Target Asian Millennials (ages 25-35) through social media to increase brand awareness
Establish Wei Good Food as an authentic brand that emphasizes community building and being culturally significant
CW
Wei Good Food
Market Research and Graphic Design
Project Overview
Wei Good Food was founded in May 2022 by Victor and Ziwei Li with the intent to combine Asian flavors with the feel of traditional American snacks. Their snacks can be found on social media, online shops, and pop up shops.
My team’s task was to conduct market research on competitor brands and offer social media marketing tactics and strategies for Wei Good Food to implement over a 3-month period.
Details
Role: Market Researcher and Graphic Designer
Duration: 3 months, Oct 2022 – Dec 2022
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Google Suite
Objective
My team was to create a 3-month business plan for Wei Good Food, outlining marketing solutions and creating a comprehensive timeline and budget breakdown.
We needed to analyze the competitor markets, conduct a SWOT analysis of the company, and take into consideration the current growth trajectory of the brand.
To determine the effectiveness of our solutions, we indicated specific KPIs that we would analyze throughout the 3-month period, allowing Wei Good Food to examine their growth over time.
At the end of the project, I, alongside 4 others, would present our business plan to the CEOs.
Market Research
Early into the Covid-19 Pandemic, the snack market shrunk primarily due to limitations on the movement of goods and the closure of retail outlets. However, since people were forced to stay home for the majority of 2020 – 2021, snacking became a common habit among the younger generation.
New snacks emerged as a result of the growing demand for snacks, and people were not satisfied with the traditional kind. Consumers sought out nutritious, healthy snack options and many supported small businesses online, which were made popular due to the social media app Tiktok.
We determined the target market to be Asian American individuals of all genders between the ages of 21 and 30 in the greater Los Angeles area. This population consists of Millennials who are either entering the workforce for the first time or are in undergraduate or graduate school and have stable or disposable incomes to support their snacking habits.
Millennials remain the key age demographic for online commerce, as they spend more money online in a given year than any other age group.
Using statistics regarding Los Angeles county and the population of Asian Americans, we determined Wei Good Food’s market size.
Target Market
Market Size
Competitor Analysis
We were able to identify three main competitors for Wei Good Food: Chingoo Snack Mix, Loaf Language, and Rooted Fare. These competitors all share the same mission statement of multicultural celebration.
Rooted Fare’s story and mission is the most similar to Wei Good Food. The founders, Ashley Xie and Hedy Yu, founded Rooted Fare to make Chinese American pantry staples that evoke a feeling of nostalgia. They are both second-generation Chinese Americans who want to connect with their heritage.
With this in mind, it was important to distinguish Wei Good Food’s products, keeping them affordable but also profitable, and maintain the authentic message that could bring together the Asian American community.
Below is a chart detailing the features and advantages of each company in comparison to Wei Good Food.
Competitor Analysis Chart
From top: Wei Good Food, Chingoo Snack Mix, Loaf Language, and Rooted Fare
SWOT Analysis
We then conducted a SWOT Analysis (strength, weakness, opportunities, threats) to understand Wei Good Food’s capabilities and constraints.
Wei Good Food had a strong forefront of authenticity and nostalgia, reflecting the cultural experiences of Asian Americans. However, they had a small team with limited time and resources to dedicate to marketing and production.
We took these factors into consideration when we began to draft our business plan and strategies.
SWOT Analysis
Marketing Strategy
We began brainstorming some marketing strategies for Wei Good Food to increase their social media outreach.
We created a positioning statement that would guide the trajectory of our solutions:
“Wei Good Food produces snacks that showcase the fusion of Asian and American flavors. Every option is creative, culturally significant, and delicious. Authenticity is at the forefront of Wei Good Food.“
By providing a message that emphasizes the fusion flavors to the brand’s identity of coexisting across cultures, we can differentiate Wei Good Food as a modern but culturally aware company.
We planned to utilize Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok to share content including the manufacturing process and behind the scenes to highlight the authenticity and dedication of a small team.
Here were our 3 marketing pillars:
Marketing Tactics
We determined specific marketing tactics that Wei Good Food could utilize during the 3-month period.
Our first marketing initiative was a Lunar New Years Event. As a festival largely important to Asian cultures, we thought it would be a crucial event to represent.
- Our campaign involved special limited discount event with traditional elements such as the red envelope.
- Customers would receive a red envelope with a coupon to get a random reward in their first 10 purchases through Wei Good Food’s website (ex. $3 or $5 off next purchase).
- The event would run through the entire month of January.
Lunar New Years Coupon Visual
Our second marketing initiative was to create “Behind the Scenes” content showcasing Wei Good Foods’ products alongside the founders to create an emotional connection with the consumers.
We outlined 3 ideas that Wei Good Food could use as content:
- Step-by-step process of manufacturing and incorporating the products, filming the founders creating and packaging
- Personable content showcasing the founders’ personalities in a “Day in the Life”
- Video content showcasing diverse and delicious recipes using Wei Good Food’s products
Our third marketing initiative was to utilize email/SMS outreach and customer surveys.
Using an automated email and text platform known as Klaviyo, Wei Good Food could send personalized emails and texts to help educate, promote, and information about their snacks.
Key Takeaways:
- Facilitate cost effective communication directly with customers in a personalized way by serving valuable content and relevant promotions and information
- Induces customers to click on a link to the WGF website and increase overall outreach
- It will create more traffic to the website, and lead to increased click/conversion rates
Finally, we knew that Wei Good Food had a limited budget, and before we started creating our business plan, they were a 2-man team.
So, we wanted to find a way to make their business more efficient.
Our next initiative was to offer unpaid internships to find support and lessen the workload for the founders while providing real world experience to college students and high schoolers.
- Tasks would include including creating graphics and posting to social media
- The internship would provide work experience in a fast-growing industry
- Internship can be advertised through Instagram, LinkedIn, Handshake, and Indeed
Media Flowchart
We created a media flowchart to give the founders a visual representation of when to implement each marketing strategy.
We knew that Wei Good Food consistently attends pop-up markets, so we included this in our chart for an overall look.
Budget Breakdown
We also created a comprehensive budgeting chart outlining specific costs and percentages of the money allocated.
Wei Good Food’s budget at the time was $750, so we created a detailed pie chart with the breakdown of each social media initiative.
The Result
Through this project, I was able to learn how to conduct market research for a target audience, and also analyze competitors and company strengths.
Many of the skills learned are cross-functional, and I hope to apply them to future projects in both marketing and design.
Questions for future iterations:
- How can we maximize the packaging and presentation strategy of WGF’s products?
- What partnerships or collaborations can we explore within the Asian snack niche?
- Are there any certifications or endorsements can be leveraged?