By Julia Wushke
Disclaimer:
This article is an independent exercise and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Pela. The content is for illustrative purposes only and does not reflect the company’s official views or practices.
Executive Summary
Pela is a Canadian brand based in Kelowna BC. They began their journey after their founder Jeremy Lang recognized the profound impact that single use plastic waste has on our ecosystem (Pela, Our story & mission2023 p3). The products sold by Pela are environmentally focused and aim to not only provide an alternative to traditionally wasteful items but offset the damage that has already been done by creating a disruption of unsustainable practices.
We will look at the ways by which Pela can grow its business by employing several communication tactics to reach a wider audience, encourage brand engagement and increase sales and loyalty.
Objective
The objective of this plan is to understand where Pela is now and where we can take the company in the next four moths. With such an important mission and innovative products, Pela could become a nationally and internationally recognized household name.
Our goal is for Pela to increase their national sales by 15% by the end of our campaign and increase awareness of the brand by gaining 15k more followers on platforms such as Instagram.
Opportunities
There are three aspects of communication that we can look at improving to reach our desired goals. Working towards success in each segment will encourage consumer engagement and ultimately increase the probability of a sale.
Increasing the consumer awareness of Pela’s story and its mission will help to increase brand loyalty and encourage customers to engage with Pela on a more personal level. Customers who find resonance with their story will be more likely to advocate for the brand and make purchases that they feel represent a bigger picture meaning. Emphasis on Pela’s dedication to environmentalism is key.
Customers that feel the brand reciprocates loyalty are more likely to continue to support the brand through re-purchasing and engaging with the brand online. This could also be an opportunity to encourage customers to offer their own testimonials in return for discounts or other rewards.
Collaboration between Pela and its customers particularly its influential customers will increase brand awareness and reputation. This is also in line with the tone of the brand feeling ‘real’ and ‘authentic’. Having prospective customers see the product in use by people that they know, and trust will increase sales and create a stronger feeling of trust.
Challenges
Like any company, Pela will face numerous challenges during this campaign. Some key challenges include:
- Efforts to Justify the Price Point remains to be an important issue to tackle as phone cases are often seen as disposable and replaceable goods that are usually relatively inexpensive. Maintaining the message that Pela’s phone cases are not only designed well, but also support sustainable production and distribution. The price reflects the innovative material, local construction, quality, and social responsibility that is so important to Pela and its current customers.
2. Making a ripple in the densely saturated and competitive market is a struggle for any company creating common-place products. Pela needs to set itself apart from other phone case companies and lean into what makes Pela unique. Putting Pela in the environmental products category rather than just another phone case helps it to stand out. No other phone can boast the title of the world’s first compostable phone.
3. Why would a customer choose Pela given the price point and saturated market? Pela is not just a phone case. It is the world’s first compostable phone case. Leaning into what Pela does so well and what makes it so innovative is how it will set itself apart from single-use plastic phone cases. Choosing Pela is rebelling from non-sustainable consumer cycle of buying single use plastics. Each consumer purchase is a way for someone to make a political statement. Pela is part of a movement or lifestyle not just a product.
Audience
Pela’s primary audience are young individuals who are environmentally conscious and willing to spend more on an environmentally friendly smart phone case. These individuals are therefore primarily middle to upper class, likely educated as they understand the peril that our environment is in, and politically left leaning in favor of environmental sustainability. These individuals are primarily urban or suburban, ranging from 16-45. Three personas who are the focus of our campaign are Teresa, Tomas, Selena, and Jamie.
Teresa – Female, 20
Teresa is a student in Vancouver who enjoys listening to music and spending time on social media. She only buys things that fit her aesthetic and is willing to spend money on trendy items. She is a micro influencer and aspires to make it her career. Teresa loves Pela because of the colourful and cute styles available.
Pela loves Teresa because she advocates for the brand to her followers.
Tomas & Selena -32 & 34
Thomas and Selena both work in STEM in Waterloo, ON. They are still paying off student loans, so when they make purchases, they think critically about the quality and durability of a product to make their dollar count. They have one child together with another on the way and want to make wise decisions with their children’s future in mind. They never forget their reusable bags when they do groceries and are dedicated to their compost bin. They love Pela because their phone case can be composted at the end of its use.
Pela loves Thomas and Selena because they are the embodiment of what Pela stands for in terms of sustainability and responsibility.
