Date: October 2012

Background

Based in Inverness, Scotland, Invereach Ltd provides Technical Solutions to the Life Sciences Industry in the form of Regulatory/
Quality Services and Training. Invereach work with both large and
small companies to assist them in the product development process
with design controls, the product registration process, with CE marking
and the submissions and in regulatory compliance with mock-FDA inspection and quality system improvements.

Challenge

Invereach are looking to diversify their business and have developed a
caffeinated, carbonated ‘pick-me-up’ drink. Most caffeine based drinks are currently marketed towards men, with packaging and marketing strongly related to targeting a male market. This new product is intended to appeal to the female market and it needs to have
branding to reflect this. The drink will comprise of naturally derived ingredients and will strongly draw on this association in its branding.
In the early stages of development, the company identified a need for academic support to provide the expertise and research to create, build and develop a new brand.

Solution

Interface - The knowledge connection for business facilitated introductions between Invereach and the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Marketing. The project formed an oppportunity for students to use it as part of their dissertations looking at:

• Creation of a variety of distinctive packaging design options to convey brand to target audience: maximising the impact and attractiveness to a female market
• Investigation into brand placement
• Market and competitive analysis.

The company worked with two sets of students, as part of their undergraduate course, who were able to develop a suitable brand for the energy drink. The brand ‘Super!Natural’ was developed for the product.

In recognition of the successful collaboration, faciltated by Interface,
between Invereach and Strathclyde Invereach have been invite to attend the graduation of the students involved in the project in November 2012. Invereach have developed a long term partnership with the University of Strathclyde. The project provided the students with access to a real time problem that had a tangible output of the product going to market.

Benefits

The introduction from Interface to the University of Strathclyde was invaluable for the company's development of the product branding specifically to the target market. It also provided the company with the
research and branding development to access a entirely new market. A long term partnership has been established between the company and the university. The project enabled students to work on a real time
project with tangible outputs.