Sampoll + Andy Snyder (Deskey)
Sampling Personified (as told by Brandery Program Manager Jess Mabis)
When we first interviewed the Sampoll team, their passion was contagious. Despite originally targeting a segment that was obliterated by COVID-19, live event sampling (i.e.confereneces, grocery stores, etc.), the team was obsessed with cracking the code to the future of product sampling. Our first meeting with the team posed a lot of questions: When will we again see, if ever, free samples in grocery stores? Or large scale conferences with booths lined with samples? Is there a way to virtually introduce new products to potential consumers?
We didn’t have the answers, but if there was a team to find them it was the Sampoll team. With so much uncertainty, we knew they’d need a partner to help build customer personas for both in-person and virtual sampling. Andy Snyder has been a long-time Brandery partner and his expertise working with Deskey was exactly what Sampoll needed.
What’s in a Customer? (as told by Deskey Director of Growth Andy Snyder)
The Brandery represents the best-of-breed startup program within the Cincinnati area, and its program rivals the best incubators in the United States. More importantly though is the Brandery’s symbolic presence within Over-the-Rhine and the surrounding urban area having played a pivotal role in the resurgence of the city’s most cherished neighborhood. The Brandery continually churns out the best and brightest ideas and thinking, and it’s truly a thrill to be part of it.
Sampoll presents a new pivot for the live-event and sampling industry and a tool that provides more attribution and digestible insights about performance. This is a major shift in live events, and their technology can have huge consequences for retailers, food producers and CPG brands in general. Not to mention that the team is filled with energy and big brains, they are truly onto something!
To aid Sampoll, we produced a formal digital buyer journey strategy and corresponding archetypes that do several things for the organization:
-Identifies motivators and intangibles of their target audience segments. This aides in consumer understanding and empathy and provides a clear view of who we’re going after and what matters most to them. The information for archetypes came through various rounds of IDIs (in-depth-interviews.)
-The buyer journey map literally provides a roadmap of how target consumers make their way from first being aware of Sampoll all the way to their eventual purchase. It provides recommendations on messaging, tactics, keywords, strategy and channels that produces a holistic view of how to market to their various segments.
5 Steps Forward (as told by Sampoll Co-Founder & CMO Matt Riccardi)
One awesome perk from The Brandery program was our incredible experience with Andy Snyder from the world-class Brand Strategy firm, Deskey. We can’t thank Andy enough for walking us for going the extra mile and getting in the trenches to interview each of our perspective CPG customers. The entire process of Customer Persona Development to Marketing Automation flow creation was a huge win for our startup. We can now go into market confidently knowing who our potential customers are as personas and provide the right message at the right time and on brand! We give Andy Snyder and the Deskey team a 5 star review. It was a really fun and engaging experience to work with this firm!
About Andy Snyder and Deskey
Andy Snyder is a digital and brand strategist with experience across different agencies that include traditional advertising, digital, brand strategy and identity design, packaging and media. His experience has led him to work with brands big and small from giant CPGs to Brandery startups. Andy currently serves as the director of growth for Deskey, Cincinnati’s oldest independent brand strategy and design agency. In his role, he’s responsible for marketing and growing the agency’s revenue stream. His current focus is on inbound marketing and generation useful content to partner and prospect organizations.
About Sampoll
Sampoll has re-imagined voice of the customer (VOC) through DTC and retail product sampling engagements. Our intuitive tools help brands create and optimize campaigns, while fostering more impactful connections between consumers, the brands they love, and the ones they’ve yet to discover. Sampoll is a Delaware C-Corp out of Greater Hartford Area, CT.
