by Mimi Nicklin (@MimiNicklin) In June 2014, brands and agencies alike watched the global stage as the 61st Cannes Lions rolled out shiny gold statues to the most inspiring and creative work worldwide. There will have been multiple opinions on the most, and the least, deserving, but in my column I want to look at a winner of an entirely different awards ceremony: The Effies.
The most effective work worldwide
This award show rewards shopper marketing, and not just consumer marketing, and is busy defining the most effective work worldwide.
Of the many inspiring winners, I want to focus upon Coca-Cola’s Effortless Meals campaign with Walmart in the USA. This campaign pretty much puts into action every principle of shopper marketing I preach, and has tons of learnings for us here in South Africa, where “shopper” is becoming the word of the day! We have a long way to go until our brands get retail partnership right and begin to include the retailer EARLY in their planning models.
So, this case highlights that it’s not just the world’s creativity we should be inspired by but its strategy to drive sales, too.
Background
The background is that Coke had been seeing volumes decline in its biggest retailer, Walmart. Simultaneously, Walmart had a standing issue where it was struggling to drive moms into its Deli aisle, with only one in five shoppers visiting this part of the store. [*While moms were loyally shopping in Walmart for their groceries, they were not seeing Walmart as an option for ready-made, hot or ready to heat fresh (deli) dinners.]
Coke saw Walmart’s deli ‘issue’ as an opportunity to help its most important retail client while reversing a downturn of its own. True shopper-marketing strategy.
Coke knew that it can sell more product when it remind moms to buy Coke with family meals, and that it is currently the most-drunk drink, second to water, at family dinner tables.Its goal was therefore to develop a programme (and not a promo!) that would get Walmart’s existing shoppers over to the deli where they could “effortlessly” buy dinner and Coke — increasing the servings of both the food and the drink.
In-store triggers
Coke’s research had shown that “effortless meals”, which help time-starved moms please their families, work as a trigger for shoppers in-store. Quite simply, an emotional solution would be the most powerful way to drive purchase in-store.
Coke also knew that, to truly change behavior, the message must reach the shopper mom wherever she was along her path to purchase – at home watching TV, in her car seeing outdoor/hearing radio, in the store or on her phone, where she could see digital and social ads.
The creative work smartly put mom at the centre (and bravely de-emphasised both Coke and Walmart), leading with emotion before function, and was first aired during Olympics and American Idol. This may have not been Cannes Lions-winning consumer TV but this was given the same love when it came to media spend and reach! (Imagine that, South Africa!!)
Tailored to shopping needs
The brand tailored radio to the weekend, weekday and “unexpected friends over for dinner”occasions, ensuring that, whatever purchase mission mom was on, there was an ad targeted at her and her shopping needs.
“When dinner time sneaks up on you, Coca-Cola and Walmart have got it covered with Effortless Meals for less than $10! With a trip to the Walmart Deli, you can nail dinner every time. Smile — it’s Coca-Cola.”
In store, Walmart worked with Coke to convert the entire deli section into an Effortless Meals arena. With the use of Coke-branded signage to create the feel of a Quick Service/Fast Food Restaurant, the entire shopping experience was changed.In turn, Coke achieved a level of branding it had never seen before in over 3000 stores!
Icing on the shopper cake
The final icing on the shopper cake was that Coke linked bonus points on MyCokeRewards for purchases of Effortless Meals, ensuring the campaign was even more rewarding.
The campaign saw phenomenal results for both Walmart and Coke, and has been rolled out to a three-year partnership,showing that when shopper marketing really is planned for joint success, it works!
In turn, this work won Gold in the Retail Roll Out category, as well as Bronze for the Multi Brand Shopper Solution category at the 2014 Shopper Marketing Effie Awards.
Higher on SA’s agenda
SA is busy counting the number of creative awards we brought home but surely it’s time for us to put awards such as the Effies and APEX [South Africa’s awards ceremony that honours “both strategic and creative effectiveness — ed-at-large] higher on our agenda?
After all, selling substantially more of a brand people were already loyal to in a store they already visited has got to be worthy of our attention, right?
Mimi Nicklin (@MimiNicklin) followed her passion and experience in the consumer, retail and shopper space from regional roles in Europe and Asia, to South African shores in 2010. Having led global brands through the line for Procter & Gamble, and two of London and Hong Kong’s top agencies, her background gives her an international perspective to add to her depth of SA understanding. She serves as strategic director and a partner at 34 Group. Mimi contributes the monthly “The Sell” column concerning shopper marketing to MarkLives.
— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every three work days. Sign up here!