ajinomoto

Turning 4 Freezer Aisle Underdogs into Category Climbers

Summary: We turned Ajinomoto’s four low-awareness frozen food brands into distinct, fast-growing players by carving unique positions and targeting precise audiences on lean budgets.

Red stylized text reading 'AJINOMOTO' on a black background.
Logo of José Ole with a smiling man wearing a sombrero, and the slogan 'Taste the Fiesta!' in red banner.
Logo with the words 'TAI PEI' and a stylized dragon in between, on a black background.
Ling Ling logo featuring a panda holding a bamboo stick above the text, with a yellow background and black border.

What started as a single project with Panasonic has evolved into a high-wire balancing act—three powerhouse brands (LUMIX, Technics, and Panasonic) and a vast lineup of electronics for the home, office, and personal life. We’re talking everything from microwave ovens and shavers to TVs, cameras, portable speakers, and iconic Technics turntables—plus Blu-ray players, baby monitors, irons, and more.

Then came the game-changer: Panasonic dove into direct-to-consumer and e-commerce marketing to complement its retail partnerships with Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and independents. The stakes? Higher profit margins and priceless first-party consumer data. The challenge? Smarter, sharper audience targeting, crystal-clear messaging, and efficient media planning—not just across three distinct brands, but across overlapping product categories like cameras, audio, kitchen, and personal care. And within those, multiple products aimed at different audiences—like three different LUMIX cameras, each with its own unique creative and media needs. Avoiding cannibalization wasn’t optional; it was mission-critical.

We put our 5-C process to work—analyzing consumer, category, culture, competition, and company to carve out white space and “blue ocean” opportunities. This wasn’t just strategy on paper—it became the engine that powered our media plans, shaped precision creative, and positioned each device to stand out in a sea of deep-pocketed competitors. Full-funnel thinking guided everything, and we weren’t afraid to get unconventional in how we targeted high-value prospects.

The payoff? ROI on DTC and e-commerce has skyrocketed across categories. Some products are crushing it outright; others deliver a powerful halo effect, driving sales on both Amazon and Panasonic. We’ve built real-time performance dashboards for every product category, aggregating all data into a single source of truth. Our clients can see exactly what’s working, when, and where.

Today, we’re still in the trenches with Panasonic, side-by-side with partners like Google, pushing efficiency and effectiveness year after year. The bar keeps going higher—and we keep clearing it.

A stylized red logo with the word 'AJINOMOTO' in capital letters, featuring a cursive 'A' at the beginning.
A woman in a red off-the-shoulder top, wearing pearl earrings and necklace, holding a fork with a lemon wedge, against a red background.
Three people dining together at a table with a plate of Japanese-style gyoza dumplings, a box of Ajinomoto gyoza, glasses of white wine and red wine, soy sauce, a black plate, a red napkin, and a small black condiment container.
Colorful Joseo logo featuring a cartoon man wearing a sombrero and a red bandana, with the text 'Taste the Fiesta!'
Costco-style table setting featuring a tray of assorted Mexican snacks including tacos, burritos, and chimichangas, along with packaged José Olé mini tacos, taquitos, burritos, and chimichangas, and side dishes of salad and sour cream.
A young woman with curly hair wearing a black t-shirt and gray skirt, smiling as she holds a fry above her mouth against an orange background.
Ling Ling logo featuring a panda holding a bamboo stick, with the text "Ling Ling" and "Authentic Asian Flavor" above.
Family gathered around a dining table enjoying a meal, with a boy in the center eating chicken and smiling, adults smiling and engaging with him, food and drinks on the table, a cozy kitchen background.
A young woman with blonde hair enjoying eating a piece of food from a plate, holding a fork in her right hand and the plate in her left. She is smiling with her tongue slightly out, against a bright yellow background.
Tai Pei logo with a stylized dragon in between bold black and white letters.
A woman with long, wavy hair, wearing a blue striped button-up shirt and beige pants, holding a container of Tai Pei frozen food and eating with a fork against a yellow background.
A cup of spicy chicken instant noodles with vegetables, a sealed container of the same brand, and a chopstick holding a meatball over the cup, against a yellow background.

Behind Every Category or Client Logo Are Advertising Moves Powering Growth