Case Study

Gata / Romanian pasta cooking

Visual identity Package design Brand imagery

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Context
After years of leading the way in pasta market, Pambac lost its 1st position in this category, which was disputed
by an approximate number of 20 local and international producers under more than 60 brand offers.

The weirdest thing about pasta market was that in terms of price segments, local brands were positioned in the
low-end/economic sector while all international brands were premium priced. Basically, there was no main-
stream segment in a market with a tremendous growth rate.

Pambac, one of the largest BrandTailors clients, saw the opportunity of strengthening its position by introduc-
ing a new brand at a price that positioned the new product in the mainstream segment in order to generate
additional value to the company. The declared business objective was to gain the 1st position within the
producers (both volume & value share) with the support of the new brand within 1-year frame from its intro-
duction.

Challenge
With the support of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Pambac commissioned BrandTailors to create a new
pasta brand, meaning to position it on a relevant consumer need, to find a name for it and afterwards to
generate a design concept to be implemented both at the visual identity level and at the package design one.

The greatest challenge was to identify an undeniable consumer need that would build the brand into an
instantly relevant one and would also make it worthwhile paying a higher price for.

Solution
In order to get a solid understanding of pasta category, BrandTailors commissioned a comprehensive qualitative

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and quantitative research solution that proved that pasta products are profoundly anchored in Romanians’
culinary culture, through it is acknowledged to have an Italian origin.

Moreover, the majority of Romanian pasta consumers weren’t troubled in any way because they didn’t have a
strong expertise in traditional pasta preparation. On the contrary, Romanians are proud to experiment with
their own pasta recipes, using just those ingredients they usually have in the refrigerator.

BrandTailors immediately recognized the tremendous value of this consumer insight and used it as a stating
point for the positioning statement. The promise of the new brand to be, would make the consumers
understand why pasta can be cooked super fast: “you may prepare it with what comes at hand”.

The brand slogan came as a conclusion of the brand promise: “Come to the table!” (Rom. “Poftiti la masa!”).
This is also a Romanian saying highly used in everyday conversation, ensuring an instant memorability. As for
the brand name, BrandTailors decided to build it on the most important attribute of the product - “fast
preparation” and still keep it simple and crisp: Gata! (EN: Ready!).

Further on, BrandTailors brought Gata to life into an amazingly self-explanatory visual concept executed in a
manner that would generate an instant high level of perceived quality and also high visual standout at the shelf.

The packaging concept “pasta on the plate” perfectly concluded the brand promise while the visual identity
execution had the role of portraying the product category. “Vivid green” color was chosen to underline the idea
of modernity and to make a difference in such a “traditional” product category.

Results
A qualitative assessment conducted couple of months after market introduction certified Gata as being a
strongly relevant and a clearly differentiated brand within pasta competition. On top of it, the newly introduced
package was rated as the most appealing and differentiating design “at the shelf”.

Within just 6 months from market introduction, Gata gained a relevant market share record that propelled
Pambac on 1st position in top pasta producers in terms of volumes.

Contribution
Brand strategy and naming - Beatrice Daniș
Project management - Roxana Iancu
Graphic concept and development - Janos Kurko
Image retouching and printing pre-production - Mircea Brătianu

Project implementation started in October 2006.

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