Shopper Marketing
April 6, 2009
For more than 30 years, Campbell Soup Company has used its Labels for Education (LFE) program to contribute to the betterment of public schools. In this outreach initiative, consumers can redeem a number of Campbell’s popular food products (e.g., soups, V-8 beverages, Pepperidge Farm snacks) for points toward the purchase of educational materials and equipment.
With LFE participation growth slowing in recent years, however, the company realized that it needed to update and streamline its administration process in order to reinvigorate the program.
Last year, Campbell worked with Kroger to develop automated E-Labels for Education program that would tie in with the grocer’s loyalty card program and strengthen relevance and demand for LFE. The objectives were to engage directly with LFE households online in lieu of communication through schools; to provide an easier method of collecting and redeeming LFE points (and an option to support multiple schools); and to provide continuous engagement with shoppers beyond the back-to- school timeframe.
To achieve these goals, Campbell electronically linked Kroger’s shopper loyalty card to automatically tally LFE points when qualifying items were purchased at any participating store. It established a new Web site (elabelsforeducation.com) for participants to register, redeem and track points. It also placed an E-Labels web link on Kroger’s Web sites and sent regular e-mails to participants with updates on point, school deposits, bonus offers and special programs.
These efforts have drawn significant new participation in the LFE Campaign: 35 percent of E-Labels participants were new LFE users as of December 2008; and 33 percent of schools receiving E-Labels points were new. In addition, 22 percent of participants do not have school-age children at home, suggesting that E-Labels is expanding the LFE franchise beyond its core audience.
Seeing the benefits to its own shopper loyalty program, Kroger has extended the six-month E-Labels test through the end of the 2008-09 school year.
Dove carved out a niche as an advocate for women’s self-acceptance ever since its acclaimed “Real Beauty” campaign of 2004. To further that cause, Unilever partnered with Wal-Mart in a monthlong promotion of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund that aimed to drive key brand attributes and ultimately boost sales of Dove beauty products.
Dove worked with Lunchbox to enlist Jennifer Hudson as a spokesperson for the effort. The singer/actress filmed a workshop video that ran exclusively on Walmart.com, with additional clips shown in-store at Wal-Mart locations across the United States. A national media campaign included online ads at Usweekly.com, while a “Women in Music” microsite featured other celebrity musicians talking about self-esteem. The campaign also spread virally through videos online.
The Dove Self-Esteem Month program reached an estimated 62 million women in the brand’s target. Follow-up consumer studies showed a 13-point increase in awareness of the Dove brand. Significant attributes, such as Dove is “a brand I can really trust,” “a brand that makes me feel good about myself” and “is for someone like me,” all rose at least 9 points.
Wal-Mart reported an unspecified increase in market share and category growth
across all Dove categories.
Kimberly-Clark (K-C) partnered with Kroger and Sam’s Club on a Breast Cancer Month initiative in 2008 to raise funds for breast cancer research and reinforce the marketers’ positions in women’s health. K-C used a three-pronged channel approach: at retail, online and via broad-based consumer/trade messaging. Proceeds from sales of Viva paper towels and HUGGIES® baby wipes went to the Susan G. Komen and Breast Cancer Research foundations, with special packaging featuring profiles of K-C employees who are breast cancer survivors. VIVADivaCafe.com and HuggiesBabyNetwork.com supported the program, which raised $384,000, created 1.9 million media impressions and resulting in generous sales spikes for K-C products.