Jamón de Teruel Lies on the Couch and Discovers Who It Really Is

As everyone knows, being a jamón in Spain is a very, very tough job. The competition is fierce, and you’d better have one hell of a résumé if you want to be chosen at the supermarket shelf.
That was the challenge facing Jamón de Teruel — a product with a Protected Designation of Origin and extraordinary distinctive qualities that, nevertheless, had never communicated a value proposition to consumers compelling enough to drive purchase preference.

Our consulting team got down to business — knife to ham, so to speak — to define what in marketing we call “positioning“: a unique space of meaning, rooted in both rational and emotional qualities, that tells consumers this is who we are, and this is why you should choose us over everyone else.
Think of it as lying on Freud’s couch — but in marketing terms, backed by market research and plenty of data analysis. Because around here, we’re serious about working with evidence.

That’s where we learned that Jamón de Teruel is cured at very low temperatures and high altitude, which means it needs less salt than other cured hams. In a society increasingly concerned about health — voilà, we had it: bold flavor, less salt. A distinctive and highly valued feature among our target consumers.

And so our campaign claim was born:

Marcado a Frío(Cold-Branded)

And then came Emilio — along with a very, very effective TV spot that pushed the DOP to all-time highs in brand awareness and advertising effectiveness.
And then came the awards at the International Festival of Advertising and Humor. But that’s another story — one we’ll tell you some other time.
What we want to tell you here is this: you can’t go out into the world without first knowing who you are. For Jamón de Teruel, discovering that is changing everything.