2024 OmniShopper Awards: Integrated Path to Purchase Activation
Integrated Path to Purchase Activation
Campaign: No Ingredient Left Behind
Brands: Knorr & Hellmann’s (Unilever)
Agency/Solution Provider: Arc Worldwide
Most shoppers don’t confront the reality of food waste until they are in the act of throwing away leftovers or food that went bad before they could use it. Unilever sought to give Kroger shoppers the tools to make mitigating food waste easy and approachable under the simple yet powerful rallying cry of its platform called “No Ingredient Left Behind.”
Featuring educational content across Kroger’s omnichannel ecosystem, No Ingredient Left Behind challenged shoppers to confront the problem more consistently. The platform illuminated which food items were being wasted most and how to use up all the food they bought at Kroger. During tentpole moments including the Super Bowl, the program delivered incentives to use Hellmann’s and Knorr products in their sustainable food behaviors.
Pre-shop display ads included statistics that highlighted the impact of food waste and redirected shoppers to a microsite on Kroger.com with recipes and other educational tools. In-store, geotargeted push notifications included offers for both Hellmann’s and Knorr. Shelf blades and floor talks were deployed across Kroger locations featuring food facts, a call to action and promotional offers. Post-shop Kroger shoppers were engaged with more recipes and ideas on how to get the most out of each grocery run.
The results were strong across the board. In the fall, Hellmann’s grew 3.35% in sales. During the Super Bowl, Knorr drove an 8.87% sales lift and Hellmann’s produced a 4.46% sales lift. In the spring, Hellmann’s lifted sales by an additional 1.8% (all over the previous 12 weeks).
Campaign: Keurig Iced System Innovation
Brands: Keurig, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, McCafe & The Original Donut Shop (Keurig Dr Pepper)
Agency/Solution Provider: Mars United Commerce
Keurig needed to increase penetration among Genzennials (18- to 34-year-old Gen Zers and Millennials) for its K-Iced brewers and iced K-Cup pods. Its main challenge was to convince Genzennials to trust Keurig’s new brewer and coffee portfolio to deliver a quality, full-flavored iced coffee experience at home.
Keurig sought to win over coffee aficionados with an “As Easy as One, Two, Brew” messaging theme. Communication materials focused on the new brewer functionality, displaying the “Brew Over Ice” button and the system’s versatility in brewing both hot and cold beverages. Existing Keurig households were also targeted through the grocery channels with a call to action to add iced coffee pods to the purchase, highlighting the fact that iced pods can be brewed in any Keurig system to produce cafe-quality drinks.
The new K-Iced brewer and iced coffee pods were prominently featured on Keurig.com with how-to information and a video demonstration. Retailer displays featured both the K-Iced brewer and iced K-Cup pods for mass merchants selling both products, while a second featured only the iced K-Cup pods to appeal to existing Keurig households. Custom activations appeared at Kroger, Walmart and Target.
Among the stellar results, 31% of all Keurig growth at retail was attributed to K-Iced brewers, which became the brand’s top three selling systems after only eight weeks in market. K-Iced brewers now over-index (+160) among Genzennials. Sales of iced pods are also over-indexing (+152) among Millennials compared with average Keurig households. Finally, 30% of iced K-Cup purchasers were coffeeshop consumers and new to the pod category.
Campaign: Barbie The Movie
Brand: Barbie (Mattel)
With the July 2023 theatrical release of “Barbie,” Mattel was eager to ignite sales among current Barbie fans and bring new consumers into the franchise. Mattel’s omnichannel program included customized retailer activation at Walmart, Target and on Amazon.com.
Mattel’s Walmart tie-in connected to the film’s marketing platform, “Welcome to Barbie Land, Dreams Made Here,” with exclusive products and dozens of cross-category partnerships. A custom 10-foot-by-10-foot display with an 8-foot cross-category action alley pallet train was delivered to 2,500 stores. Online activation included a Barbie brand shop at Walmart.com and paid media through Walmart Connect.
