Yakima Chief Gets Hopping
on New Marketing Strategies

Situation:

Yakima Chief, Inc. is owned
and operated by families
who have been growing
hops in the Yakima Valley
of Washington State for over
a century. They formed
Yakima Chief to sell their
products directly to brewers
worldwide. Hop products
have traditionally been
brokered through a
middleman.

Challenges:

• To change the distribution structure of an industry and communicate the benefits of buying hops grower direct.

• To help Yakima Chief build its brand.

• To communicate with brewers in the United States, Europe, Asia and South/
• Central America, and create a buyer direct market for their hop products.

Strategy/Execution

Working with a newly formed company meant starting from ground zero. First we provided a comprehensive marketing plan. This plan included setting up a large database and the production and fulfillment of direct marketing campaigns. Product information/data sheets, product brochures, calendars, trade show literature, and news releases were all integrated in the plan, and some of the literature was produced in several languages. Our goal was to develop individual concepts based on a copy and design theme that would build a consistent, family appearance. Choice of color, brochure and data sheet size, use of the corporate logo, photography, paper quality and printing quality were all elements that contributed to a unified and consistent identity. Whenever possible, we cut costs by using existing photography. Another cost-cutting strategy was to create product information sheets that could be used (with minor changes) for trade publication ads.

Results:

Yakima Chief continues to grow as a leading supplier of hops to breweries worldwide. Currently they rank as the fourth largest hop supplier in the world.