Mr Beefcakes: Case Study
In March 2015, the Gryffe Studios team began planning something special for April Fool’s Day. What then followed was a masterclass in brand development, design and promotion. This is what we achieved in just 7 days….
Concept
Meat-flavoured wedding cakes are the hottest wedding trend for 2015.
Brand development
We needed a company name, branding, company ethos, company background and product line. After some brainstorming, Mr Beefcakes was born. We choose this name for three reasons:
- ‘Beefcakes’ explains in one word what the business does
- ‘Mr Beefcakes’ gives the business a personality. We could then use our male actor to portray ‘Mr Beefcake’
- Beefcakes also conjurs up Scottish imagery i.e ‘Scottish beefcake’
For the logo and branding, we had several ideas including a kilt-wearing man holding a cake, a tartan cupcake case and, finally, the one we choose – a cupcake with antlers. We went for a pink theme, to feminise the masculine brand and make it more attractive to women.
The devil is most definitely in the detail with any brand. It’s important to pre-empt what information consumers will want to know. So, we spent some time finalising the way the business would operate – from the cooking process to the company’s background.
The cakes themselves would be infused with meat. Any meat products would be freeze-dried, blended to powder and then added to a traditional cake mix. The cakes would look and have the texture of a ‘normal’ cake but have a meaty flavour.
It was important that Mr Beefcake was ethical. So we decided that he would only use the finest organic produce from local suppliers, where possible.
Mr Beefcakes was founded by Roger and Flora Poli (April Fool anagram) in 2012. They had been asked to make a bacon and maple syrup cake for a Canadian couple’s nuptials. The response was overwhelming and the business (and product line) grew arms and legs.
Website
Our in-house designer created this website – www.mrbeefcakes.co.uk – in just two days. With a simple, easy-to-navigate layout, an approachable and appealing colour scheme and some eye-catching graphics and photos, the website perfectly represented the brand.
Social Media
We decided to simplify our social media strategy. Ordinarily with a brand, we would have a presence over several social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. However, the social presence for Mr Beefcakes was really just about establishing its credibility and giving people a place to feedback on 1st April. We posted about a week’s worth of engaging posts to give the page some life prior to its official launch.
Promotional video and photos
As we are also a video production company, and the main purpose of Mr Beefcakes was to drive traffic to the Scottish Wedding Channel, it was vital we produced a believable and engaging video. Using our in-house studio and styling the shoot with shop-bought cakes, we enlisted an actor to play Mr Beefcakes. The shoot was scripted and structured to resemble a feature on a talk show. It is about 4 minutes long as it was vital is was succinct. The video captures the personality of Mr Beefcakes – as well as the quality of the cakes themselves.
Our photography team also took some gorgeous product shots, meaning we had images we could use promotionally.
Brand awareness
Within 24 hours of going live, our Mr Beefcakes promotional video was watched 5700 times. The FB post was shared 27 times and our Mr Beefcakes facebook page generated hundreds of comments.
Our talented team created and promoted a brand within 7 days. As well as brand development, we offer a large number of skills including:
- Website development
- Logo design
- Animation and graphics
- Video production
- Product shots
- Social Media training and management
- Event organisation
Whether you have a new business idea that needs promoted, or you want to reevaluate the direction of your existing brand, we have the expertise to drive your company forward.
