Easy-to-digest milk brand a2 Milk has just run a digitally-powered “Try Me Free” campaign to increase visibility in store at the point of purchase and drive trial.

a2 Milk is a pure cow’s milk that’s naturally free-from the A1 protein found in regular cows’ milk, which some people have challenges digesting. a2 Milk hand-select cows that naturally produce only the easy to digest A2 protein so that many people can enjoy the benefits of dairy without stomach problems.

To increase awareness of the brand and the promotion, over 200,000 bottles were promoted using a “Try Me Free” neck collar. On purchasing the promotional product in-store, consumers opened the neck collar and were prompted to visit www.trya2milk.co.uk where they could claim their free product.

The promotion and the supporting website were created by Activate by Shopmium through a completely digital redemption process. Consumers registered on the site, provided feedback on their experience with the product, uploaded a picture of their receipt, entered either their PayPal or Bank Account details and then received their cashback.

The campaign was initially trialled across Waitrose over the course of November 2017 and was successfully rolled out across all retailers during January and February 2018.

Sarah Shakespeare, Social & Digital Content Manager at a2 Milk, says: “The Try Me Free campaign has gone very smoothly. The neck collars delivered good stand out on shelf and the redemption process was very easy for our consumers to use.”.

Activate by Shopmium is a Quotient Technology brand, enabling brands to drive measurable sales from their digital, on pack and in-store marketing spend.

Quotient Technology Inc., which was previously known as Coupons.com Incorporated, is a leading digital promotion and media platform that connects brands, retailers and consumers. It distributes digital coupons and media through a variety of products, including: digital printable coupons, digital paperless coupons, coupon codes, and card linked offers.

The post a2 Milk runs ‘Try Me Free’ campaign appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Stuart Sankey of Quotient Europe explores strategies to drive consumer engagement via mobile advertising and promotions

With the recent news from eMarketer[1] that mobile is now taking the majority share of UK time with digital media, the question of how brands can make mobile media contribute to in-store product trial, sampling and acquisition goals becomes ever more pressing.

Brands have been diverting more and more of their advertising spend into the mobile channel, with FMCG marketers being the biggest spenders on mobile display ads[2]. However, the basic nature of mobile media formats means that brands are finding it difficult to make them fulfil core goals such as engagement and in-store product trial.

Marketers need to address the paradox at the heart of mobile marketing: more and more, campaigns require a mobile element in order to reach and appeal to target audiences, yet the vast majority of consumer spend on FMCG occurs offline, in ‘bricks & mortar’ stores.

Brand teams are trying a variety of different approaches, such as interruptional display ads, contextual ads, in-game ads and Facebook media. As yet, though, these have not delivered the engagement levels brands seek nor have they had any clear, measurable impact on in-store, offline sales.

The inconvenient truth of mobile advertising is that UK consumers are only clicking on 1% of ads[3]. Furthermore, PwC states that 44% of UK consumers claim to not have clicked on any ads at all in the past month[4]. Add to this the growing issue of mobile ad-blockers, which 21% of smartphone users are currently using to opt-out of ads altogether[5].

So what’s a marketer to do?

Mobile Engagement and Acquisition

Brands that want to win in the mobile-first world need to be equipped to put mobile at the heart of campaign planning. This means being able to run entire campaigns through mobile; campaigns that push the consumer through the sales funnel from engagement to in-store purchase.

This is more easily achieved than many might believe. Although mobile users are often reluctant to engage with brands; many respond positively to targeted campaigns that offer genuine relevance and value: 

• 59% of consumers say ‘relevant ad content’ is the most important attribute for mobile ads[6].
• 79% of mobile app users are likely to engage with brands that offer value[7].

When it comes to relevance, the key is for brands to ‘show up’ when the consumer is actively looking for inspiration and ideas on their mobile – e.g. for new products to try or use. Brands, particularly those with new products, need to ‘show up’ when the consumer is in this exploratory mode and trigger their curiosity with relevant and engaging content.

To then deliver on this engagement, FMCGs are likely to have more success if they treat mobile as a combined advertising and promotions platform, offering ‘value’ in the form of a targeted promotion.

A strong call-to-action to purchase the product can ensure that the customer journey continues seamlessly into the store to make a purchase. Ideally the brand should be able to furnish information on the nearest store – and even aisle – that has the product in stock. Again, this is easily achieved.

Lastly, it’s crucial to ensure that high quality, on-brand messaging supports the value proposition in any mobile advertising to ensure that the audience buys into the ethos and usage ideas of the brand.

A variety of di­fferent activation mechanisms are now available to FMCGs: these include digital and mobile coupons, both of which do a great job of converting consumer engagement and brand media into significant purchase intent and of tying in-store activity back to digital engagement.

