CASE STUDY: Lobel’s of New York

When it comes to meat of uncompromising quality -- the kind that if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford -- Lobel’s Prime Meats has been the brand of choice among Manhattan’s elite for five generations. Despite David Letterman’s personal endorsement of Lobel’s as “the world’s best butcher shop,” this family-run business has always been essentially a local brand, albeit local to one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, the Upper East Side. The Lobels, however, saw the Web as offering them the opportunity to become the brand of choice among carnivorous cognoscenti all over the U.S., even the world.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

With this goal in mind, and a developing partnership with Leon Kastner Wholesale Meats in Rochester, NY (which provides the means for the business to scale production to meet demand without compromise to quality), the Lobels came to Cognitive Marketing in 2000 to help them launch this new business. Our services began with writing the business plan for what was essentially an ecommerce startup, one which would enable them to develop a national clientele without following the traditional path of retail expansion (multiplying brick-and-mortar locations on a market-by-market basis).

Cognitive Marketing’s brand strategy included naming the new enterprise Lobel’s of New York, a decision that would allow for building the equity of the family name while capitalizing on the cache of its geographic origins. We also elected to break free of such typical price-driven retail constructs as discounts, deals, and specials. Our strategy is not modeled after lower-end meat retailers like Omaha Steaks, but rather other quality-driven, best-of-class brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Tiffany.

To prove the efficacy of the business model, in May 2001, we launched a test market campaign aimed at the upscale San Francisco market, employing such media as local network editions of Fortune and Kiplingers, lifestyle publications such as San Francisco Magazine, and connoisseur publications such as Food and Wine. Cognitive Marketing essentially functions in this example as the marketing department. We retained, as subcontractors, a direct marketing firm to launch a direct mail campaign; a telemarketing/fulfillment firm to handle customer calls with the Lobel’s brand of superior customer service; and a Bay-area public relations firm to help us gain favorable and plentiful publicity.

EVIDENCE OF RESULTS

Lobel’s of New York launched in April 2001, in the year of the dot-com crash. The results from this so far self-funded business startup have been extremely encouraging: from launch through the end of the first year, Lobel’s of New York generated nearly $1 million in sales, not only from California, where significant test market dollars were invested, but from a growing base of loyal customers throughout the nation, which were acquired primarily through our ecommerce marketing efforts.