Defense Commissary Agency

MORE THAN A GROCERY STORE

The Commissary isn't just a grocery store for the U.S. military—it helps shape and define what the experience of “community” within the military means. W|W was tasked with providing a cohesive brand strategy and framework to help shape the Commissary's brand to serve today’s military community. Over a ten-month process, the research phase of the project included the following components:

• 144 In-depth interviews with DeCA stakeholders (primarily internal audiences)
• 11,745 On-line surveys
• 623 Intercept interviews
• 85 Shop-along interviews
• 18 Focus groups
• 10 Base visits throughout the US and Europe
• Competitive analysis
• Industry best-practices report

The research effort revealed a variety of insights that were translated into actionable opportunities via a blueprint, or brand strategy, for the Commissary. At the heart of the strategy was W|W’s development of the Commissary’s brand framework, anchored by a brand promise and supported with a messaging matrix.  For each key insight, W|W surfaced several tactical recommendations that the Commissary could pursue and illustrated how the new brand strategy might look if deployed into the current operational environment.

An outcome of the brand strategy was the development of the Brand Ambassador's Handbook, which summarizes the culmination of the research and strategy into a tactical, practical and easy-to-understand guide.