Feature story

Hot dog! Silliness spurs Bulgarian meat company sales

Subscribe to feature stories email alerts

Related links Bulgaria homepage

The singing hotdog.

Atanas Yanev, kebab man turned entrepreneur.

From zero to 100 tonnes in a week.

You wouldn’t buy a hotdog because it sang to you, would you? Even if you were tickled to hear that old disco hit ‘I will survive’ belted out by a falsetto frankfurter dancing and wiggle-waggling at you from the TV just when you’re wondering what to give the kids for dinner?

At first glance it would seem the depths of dumb and dumber were plumbed by Bulgaria’s famous singing sausage. Yet the hottest hotdog on the (butcher’s) block ain’t no fool. It knows how to build market share: take a good gimmick, add some silliness spread liberally over national TV, and watch your sales skyrocket.

“In 2004 we hit on the idea of making frankfurter-style sausages which you could buy with either the ketchup, mustard or cheese already inside,” says Atanas Yanev, one of the founders of leading Bulgarian meatpacker Bravo. “Then we came up with a TV ad in which the hotdog sings it ‘will survive’ without bottles of those condiments.

“The advertising campaign went off like fireworks and boosted our sales of this new product line basically from zero to 100 tonnes in a week.”

Silliness masks sophistication

Silly sells. Well, the market research underlying a quality product line promoted by a canny advertising campaign is what sells. But those are all very sophisticated and expensive elements of doing business, not easily undertaken in a transition economy by local entrepreneurs overwhelmed by the day-to-day struggle to keep afloat.

“Until recently, most companies in Bulgaria have been production-oriented, they weren’t asking or listening to what consumers wanted or could be interested in,” Mr Yanev says. “But after nine years in business, we had figured out we needed more of a market orientation. Still, we were scared to invest in that research. We didn’t know how or who to hire as consultants. Most of the Bulgarian companies in market research were pollsters. That’s not what we wanted.”

Then Julieta Hubenova came to the rescue. As national director for EBRD’s Business Advisory Services, her job is to help local businesses identify local consultants who can help the firms to grow by providing an array of advice such as in marketing, management, and how to choose and adopt new technology.

“Until recently in the former command economies, these fields of expertise were not well understood or appreciated by local business people,” says Ms Hubenova. “Yet we now have a wealth of local people with the right education and experience in these areas, some of it gained here working for international firms or smart Bulgarian companies, some of it gained abroad. Consultancy services are an essential element in building Bulgarian business.”

Focusing on customers

Explains Mr Yanev: “With BAS help we narrowed down the field to three finalists chosen because of their relevant experience. The winning consultant organised focus groups whose members were asked their preferences in terms of the weight and dimensions of sausage, the flavour, product labelling, etcetera.

His face still lights up with astonishment as he recalls: “What I learned is that my own particular taste in flavour and packaging is far away from what the market wants! The consumer has to tell us what she wants and not vice versa. Any new product requires new market research, because to learn only from mistakes is expensive and slow.

Such is Bravo’s appreciation for consultancy skills that it has moved into the big leagues: it now works with international giants AC Nielsen and McCann Erickson. But Mr Yanev credits BAS’ locally-oriented programme with having broken the ice and provided the crucial initial demonstration of the value of hiring consultants. “BAS gave us the confidence to proceed, they were the catalyst. We were on the beach and BAS encouraged us to get in and swim!”

Half the cost of hiring consultants with BAS help is funded by international donors. BAS Bulgaria is supported by Austria, the UK, the European Union and the Central European Initiative who together fund about €500,000 in consultancy services annually.

Business built on kebabs

By combining his own smarts with brains-for-hire and a €200,000 credit line from the EBRD-backed ProCredit Bank, Mr Yanev has seen sales grow exponentially; his staff now numbers 250 and the factory runs 24 hours per day. Much has changed since those early post-socialist days in 1992 when he gave up his ambition of being an economist and started making kebabs by hand for sale to restaurants.

“Back then I was making 30 kilograms of kebabs per day. All I had was a meat mincer and a sausage-making machine. We gained clients by providing a free delivery service. By 2004 we were selling 5,000 tonnes per year, then 7,000 tonnes in 2005.”

The company’s niche advantage is literally that, vis-à-vis EU-based competitors: Bravo sells in the country’s most remote nooks and crannies. Its distribution and sales network, illuminated on a map like those in cinematic Ministry of Defence ‘war rooms’, penetrates to the smallest kiosks in the tiniest villages – all of which see the company’s TV ads. “We know the peculiarities of Bulgarian tastes,” says Mr Yanev. “In the south they like more garlic, other places they like very finely-ground meat; other places, they like it more textured. Competitors from EU countries are coming in but they don’t appreciate what people want here. We will compete very effectively.”

Written by EBRD’s Senior Writer, Kate Dunn.

Contact:
Business Advisory Services

10 April 2006