Pronaca brand mark, shown in the portfolio's two-tone palette. Source: company brand assets. Trademark belongs to its owner.
A shopkeeper — one of 140,000 in the country — receives a product built for exactly her customers at exactly her price point, because a national study said who they are and where they buy. That is go-to-market as I ran it at Pronaca: consumer study, channel plan and launch process, in that order.
Pronaca brand mark, shown in the portfolio's two-tone palette. Source: company brand assets. Trademark belongs to its owner.
A campaign is aimed at a segment. A product is built for a segment. And each segment buys in a known set of places — so the segmentation study is also the channel plan, the media plan and the product brief.
Ecuador's protein business does not run through supermarkets. It runs through corner shops, most of them with a freezer.
Mass, efficiency-led lines designed for a household buying on yield and price — and for the shop that sells to it.
Each with a share, a profile, a socioeconomic band and the channels it actually buys in.
This is the table the campaigns and the products were briefed from. The last column is the go-to-market plan.
| Segment | Share | Who they are | Where they buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern | 27% | Value novelty and quality; least traditional | Supermarket chains, convenience stores |
| Home-makers | 19% | Health and appearance without giving up taste | Neighbourhood shops, supermarkets, bakeries, company freezers |
| Indulgent | 17% | Eating well, flavour, variety, sharing | Economy supermarkets, markets, bakeries, freezers, apps |
| Big eaters | 15% | Abundance, basic dishes, taste over health | Markets, neighbourhood shops, wholesalers |
| Trendy | 11% | Health-conscious, responsible, quality-driven | Supermarket chains, social media, apps |
| Healthy | 10% | Health and appearance, traditional values | Supermarket chains, social media, apps |
National consumer segmentation. Four dimensions underneath it — health, taste, tradition, variety — and a channel map per segment.
Home-makers and big eaters live in the neighbourhood shop and on Facebook; the modern, trendy and healthy segments live in supermarket chains, on Instagram and in apps. The three content pillars — Foodie, Healthy, Pet Friendly — were aimed accordingly, not broadcast.
Mass, efficiency-led products for the segments that buy on yield and price, shipped through traditional trade and the freezer network. Added-value products for the segments buying an occasion, shipped through supermarkets, delicatessen and specialised retail.
The innovation pipeline runs well over a hundred product changes a year — 60 to 120 invisible reformulations, 50 to 100 tactical products — and only four to six strategic launches. The gate tells them apart, and marketing signs five of its steps.
Filed by the brand manager against a segment; R&D validates it is technically real.
For whom, for what, against what — validated by the business manager and both VPs, a week each.
Format, price tier, channel fit — signed after reverse costing and the value chain.
Channel, media role, trade activation, and the CRM capture the launch must produce.
What happened, on the record, with actions — the step that improves the next concept profile.
Most go-to-market plans are a channel list with a budget next to it. This one started from who the consumer is and where they already buy, sized the traditional channel at 140,000 doors and committed to 100,000 of them with products designed for that shelf — and then refused to launch anything that could not name its segment and its door.
Segments with a channel each — the study becomes the plan.
A numbered gate with named owners; every launch names its segment and its door before it is funded.
The gate downgrades or declines what has no route to a shelf, and frees the team for the four to six that matter.