Dimi Kyriazis
The brand story for Golden North began in 1923 in the city ship Laura (middle north of South Australia).
From Golden North Director – Sales Dimi Kyriazis.
Ice cream was first made because electricity became available that allowed the Laura factory to install freezers and freezers.
Over the years the factory and company have had multiple owners and are now in the hands of five South Australian families who also work for the company. One thing has remained strong for the products' success; this is the brand.
The story for our products is true and as strong as it is today almost 100 years ago: “Made from fresh milk and cream from Country SA”, which will now celebrate its 100th anniversary in the next two years. The narrative gets stronger and stronger reaffirms our "unique selling proposition" to our consumers. This strategy has proven that consistency builds loyalty as the consumer's memories of the brand experience have not changed.
Consumers have remained loyal over time and our customer base has been growing for more than 10 years. As a company, our brands continue to be “consumer-centric” and with that belief we must always ask ourselves, “What does this mean for our consumer?” In SA, this belief has enabled consumers to adopt the Golden North brand. It was a spectacular finding as everyone you talk to always tells a story about their experience with our products.
As a company, you also have to consider the brand values and the values of your customers, there has to be an alignment. Without alignment, there is a risk that what the brand stands for will be devalued by consumers. Once the value is gone, it is difficult to get it back.
A recent rebranding of the Giant Twins range to bring it closer to the needs of our consumers has proven extremely successful as the range has grown three times faster than the multi-pack category in SA over the past 12 months. The project has seen nearly * 30% year-on-year growth in units and dollars and * 74% year-on-year in units and dollars within the Independents for Giant Twins in SA. This made Vanilla Giant Twins the most valuable multi-pack in the ice cream category in SA. The rebranding looked at quality, the ability to share, and brand values to maintain relevance and branding with our consumers.
* IRI Scan MAT ends in October 2020.
About Dimi Kyriazis
In the SA food industry for more than 25 years, half of them in the ice cream category. Dimi joined Iconic SA Brand Golden North 13 years ago and is now one of the company's owners / directors.
He has found a passion for data science among consumers around their brands and loves bringing to life brand realities that align with the values of Golden North Consumers. The constant battle against multinational brands for customer growth and brand growth with the team has been one of the most satisfying achievements to date.
About the golden north
We are one of the oldest ice machines in Australia and almost 100 years old. What made our products a part is that we still use fresh milk and cream as the main ingredient in our products. Consumers in South Africa and now across Australia are realizing this. We have now received Canstar Blue's “Best Ice Cream” title for three years in a row, which is a first for Canstar in the ice cream category.
The milk and cream are delivered fresh directly from the farm to the factory, which is located between the Flinders Range and the Barossa Valley. It is then made into ice and shipped to Australia.