Jamie – Male 29
Jamie works in HR at a manufacturing plant in Manitoba. He gets 4 weeks of holidays per year and takes that time to see the world. He loves the outdoors, extreme sports like rock climbing and snowboarding, and enjoys learning about different places. He has seen a lot of litter on the beaches across the world and does what he can to be a part of the solution. His friend told him about Pela and the story resonated with him. He chose Pela for his next phone case because of the story and knowing it would hold up to all of his travel adventures.
Pela appreciates Jamie because he is someone willing to make a positive change to the world around him.
Messaging
The key messages that need to be stressed to all customers or potential customers is what makes Pela different from other phone case makers; and that point of difference is that Pela creates phone cases out of sustainable materials creating the first biodegradable and compostable phone in the world. No other company can claim to be the worlds first compostable phone which sets Pela up as the first in its category regardless of any successors.
Aside from the target audience personas, the goal is to position buying Pela products as synonymous with doing something good for the environment which can resonate with any consumer. At the start of 2023, there were 6.85 billion smart phone users around the world, and that number is seeing an increase each year by approximately 5% (Howarth, 2023).With those numbers, it is safe to assume that many of these users purchase a case to protect their phones. Of those people. It is safe to assume that most of them have purchased one or many phone cases in their lifetime.
Pela needs to position itself as the only truly sustainable option for smartphone protection available in today’s market. If you are a consumer that cares about the environment who has a phone, you should want to purchase Pela as to break the cycle of unsustainability. Less directly, Pela needs to be the smart and logical choice for consumers, and not at the expense of the environment or personal style. Though it is more expensive, most sustainable options are, and the product is of higher quality than cheaper brands that would need to be replaced sooner.
Messaging: Slogans/Taglines
When messaging goes out to each customer, whether that be emails, targeted ads, or the like, the copy and content may vary depending on which consumer profile or persona they fit under. For the campaign being proposed, the messaging needs to be in line with the company’s established voice.
“Why not Pela?”
Looking at this example from Pela’s website, their tone is clear and casual which resonates well with our demographics interest in authenticity. Taking a portion of copy from this blurb “Why not Pela” could work as a slogan for this campaign.
Tactics
Social Media Brand Awareness Campaign (Paid and Shared Media)
The first tactic is the social media-based Brand Awareness Campaign. This campaign will launch on all Meta platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X, and including Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.) featuring short videos showing an aspect of the manufacturing process at Pela. Twice per week followers will get an inside view of different steps of the assembly and shipping process at Pela. In each video, the main story and mission of the company will be emphasized. By selling the story and inviting consumers into the inner workings of the company have people like Tomas and Selena engaged and interested by the engineering and innovation of the product’s creation. In addition to the physical product being made, there will also be videos about the inspiration and artists behind the designs and will be an opportunity to spotlight different artists and graphic designers.
The goal of this is to accumulate followers based on the mission statement of the company and create interesting and sharable content that widens the audience and follower count for future content engagement.
Shipping out Pela – Loyal Customers
In addition to the content created about how Pela started and how they make their products, this portion will be about where these products and orders go. This again will be video and photo content posted twice a week that will be focused on the start to finish process of completing an order for a real customer. The customer featured will be someone like Teresa who orders different styles as they become available, and who has purchased from Pela on multiple occasions.
The customer will have an opportunity to be featured to discuss why they like Pela and what keeps them coming back. Ideally this customer will be a micro influencer and be located somewhere on the East Coast or better yet out of country to represent the far reach that the company has. This customer will be rewarded with free promotional items (such as a phone case with their name on it with a personalized thank you from Pela for their support and dedication to preserving the environment). This customer would represent to prospective customers that Pela cares about each purchase made as it disrupts the unsustainable cycle of disposable phone cases.
Planting Pela – Promotional Activity/influencer (Earned and Owned Media)
Pela accounts will invite customers with old worn-out Pela phone cases that can no longer be reused or repaired to film and post themselves composting their case and use the hashtag #plantingpela to gain traction online. Youtubers, environmental influencers, and personal accounts will film the progression of composition of their case for a chance to win a trip to Kelowna BC to check out how Pela is made and meet the CEO and be given the chance to go on a whale watching excursion near Victoria Island. Encouraging posts with a prize is a way that Pela can create a buzz around product and gives it an opportunity to go viral as a sort of challenge. Not only will viewers be able to see that this product truly does decompose, but they will also see trusted influencers or friends who have purchased the product. This hash tagging and geotagging will also bring awareness to more niche smaller communities that follow these influencers. The best part of this is that these videos are at no expense to the company as they are made by real customers.
