Erasco is a brand that has been an indispensable part of German supermarket shelves for decades.
The convenience food manufacturer, based in Lübeck, is part of the international food group GB Foods and is particularly well known for its soups and stews.
The traditional Erasco brand enjoys a high level of recognition and popularity among consumers. Nevertheless, consumer and shopping behaviour is changing – especially among younger target groups. Erasco faces the challenge of winning over the young target group and at the same time not losing its loyal regular customers.
Our third semester Brand Management addressed this problem in the module “Marketing Conception Deepening”. The students were given the task of developing a new communication strategy.
Under the supervision of Prof. Ute Röseler, the students worked on competition, target group and trend analyses. Based on the results, four teams derived different communication concepts.
The project started in a hybrid format – with classroom teaching and online participation. Thus, the practice partner was present online at the briefing session. The students used their online skills and presented their developed concept professionally on the screen during the final presentation in January.
The presentations showed that the teams focused on different target groups. They proved their creativity with different leading ideas and emotional core messages. Each group also provided a recommendation for the weighting and selection of communication channels to suit their concept.
On the Erasco side, the project was accompanied by Julia Schäfer, Senior Brand Manager, and Brand University alumna Julia Krüger, Junior Brand Manager.
Their conclusion: “The practical transfer project with the 3rd semester students was an inspiring and successful collaboration for us. Based on various analyses, the students specifically derived emotional core messages and translated them to their channel recommendation. The presentation of the results convinced us in terms of content and expertise – the students have professionally mastered their first practical project.”
As a thank you for their work, the students received certificates for their successful participation as well as deliciously filled goodie bags.
We would like to thank Erasco and GB Foods Germany for their cooperation. This practical project gave our students a deep insight into the food market in the convenience food sector. In their first project, the students were able to deepen their marketing knowledge based on market research and trend studies and apply it to a real project.