Stuart Sankey is European Sales Director at Quotient Europe. In the UK & Europe, Quotient delivers digital promotions and media solutions that help FMCG brands and supermarkets engage consumers and activate in-store sales through web, mobile and social. Founded in 1998, the parent company Quotient Technology Inc. is listed on the NYSE (QUOT). Quotient has put together a free Mobile Marketing Playbook which explains to FMCG marketers how it is vital to understand ‘how’ consumers want to engage with brand content on their hand-held devices – and that this is key to ensuring that mobile delivers the high levels of engagement and customer acquisition that they are looking for. You can download the FREE Mobile Marketing Playbook from the Quotient website. (link to: http://www.quotienteuropeblog.eu/fmcg-playbook-reg/)

[1] https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Takes-Majority-Share-of-UK-Time-with-Digital-Media/1014676

[2] http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/10/08/mobile-video-ad-spend-triples-64m-display-advertising-hits-35bn-uk-first-half-year

[3] http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1367930/stop-advertising-mobile-youre-missing-bigger-picture?src_site=marketingmagazine

[4] http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/entertainment-media/consumer-intelligence-series-mobile-advertising-what-do-consumers-want.html

[5] https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Ad-Blocking-on-Steep-Ascent-Globally/1014023?ecid=NL1002

[6] http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/entertainment-media/consumer-intelligence-series-mobile-advertising-what-do-consumers-want.html

[7] http://www.mecglobal.com/our-news/news/mec-study-reveals-79-of-mobile-app-users-are-likely-to-engage-with-brands-that-offer-value/

The post FMCG: How to Make Mobile Contribute to Brand and Sales Goals appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Digital promotions and couponing can help FMCG brands build or maintain their share of supermarket shelf space, says Stuart Sankey of Quotient

The UK retail environment, particularly the grocery multiples sector, has always been fiercely competitive – historically, much of that competitiveness centered around the Big Four (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s,) challenging each other for increased market share, as well as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brand owners battling one another for shelf space for their brands.

The arrival of the German discount grocers Aldi and Lidl (in 1990 and 1994 respectively) and their rapid expansion from 2010 proved to be significant because their success was based on a different business model – a no frills approach and less variety in-store.

A typical Aldi or Lidl store stocks around 2000 items, whereas a Big Four supermarket may stock anywhere between 30,000 to 90,000 items. The undoubted success of Aldi and Lidl has caused a massive shake-up amongst the UK’s Big Four, which in practical terms means that it is now significantly more difficult for FMCG brand owners to achieve and maintain a product listing in the major supermarkets.

Some relatively well known brands have suffered the ignominy of a de-listing in a major supermarket, although it is smaller brands that are being hit hardest as smaller brands lack the marketing budget of the more established names.

What Can FMCG Brands Do To Protect Their Listing?

The Big Four supermarkets are looking for brands that can help drive footfall into their stores – and prove it! They want products that help them with their business model, and FMCG marketers who can demonstrate that their brand fits into this scenario.

Here are some ways you can support your listing:

• Drive Consumer Demand Using Digital Retailers will want to see evidence of ‘reach’ from your marketing plans – and that usually means including digital elements. Make sure that you are not just driving awareness of your products, but actually adding strong call-to-actions to your campaigns that give consumers a reason to go into the store and buy your product.
• Harness Social Media Brands that make the time to invest in Social will reap the rewards. The low barriers to entry mean that smaller FMCG brands that put resources into building a community around their products will improve their chances of driving word of mouth and awareness. If you have an audience on Social Media that you can drive in-store for a promotion or special offer this will help in your listing conversations with retailers.
• Demonstrate Demand with Data Plans and marketing calendars are great, but you will need to demonstrate with data that your promotional activity works. One way to demonstrate effectiveness is by creating consumer demand via promotional offers delivered through retailer loyalty programmes. Another way, which is retailer agnostic, national and scalable, is to use digital printable coupons in your marketing activities – when the consumer redeems them in-store they can be tracked to not only store level but right back to the individual you engaged with online, allowing you to continually drive re-purchase and loyalty cost effectively.
• New Product Launch Activation Consider extending the shelf life of new product launch promotions or campaigns by continuing to provide savings and discounts via a coupon after the in-store promotional activity has ended. This can encourage consumers to continue to buy the product, increasing the likelihood that it will become part of their regular purchase repertoire.

Stuart Sankey is European Sales Director of Quotient Technology Limited (formerly Coupons.com Limited), a leading European digital promotions and media platform that connects FMCG brands, retailers and consumers. It recently launched Shopmium  in the UK, a mobile-first proposition that enables FMCG brands to win on mobile.

The post Protect your supermarket listing appeared first on IPM Bitesize.