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Company Overview - Boar's Head
From slow beginnings, Boar's Head has expanded its operations and retail partnerships over the past century to become a major provider of deli products across the US and Puerto Rico.
Headquarters & Locations
- Boar's Head is a US provider of deli meats and other delicatessen products, headquartered in Sarasota, FL.
- Although Boar's Head primarily distributes its products across the US and Puerto Rico through supermarkets, gourmet stores, delis and other partner retail outlets, Boar's Head operates three proprietary Boar's Head Cafés in Chicago, IL (flagship store), Newark, NJ, and Atlanta, GA.
Agency of Record
- Meanwhile, Boar's Head currently collaborates with Altschiller Associates as its creative agency of record, Fleishman-Hillard as a resource to develop PR announcements and other media support work, Horizon Media as its interface with the media and other creative vendors, such as Hill Holliday for ad hoc promotions.
- Boar's Head has maintained these relationships in some cases for decades, however a review of related corporate websites, personnel profiles and other credible resources validates that Boar's Head continues to engage these agencies for advertising support.
Creatives
- One most recent example of Boar's Head's marketing creative is its Counter Culture campaign, which uses this pun to connect the nostalgic experience of ordering Boar's Head products at the deli counter with an ethos that is more adventurous, trendy and exciting.
- Additionally, Boar's Head launched a marketing campaign through its Journey Boldly Sweepstakes, which offers Boar's Head customers and fans the chance to win a "tasty tour of the world," as well as its Travel the World campaign, which suggests that Boar's Head customers can travel to exciting places through Boar's Head's bold, creative flavors.
Growth Story
- The Boar’s Head brand was established in the New York City area in 1905 by its founder, Frank Brunckhorst, who looked to create his own line of deli products out of dissatisfaction with the quality of available hams.
- Although growth for the business was initially slow, its distribution of products had grown sufficiently by 1933 to warrant the opening of the company's first manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, NY.
- The company's next major milestone was the death of its founder in 1972, however, shortly thereafter in the 1990s, the company's management further expanded is manufacturing operations to include processing plants in Virginia, Arkansas, and Michigan.
- During the same period of manufacturing expansion, Boar's Head also increasingly expanded its relationships with major supermarket chains to sell the company's products.
- Of particular importance was the fact that in 1994, Boar's Head established an exclusive partnership with Publix, a supermarket chain in Florida.
- Partly due to this relationship, the company moved its headquarters from Brooklyn, NY to Sarasota, Florida in 2001.
- Most recently, in 2008, the company also opened an "experimental" retail outlet in Brooklyn, NY, followed by several other Boar's Head Cafés.
Research Strategy
Please note, for the purpose of this analysis, an AdAge article published in 2012 was used to clearly and thoroughly define Boar's Head's complex series of relationships with its three agencies of records. Although this article was published less recently, it seemed reasonable and appropriate to include this credible research source to succinctly yet precisely articulate Boar's Head's relationships with marketing vendors which, in many cases, have been ongoing for decades. Recognizing there were no resources from 2018 or 2019 which similarly addressed the distribution of marketing work between these three agencies, other credible sources published in 2018 or 2019 were also provided to substantiate that Boar's Head's relationships with these vendors has persisted to the current period.
This analysis provides the exact locations of Boar's Head retail outlets, including the specific states in which they operate and how many locations are in each state. However, Boar's Head is primarily distributed through third party retailers. While Boar's Head publicly highlights that their product is distributed across the US states and Puerto Rico, there is no publicly available information that comprehensively outlines the number of independent retailers who offer Boar's Head products. This is likely because Boar's Head is a privately owned company, as well as the fact that many distributors and sub-distributors of Boar's Head products are also privately held companies that do not make this information available.
However, several strategies were implemented to identify or approximate the number of third party retailers who carry Boar's Head products. For example, a search for directly-compiled information on this subject was conducted, but it did not provide any detailed information beyond what is offered on the Boar's Head website. Additionally, a search for supermarkets and other retailers who carry Boar's Head products was conducted, however some of these supermarkets did not publicly provide the number of retail outlets that carry Boar's Head products. Moreover, it did not appear that such a search would provide a comprehensive estimate of outlets carrying Boar's Head products, given that some retailer information may not be publicly available online. Lastly, a search for Boar's Head products was completed on Google Maps. This search provided many results, however the locations were so numerous for just the New York area alone that this did not appear to be a reasonably feasible solution for triangulating the total number of outlets selling Boar's Head products in the US and Puerto Rico.