Ling Ling
Ling Ling
Heating-up the Frozen Food Aisle By Relaunching This Inactive Asian Cuisine Brand.
For a Taiwanese immigrant family, their journey began in the 1970s with selling dumplings from their Bay Area restaurant. This humble start evolved into one of America’s most beloved Asian frozen food brands, Ling Ling. The brand’s recipe for success was and remains straightforward: craft authentic Asian recipes from wholesome ingredients, prepared entirely from scratch.
Ajinomoto Foods North America (AFNA) acquired Ling Ling in 2014, complete with robust national distribution through major retailers. However, the brand grappled with minimal brand awareness and recall due to inconsistent or nearly dormant advertising efforts. Client research unveiled that Ling Ling lacked distinctiveness and relevance among consumers. Our mission was clear: rectify these issues and boost sales despite multiple retail price increases.
A concealed yet substantial challenge emerged in portfolio management. Ling Ling found itself in competition with sibling Asian frozen food brands, namely Ajinomoto and Tai Pei. The necessity arose to craft unique, identifiable lanes for each brand to avoid self-competition.
Our journey began at the foundation, where we reconstructed everything from consumer insights and brand positioning to brand identity. This encompassed formulating a fresh advertising campaign, media strategies, and measurable objectives. The new approach extended to our management of organic social platforms and a robust shopper marketing initiative overseen by AFNA.
Today, we stand at the culmination of this effort. The culmination of new ideas, creative concepts, media efforts, and tireless dedication has recently debuted on a national scale. While it’s early to fully assess the results, initial signs are promising. Measurable outcomes indicate a robust performance in terms of generating consumer interest and fostering purchase intent for Ling Ling.
