow the organic sector.”

Ironically, it was the build-up to the relaunch that caused Yeo Valley's market share to dip towards the end of 2007 as the company wound down old packaging lines that were about to be deleted.

However, with the £3m press, poster and television advertising campaign that broke in February 2008 to support the relaunch, we're likely to see Yeo Valley climbing up the Top 100 once again before too long.

2007 £72.0m
2006 £73.4m
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