Target received two out-of-aisle focal features in toys. Within the beauty category, NYX and OPI displayed a branded Barbie The Movie endcap. On July 29 and July 30, 200 Target stores set up a demo cart at the front of the store with Barbie The Movie signage, movie-branded product and free giveaways, directing guests to a 15% off Barbie circle offer running on those two days.
Amazon custom-built a movie site experience and Barbie brand store with new scenes from the movie and weekly updated product selections. Support included a homepage billboard placement, Barbie search takeover and cross-category storefronts feature, as well as push notifications and emails directing shoppers to the experience.
It was all a splashy success. Mattel dolls U.S. share was up 17.3 points one week after the movie launch. By the end of the promotion timeframe (Aug. 31), Barbie gained 13.3 share points in the dolls category and finished as the No.1 property for the U.S. toys market.
Campaign: Lift Off With Oreo
Brand: Oreo (Mondelez International)
Agency/Solution Providers: Eastwest Marketing Group, Menasha
Oreo wanted to go where few brands had gone before — into space. Given that space was having a cultural moment (thanks to another upcoming total solar eclipse, the NASA Artemis program and the growth of space tourism), Mondelez decided to tap into the enjoyment and imagination of its Oreo brand with a space-themed merchandising appeal to young shoppers.
“Lift Off” occurred in phases. Following an initial teaser video, social media posts detailed a sweepstakes whose grand prize winner could embark on a six-hour journey in a pressurized capsule lofted by a high-altitude hydrogen balloon provided by Space Perspective. Next came the announcement of a limited-edition Space Dunk Oreo cookie on social media.
Then, in stores, displays featured “galactic” embossments and a small cutout in the cookie itself, which gave a peek into the nebula-inspired filling that included supernova bursting popping candies. POS featured the new limited-edition Oreo and partnership with Space Perspective. With the looming solar eclipse (April 8, 2024) providing an ample opportunity for a third wave of coverage, Oreo launched a combination of paid, PR and organic media to keep momentum going and generate added excitement.
The results were stellar. Oreo sales were up 2.1% in February and March. The limited-edition product sold out in two weeks, an increase of approximately 41% versus the previous limited-edition Oreo. Space Dunk connected the target audience, garnering the highest volume of leads to date for such an effort, while generating 4.6 billion impressions and 1,538 media placements.
Campaign: Sour Patch Kids Lemonade at Circle K
Brands: Sour Patch Kids & Swedish Fish
(Mondelez International)
Retail partner: Circle K
Agency/Solution Provider: Phoenix Creative Co.
Research from Mondelez and Circle K showed considerable overlap between purchases of Sour Patch Kids, non-candy snacks and lemonade drinks. Thus, the two marketing partners saw an opportunity to grow the non-chocolate candy category at Circle K stores by bundling the Sour Patch Kids lemonade variety with other lemonade-flavored candy and snack options.
The program included participation from Sunkist, which launched new lemonade flavors during the promotional period, as well as a new lemonade-flavored Swedish Fish variety.
Given the target audience of Millennial and Gen Z consumers — and since 3-in-4 consumers overall research snacks online before picking up in store — the program needed to have a strong digital and social component. An expansive array of activations included influencers engaging on Circle K social channels, a new Circle K gamification platform, summer beats on iHeartRadio and engagements on TikTok.
Mondelez and its partners distributed more than 8,000 POS displays in Circle K stores nationwide. These extra displays in high-visibility areas of stores brought the fun to every participating neighborhood, boosting awareness of Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish, and driving sales with a Sunkist lemonade bundle.
With the lemonade program in full swing, total non-chocolate candy category dollar sales at Circle K were up 1.7%, driven by a Mondelez-specific lift of 13.5%. Additionally, the program delivered more than 4.1 million digital impressions through the Circle K gamification, with an additional 10.7 million impressions across iHeartRadio and TikTok.