Content Release for Earth Day
Compiling the most compelling content from the submitted videos, along with footage from the winner whale excursion, Pela will create video and text content (Blog on their website and social media posts and videos) using customer content to celebrate earth day. The focus will be on the people who made the videos, the diversity, community, teamwork, and dedication to the planet.
There will also be a segment of the video that details Pela’s own impact on the earth where statistics will be shared about their sustainability, what the company has been doing to make a difference, and their overall dedication to the earth year-round. This sharable content is to be seen by Pela’s followers but also will likely be dispersed to friends, family, followers on the actual day of Earth Day. The video will end by thanking the customer base for dedicated support and optimism for the future of the planet and the future of innovation at Pela
Timeline
Origin Story launch
Across Canada Loyalty
#Planting Pela
Content release for earth day
Post campaign analysis
The tactics will be measured against our goals to analyze if we have been successful in our campaign, what could have been improved upon, and gain insights into our market.
Measure of success
Social Media Brand Awareness Campaign
Through the execution of the Social Media Brand Awareness Campaign
the goal is to increase followers on social media and draw attention to the brand to gain recognition. Pela followers across platforms will increase by 25% of our goal of 15k ( 3.7k). This increase of followers ensures an increase of consumer engagement and a higher CTR. Increasing these measures will aid in the success of the next steps as we hope the reach will grow exponentially. These new followers will have an opportunity to see promotional content, product launches, and previous posts ideally increasing the conversion rate leading to an increase in website traffic.
Shipping out Pela
The goal is to increase loyalty and engagement with Pela. We want the viewer/customer to feel appreciated and understood by Pela and feel that the brand voice is genuinely sincere and honest. This will bring not only another increase in followers (15%), but an increase in engaged followers who will advocate and tell a friend. Followers who feel like they are a part of something exclusive, special or personalized, will have a more emotional tie to a brand. We want to position Pela as a company that cares about each customer, the positive change they are making, and at the end of the day actually cares about the environment.
Planting Pela
Inviting engaged followers (could be new from Shipping out Pela) to create content for the company using the hashtag will naturally help with SEO and ideally begin to trend on video sharing platforms. In line with the previous tactics, dedication is to be rewarded in order to create trust between Pela and the consumer. These videos will reach an extended avenue of micro influencers , personal accounts, (potential to branch out into paid partnerships on an ongoing basis).
Success will come in the form of increased followers, another 40% of our target amount and are also expecting and increase in sales by 10% – people will see their favourite influencer with unique and trendy phone cases and want to emulate their style.
Having UGC at the heart of this tactic aligns well with Pela’s established brand voice and paves an avenue towards new customers.
Content Release for Earth Day
Using algorithmically appropriate hashtags in the posts of the promotional video will increase searchability and ensure that it is part of the global conversation. Using Earth Day as an opportunity to connect environmentally conscious consumers to Pela is an effective way to ensure the messaging of Pela’s stance is understood.
Sustainability is topical and relevant to consumers on that day making the messaging of Pela as a choice that represents a larger movement more resonant. We are expecting an increased following of 20% and increased sales of 5% surrounding the Earth Day content.
Conclusion
Pela is a Canadian company that has much potential for growth. Starting with a terrific consumer product partnered by the mission to make the world a better place, making Pela a household is not unachievable. Using the brands sincere and inviting voice to reach out to new potential customers creates opportunity for Pela’s environmental movement to reach a larger audience.
Through tactics such as outlined above, the goals we initially set out to achieve seem more than attainable. Increasing sales by 15% and followers by a total of 15k is the quantitative goals, but when it comes to the qualitative achievements this proposal can make could profoundly impact Pela.
Engaging with the customers in a way that appreciates them and encourages engagement creates a following that is dedicated to the cause and advocates for the brand. These types of customers are imperative for a brand like Pela because they are able to introduce others to the product and embody the heart of what Pela stands for.
Sources
Eco-friendly iphone, Google and Samsung Cases – 100% compostable. Pela Case. (n.d.-a). https://pelacase.ca/?shpxid=06179299-af0c-4d9b-9256-091ad7442dd0
Howarth, J. (2023, January 26). How many people own smartphones (2023-2028). Exploding Topics. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/smartphone-stats
Our story & mission. Pela Case. (n.d.). https://pelacase.ca/pages/our-story
*All photos and Icons provided by Paid Subscription of Microsoft 360
Julia Wushke - Junior Marketer & Copywriter 