Brand innovation helps keep sausages sizzling

At this time of year, New Zealand meats company Hellers is busy supplying a festive population with snarlers, shaved meats and hams.

Founder director Todd Heller said through Christmas and January holidaying Kiwis had late breakfasts or brunches, with sausages and bacon popular.

Fans of what Mr Heller says was New Zealand's largest producer of sausages, bacon and ham might notice changes this year. The company, which started in 1993 is going through rebranding accentuating the Hellers' roots as a family butcher, to differentiate itself.

The packaging has short stories from Mr Heller, who is a fifth-generation butcher and started with his own shop in New Brighton, in 1985.

The Heller family is originally from Germany. Gorg Heller emigrated to New Zealand during the gold rush of the 1880s and started supplying miners with smallgoods from his shop in Arrowtown.

The "NZ's Butcher" tag brings to mind the nostalgic days of friendly, local suppliers of fresh produce, says Hellers' design company, Dow Design. The revised branding was introduced in early December, beginning with the most popular Christmas ranges of ham and shaved meat.

This new phase for the company will also have an added emphasis on free-farmed products.

The large Christchurch employer has 320 staff at its Kaiapoi plant and a further 130 in Auckland at Wiri.

A week before the earthquake, Prime Minister John Key opened the company's extended Christchurch headquarters, a 6000sq m world-class plant in Kaiapoi.

Asked why the number one player in smallgoods and the number three in bacon and ham felt the need for rebranding, Mr Heller explains: "Growth flourished through the 2000s but by 2009 our innovations had been imitated and the market was awash with 'like me' packaging. We'd lost the 'shelf stand-out' we once had and realised it was time to get innovative again."

His design company of 10 years, Dow Design, carried out a brand audit, speaking to the supermarkets and consumers. Feedback advised going down the heritage route.

Dow Design first became involved with Mr Heller in 2000 when, after a successful promotion from New Brighton butcher to supermarket supplier, he was looking for some direction with his brand. His rise to supermarket supplier had been swift.